Gisbert Brom

“ Alva was, as even Motley in "The Rise of the Dutch Republic" (London, 1868, 9, 336) , admits, "the most successful and experienced general of Spain, or of Europe, in his day. No man had studied military science more deeply, or practiced it more constantly." In sixty years of military service he was never surprised, never defeated. He excelled in slow and prudent tactics, deeming that nothing was so uncertain as victory. He stands amongst the greatest generals of history. ”

“ Alva at last realized that his violent measures were fruitless. "God and mankind are against me," he exclaimed in despair. In vain he begged the King to let him retire. His soft-hearted successor, the Duke of Medina Celi, who passed through the country in June, 1572, never really assumed the reins of government but shortly returned to Spain. The 19 October, 1573, Alva was definitively relieved of his office and succeeded by Don Luis of Requesens. He hastened from the Netherlands, followed by the curse of its people. ”

“ When on 31 July in Brussels the twentieth and tenth penny were extorted, traffic and commerce came to a standstill. The Dutch people, still for the greater part Catholic, felt themselves outraged in their rights by the "Council of Blood," and their inborn love of freedom by the Spanish Inquisition. ”