alternatehistory.com

Okay, I think I got this all figured out now. First entry will be a plain old chronology and map, but it'll get better after that, I swear.

Main point of divergence is the death of Duke Alexander Farnese of Parma at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. This won't mean terribly much until the late 1570s in the Dutch Revolt. Without the Duke of Parma's skill and advice, it's likely that the Rebels will fair better politically and (potentially) militarily, leading to a larger independent Netherlands. Behold!


1556- Charles V dies. Control of the Netherlands passes on to his son, King Philip II of Spain. While Charles V was familiar with the region and spoke French and Dutch, Philip speaks neither of those languages and rarely visits the area. Calvinist extremists preach violence and rebellion.

1565- A bad harvest in the Netherlands this year leads to food shortages. Riots break out in several major cities.

1566- Iconoclastic mobs, mainly led by Calvinists, storm many churches over the following year, destroying pictures and depictions of Catholic saints and other Church iconography.

1567- Philip II, believing force to be the only remaining option to placate the Dutch, sends the Duke of Alba to Brussels at the head of a ten thousand-man army. He quickly establishes a ‘Council of Upheavals’ outside of traditional Spanish and Dutch law to specifically prosecute those he sees as treasonous to the Spanish Crown. Numerous high officials and nobles are executed, fueling the Dutch Rebellion further.

1568- William of Orange, a distinguished and disgruntled Dutch nobleman, coordinates four rebel armies coming from differing directions towards Brussels in an attempt to dispose the Duke of Alba. He runs short on money, and the campaign fails.

1570- The Duke of Alba proposes a new tax on the region: a ten-percent levy on non-property sales, called the ‘Tenth Penny Tax’ by opponents. The Netherlander States-General, an assembly of delegates of the various provinces and states of the Lowlands, reject the tax as being too harsh, and Alba seemingly compromises on the issue.

1571- The Duke of Alba institutes a ten-percent levy tax on all non-property sales. Rebellion flares up again in the region.

April 1, 1572- Dutch rebels at sea capture the undefended city of Brill (Brielle). Support for the rebellion continues to grow, especially in the Protestant northern provinces.

April 6, 1572- Flushing is seized by pro-Orange Dutch Rebels.

The Following Months, 1572- Most cities in the Holland the Zeeland provinces declare independence.

September 19, 1572- The Rebel-held city of Mechelen is captured by the Duke of Alba. Spanish soldiers sack the city and massacre the citizenry. Support for the rebellion dies in the Southern Netherlands.

November 14, 1572- The Rebel-held city of Zutphen is sacked and its citizens massacred by the Duke of Alba’s forces. Support for the rebellion dies in Gelderland and Overijessel.

December 2, 1572- The Rebel-held city of Naarden is sacked and its citizens massacred by the Duke of Alba’s forces. Support for the rebellion flares up in Holland and Zeeland.

November 1573- Spain replaces the Duke of Alva with Don Luis de Requesens as governor of the Netherlands.

February 1574- The Spanish garrison in Middelburg surrenders to Rebel forces after a painfully long blockade and siege of the city.

September/October 1574- The dikes along the Maas river are cut, and the Rebel-held city of Leiden is saved from recapture by Spain.

Fall 1575- The Spanish crown suspends interest payments on the Royal debt. Spanish finances go crazy bad. The Dutch Rebellion regains strength.

March 1576- Luis de Requeseens dies. Don John of Austria is appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands.

November 1576- Unpaid Spanish soldiery mutiny and sack Antwerp.

November 8, 1576- The States-General agrees upon the Pacification of Ghent, rallying together to drive out the Spanish mutineers.

January 9, 1577- The second Union of Brussels is formed by the rebelling Netherlander provinces. The only states not to join are Namur, Limburg, and Luxembourg. Walloon Flanders, as well as Artois and much of the far southern Netherlands are still under Spanish control, however, making their participation not worth much.

October 1577- A Calvinist coup in Ghent overthrows the city government and replaces it with a Protestant council.

December 1577- A Dutch army of some 20,000 soldiers under the command of de Goignie manages to successfully outmaneuver Don John in Namur, attacking Catholic strongholds in the province and then escaping northwards in January.

1578- With the situation in Portugal slowly deteriorating after the death of King Sebastian I, King Philip II’s court focuses on the crisis in Iberia, denying Don John needed supplies and men promised the year previous. Talk is briefly made of sending the Duke of Alba back to the Netherlands, but leading advisors to the King convince him of the need to keep Alba in reserves for Portugal.

March 1578- Protestants in Leuven overthrow the city government and replace its former councilmen with Orangist members. Despite events there and in Ghent, Protestantism is still much weaker in the Southern Netherlands.

June 6th, 1578- The city of Nijvel (Nivelles) is taken by Spanish forces, southwest of Brussels. The States-General panics, and over the summer the rebel government moves its operations north to Antwerp.

Summer 1578- Spanish forces retake Venlo from rebel control, and the Upper Gelders returns to Spanish rule.

October 3rd, 1578- An army led by Don John approaches Brussels from the south, and preparations for a siege begin inside and outside the city.

Winter 1578/9- The States of Holland prepare a new proposal for a new ‘Closer Union’ of the rebelling states. The new union would be staunchly Anti-Catholic, destroying the ‘Religious Peace’ promoted by Orange. Representatives of Flanders, Brabant, and the rebelling southern states object to the proposal, and Orange is only able prevent major support of the proposal by heavy lobbying in the far northern states.

This action marks the beginning of a massive shift in Orange’s supporters. Where before Orangists were generally found amongst the more extreme Calvinist Dutch rebels and staunch Anti-Catholics in Holland, Zeeland, and Gelderland, his base of support begins to gradually shift to the moderates in Brabant, Flanders, and states north of the IJssel.

January 20th, 1579- The City Militia of Brussels capitulates, and Don John triumphantly enters the city.

February 3rd, 1579- Holland and Zeeland agree to a separate ‘Closer Union,’ creating a stronger federal system between the two nations within the larger body of states in the States-General. The Orangists are worried at the news, and increased lobbying and a low-key propaganda war erupts between moderates insisting on the Religious Peace and Calvinist radicals promoting a one-religion state.

April 1579- First recorded instance of ‘Brabantine’ used in the political sense, referring to Orangists and moderates set against the ultra-Calvinists. Found in a Hollander pamphlet promoting the ‘Closer Union.’

May 4th, 1579- Drenthe rejects the Closer Union.

May 16th, 1579- Utrecht agrees to the Closer Union.

June 1579- Ommeland, Overijssel, and Friesland reject the Closer Union. Both ‘Hollanders’ and ‘Brabantines,’ as the Calvinists and Moderates are called, descend on Gelderland to promote their stances.

July 23rd, 1579- An attempted Calvinist coup of the Arnhem city government sways Gelderlander delegates to the Brabantine point of view, and the Closer Union is rejected. The three members of the Closer Union remain firm in their position, and the ‘Union of Utrecht,’ as it is called, remains.

February 1580- With the death of Cardinal-King Henry I of Portugal, Iberia falls into chaos as several claimants to the Portuguese throne (including King Philip II of Spain) clamor for the crown. Troops are requested from the Netherlands, and Don John, in turn, asks for a truce from the Dutch rebels.

February 27th, 1580- The Truce of Mechelen is signed. All of the Northern Netherlander provinces, as well as Brabant (north of Brussels) and Flanders (excluding Walloon Flanders), are under the rule of the States-General. Spanish forces control Brabant from Brussels southwards, Walloon Flanders and small portions of the Flanders coast, Artois, Cambrai, Hainaut, Namur, Limburg, and Luxemburg.


Map time! Note that the truce line in Flanders is rather vague-- I'm certain that without Parma's political finangling more towns will willingly side with the Rebels, but I don't know how militarily capable Flanders itself was and how much Spain would focus on Flanders instead of Brabant, although the States-General's influence might likely be at least as far south as Ostend or Bruges/Brugge.


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