Fortress Cities

The most famous of them all was the first Dutch Waterline (Hollandsche Waterlinie), which was built in the ‘disaster year’ of 1672 and ran from Muiden to Gorinchem. These defences made it possible to inundate large sections of the line to hold off any approaching enemy. The waterline was dotted with earth-built fortress towns at strategic locations. These pentagonal constructions with protruding bastions were designed to withstand artillery fire, and they played a key role in military campaigns. Rather than conflicts on the open battlefield, the greatest tests faced by the Netherlands during the 80 Years’ War were the sieges of these cities. Army barracks had not yet been invented in the 17th century, so when military campaigns came to an end the soldiers were accommodated in garrison cities. Soldiers and their families formed around 40 per cent of the population of important fortress cities such as Bergen op Zoom.