Throughout the 16th Century, the Spanish had an aura of invincibility. They controlled a vast colonial empire that stretched across the Americas and the Pacific

The 80 Years' War (also known as the Dutch War of Independence) was the foundation of Dutch nationhood, and during the course of the conflict one of its main le

The great European conflict known as the Thirty Years War was only the final phase of a war in the Netherlands which was to last 80 years. In the course of this

The Eighty Years War follows the history of how the mightiest European power of the sixteenth century was finally brought to defeat. In 1648 the Spanish empire

A mixed infantry formation made up of about 3,000 men armed with pikes, swords and handguns, the innovative and influential tercio or 'Spanish square' was the b