At the height of its power, during the period known as the Golden Age, the Spanish Empire was a giant whose territories spanned the globe. Its army, the famed tercios, was regarded as an unbeatable military force, hardened in countless battles from the Mediterranean to the fields of Flanders. Yet behind this brilliance lay a darker side. Maintaining such a vast empire and waging continuous wars required enormous resources, which were often insufficient even with the flow of silver from the American colonies. It was a financial collapse that became the trigger for one of the most chilling chapters in 16th-century European history.
Background to the catastrophe
By 1575, King Philip II, overwhelmed by debts from the grueling struggle with Protestant rebels in the Netherlands and the persistent threat from the Ottoman Empire, was forced to declare state bankruptcy. This move immediately paralyzed the crown’s financial system. Payments to the 86,000-strong contingent in the Netherlands ceased. Soldiers, already accustomed to meager rations and irregular wages, found themselves in a desperate situation. Deprived of means to survive, they began to see the wealthy local population as their only source of sustenance. Discipline, which had relied heavily on strict order and the authority of commanders, began to unravel. The situation worsened with the death of Governor Luis de Requesens, leaving a power vacuum in the army. There was no one to negotiate or contain the growing discontent.
The march on Antwerp
The first spark that ignited the flames was the mutiny of the tercio under the command of Francisco de Valdés in June 1576. The soldiers expelled their officers and seized the Flemish town of Aalst, carrying out widespread looting. This set off a wave of unrest among other units. The army, forgetting its fight against the enemy, turned into an uncontrollable horde of marauders, driven by hunger and greed. Flemish indignation reached its peak. The Council of State in Brussels, previously loyal to the crown, declared the Spanish soldiers outlaws, effectively sanctioning their killing. Amid this chaos, Dutch rebels went on the offensive, capturing one city after another. Their target was Antwerp—the largest port and financial center of Europe at the time. The townspeople, who hated the Spanish, gladly opened the gates to their coreligionists. The only stronghold of royal power left was the city citadel, where a garrison of 1,500 men led by Sancho Dávila took refuge. Soon, they found themselves tightly besieged by six thousand Dutch troops and nearly fifteen thousand armed citizens.
Three days of Spanish fury
News of the besieged comrades reached the camps of the rebellious tercios. Around four thousand battle-hardened veterans joined forces and moved to the rescue. On November 4, 1576, they reached the walls of Antwerp. Overcoming the small Dutch outposts, they broke into the citadel and joined forces with Davila’s garrison. That same night, the united forces descended upon the sleeping city. For the rebels and residents, it was a complete surprise. Resistance was crushed in just three hours. After taking the city, the soldiers first set fire to the town hall, where a group of Dutch soldiers had taken refuge. The fire quickly spread to neighboring buildings, and soon entire quarters were engulfed in an uncontrolled blaze that destroyed more than a thousand homes. No one even tried to put it out. This marked the beginning of three days of horror, remembered in history as the “Spanish Fury.”
Aftermath and remembrance
According to eyewitnesses such as the Englishman George Gascoigne, the rioters spared no one—neither the elderly, nor women, nor children. People were tortured, their feet burned to force them to reveal where valuables were hidden. The violence knew no limits and made no distinction between Catholics and Protestants. In three days of looting and killing, about three thousand rebels died and another five thousand civilians perished, either burned in fires or drowned in the River Scheldt while trying to escape. This massacre had catastrophic political consequences for Spain. The atrocities in Antwerp united all Dutch provinces—both Catholic and Protestant—against Spanish rule. They signed the “Pacification of Ghent,” demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops. The war, which might have followed a different path, turned into a protracted, uncompromising conflict that ultimately ended only in 1648 with the recognition of Dutch independence. Once prosperous, Antwerp lost its significance for a long time, giving up its role as an economic leader to Amsterdam. The city’s tragedy became an eternal reminder of what even the most disciplined army can become when left without pay and without control.
