After a short siege, during which Maurice of Orange launched a failed attempt to relieve the city, the garrison of Dutch and English troops fell into Spanish hands on August 18, 1596.

[10][12] From 1590 to 1594 the Dutch under the leadership of Maurice of Orange achieved great military successes and expanded their territory, capturing numerous strategic towns and cities, including Hulst.

[15] The Spanish under Albert of Austria returned to Flanders and conducted a counter offensive and was solicited by the burghers of Bruges to lay siege to Ostend with an offer of 1,200,000 guilders towards the expenses.

[7] Albert's force marched from Antwerp past the Scheldt and into Brabant with nearly 15,000 infantry and cavalry under their new commander, Sieur de Rosne, a French refugee who had replaced Francisco Verdugo and Mondragón, both of whom had died.

[16] Maurice's small depleted army of 5,000 went to Brabant – the vast majority of the veteran English and Scottish regiments, 4,000 in all under Sir Francis Vere were at Cadiz which they were sacking.

[7] In spite of the resistance offered by the besieged who made several highly successful sallies – the archduke succeeded in gaining possession of the principal dyke and a strong fort called the Moer which enabled him to dig closer to the walls.

[17] The success made sure that Albert had gained the respect of King Philip II and as a result had broken a chain of defeats that they had sustained earlier in the decade, both in France and the Netherlands.

However, after his severe losses, Albert did not have enough troops to continue his march and withdrew to Flanders; the Republic heard the news via the interception of a letter to Philip.