Starvation Game: The (Staggering) Siege of Breda 1624/25

An army commanded by the famous Italian strategist Ambrogio Spinola, sent by the Spanish crown, arrived at the Dutch town of Breda on 27th August in 1624. Spinola came to stay and he began a siege characterized by supply shortages, a tight encirclement of the city, and various attempts to supply and relief the town. The siege of Breda is considered Spinola’s greatest success and one of the last major Spanish victories in the Eighty Years’ War. It is also one of only few early modern sieges that made it on TV, namely in the historical fictional movie Alatriste, starring Viggo Mortensen. This is how contemporary historiography tells the story of the staggering siege of Breda. Patreon (thank you): Bibliography: Duffy, C., The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, London 1979. . ROOZE en . EIMERMANN, De belegering van Breda door Spinola 1624–1625 Alphen aan den Rijn, Canaletto 2005.