Page "War of Devolution" Paragraph 13

On 24 May 1667 French forces crossed the border into the Spanish Netherlands.

The latter were badly prepared for war and could not expect reinforcement from the mother country in the foreseeable future.

Indeed, the military forces in the Spanish Netherlands were not centrally organised.

Every large town had its own area of responsibility and went about the maintenance of its own defence arrangements, which in practice however meant that they were badly prepared for a siege.

Their commanders were relatively independent and responsible only to the Statthalter Marquis of Castel Rodrigo, who also commanded the few regular Spanish troops.

Apart from this, he only had militias at his disposal, which were however only available in the utmost emergency.

Thus the small number of available troops did not permit the establishment of a field army.

Therefore, the few available forces were posted in the strongholds of the country, to hold out as long as possible.

For this reason, during the whole war, not one large battle was fought ; instead, small skirmishes and sieges ensued.