Events

Eighty Years' War

The Early Modern World

Citation Formats

General Reference

History Atlas. "Eighty Years' War." Accessed August 31, 2026. https://dev-history.interactiveatlas.org/events/eighty-years-war.

APA Style

History Atlas. (n.d.). Eighty Years' War. Retrieved August 31, 2026, from https://dev-history.interactiveatlas.org/events/eighty-years-war

BibTeX

@misc{historyatlas-eighty-years-war,
  author = {History Atlas},
  title = {Eighty Years' War},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-history.interactiveatlas.org/events/eighty-years-war},
  note = {Accessed August 31, 2026}
}

The Eighty Years' War, or Dutch Revolt, was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government, lasting from around 1566 or 1568 until 1648. Its causes included the Reformation, centralisation, excessive taxation, and disputes over the rights and privileges of the Dutch nobility and cities. Under William the Silent's leadership, Catholic- and Protestant-dominated provinces sought religious peace while opposing the Spanish king's regime. The war ended with the Peace of Munster, in which Spain recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic.

Facts

Disputed

Year

1568 1

The source itself gives the start as an approximate, dual-year range, c. 1566/1568, never a single clean year; recorded here as 1568, the more commonly cited starting point, with the 1566 alternative named in this note rather than silently dropped.

Location

The Low Countries (Habsburg Netherlands) 1

Cross-Tradition Connections