The siege of Groenlo was a 10-day siege of the Dutch town of

Groenlo Groenlo () is a city in the municipality of Oost Gelre, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, on the German border, within a region in the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek (literally: "back corner"). Groenlo was a municipalit ...

from 1 to 10 June 1672 by the combined forces of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the

Elector of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palat ...

and the Prince-Bishop of Münster during the Franco-Dutch War. It ended in the town's surrender.

Course

After the secret

Treaty of Dover The Treaty of Dover, also known as the Secret Treaty of Dover, was a treaty between England and France signed at Dover on 1 June 1670. It required that Charles II of England would convert to the Roman Catholic Church at some future date and th ...

between France, England, the Prince-Bishop of Münster and the Archbishop of Cologne against the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

, French troops passed through the possessions of Münster and Cologne and a few other French allies then the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...

, enabling them to by-pass the Dutch defences in the south and invade the Dutch from the east in June. Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster, invaded the Netherlands the on 1 June 1672 in several places, taking several towns (including Enschede,

Almelo Almelo () is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle of the rolling countryside of Twente, ...

and

Borculo Borculo is a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the municipality of Berkelland, Gelderland. Borculo was an independent municipality until 2005, when it merged with Eibergen, Neede, and Ruurlo. Other population centers in the municipality of Borc ...

) and laying siege to Groenlo, where his forces were joined by those of France and Cologne. Groenlo was well-supplied with food, garrisoned with 22 cannon on new gun-carriages and 600 troops (made up of 10 infantry companies and 1 cavalry company, led by the infantry lieutenant-colonel Gustaff Tungel) and defended by bulwarks and a moat (which had proved their effectiveness in a 1627 siege). However, vastly outnumbered by the French force of over 100,000, it was only able to hold out for 10 days, after which the besiegers moved on to Deventer and other cities, in what became the '

Rampjaar In Dutch history, the year 1672 is referred to as the nl, Rampjaar, label=none (Disaster Year). In May 1672, following the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War and its peripheral conflict the Third Anglo-Dutch War, France, supported by Münster and ...

' for the Dutch Republic. The most important parts of Groenlo's fortifications were demolished by the Bishop of Münster and his occupying troops only left the town in 1674.

Sources

*{{in lang, nl J.W. van Sypesteyn, J.P. de Bordes (1850): ''De Verdediging van Nederland in 1672 en 1673; Bijdragen tot de Staats- en Krijgeschiedenis van Nederland'', 's-Gravenhage: Van Langenhuysen

1672 in the Dutch Republic 17th-century military history of France Groenlo (1672) Groenlo (1672)

History of Oost Gelre