“Dutch Swamp Dragon” - The (Staggering) Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch 1629

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In 1629, the Dutch Republic was on the brink of financial ruin and hard-pressed from all sides. Amidst a strategical encirclement of fortresses and the threatening presence of the Spanish field army, Frederik Hendrik, called the Conqueror of Cities, was marching to the south of the Republic. He wanted to capture the strongest fortress of the Spanish encirclement: 's-Hertogenbosch. This fortress-town was deemed impregnable and was affectionately called the Swamp Dragon by contemporaries. Its pantries were full, its powder chambers stuffed and its defenders ready to throw anyone back that would come close to their wall. It looked like the conqueror of cities had choose his target poorly...

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Bibliography:
Cauwer, Peter, Tranen van bloed: het beleg van 's-Hertogenbosch en de oorlog in de Nederlanden, 1629, Amsterdam 2007. https://amzn.to/3z6LZXO
Duffy, C., The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, London 1979. https://amzn.to/3cCxL9N
Geyl, P., The Revolt of the Netherlands (1555-1609), New York 1958. https://amzn.to/3cCnw5k
Israel, Jonathan Irvine, De Republiek 1477-1806, Franeker 1996. https://amzn.to/3S18xBV
Israel, J., The Dutch Republic. It’s Rise, Greatness and Fall, Oxford 1995. https://amzn.to/3IZuoWs
Townsend Brady, Sirus, Great Sieges of History: The Sacking of Haarlem, in: The Cosmopolitan 39 (Aug. 1905), p. 447-453.

Reading list:
Warfare:
Duffy, C., Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, Vol. 1, 1979. https://amzn.to/32dvvwM
Devries, K., Douglas, R., Medieval Military Technology, 1992, https://amzn.to/3IazYoC.
Rogers, C.J., The military revolution debate. Readings on the military transformation of early modern Europe, 1995. https://amzn.to/3geVDMM
Rogers, C.J., Soldiers' Lives through History - The Middle Ages, 2006. https://amzn.to/3j2kQvG
Parker, C., The Cambridge History of Warfare, 2005. https://amzn.to/32ggn1L
Van Nimwegen, O., The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions, 1588-1688, 2010. https://amzn.to/2E3Fc95

Fiction related to the Early modern period:
Alexandre Dumas,The Three Musketeers https://amzn.to/2CJVAuu
Alexandre Dumas, 20 Years After https://amzn.to/32g82Lv
Alexandre Dumas, The Vicomte de Bragelonne https://amzn.to/2EnIOCB
Markus Heitz, The Dark Lands https://amzn.to/3ntZgEu

Military Si-Fi recommendations:
Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe (Series of 22 books on the Napoleonic Wars), https://amzn.to/3RZyty0
Dan Abnett, The Founding: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus (Gaunt’s Ghosts) https://amzn.to/3vdGxkZ
Dan Abnett, The Lost: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus (Gaunt’s Ghosts) https://amzn.to/3osvFvA
Dan Abnett, The Saint A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus (Gaunt’s Ghosts) https://amzn.to/3orikUk
Glen Cook, Chronicles of the Black Company (Chronicles of the Black Company Series Book 1) https://amzn.to/3PVgyGV

Historiography:
Neville Morley, Writing Ancient History 1999. https://amzn.to/3NCyoNl
Albeit focused on ancient history, it's a brilliant book for anybody who is interested in what history actually is. Is it a story? How does it work in practise? Can writing history be objective? Is it "scientific"? What makes it a proper discipline at university?

Chapters:
00:00-00:57 Intro
00:57-04:41 Chapter 1: In a Stranglehold
04:41-07:41 Chapter 2: The Swamp Dragon
07:41-12:21 Chapter 3: Like a Fish Out of Water
12:21-15:27 Chapter 4: Five Trenches
15:27-17:45 Chapter 5: Despair
17:45-21:42 Chapter 6: Relief
21:42:-26:20 Chapter 7: The Dragon's Shell