Schematic plan · Netherland's War of Independence

Battle of Nieuwpoort

2 July 1600
Spanish Flanders
Victory for Dutch Republic

All battles The event in the chronicle Wikipedia

A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.

Spain (Sp Netherlands Army, 11,500 men under Albert of Austria) attacked Dutch Republic (Du Army of the States General, 11,300 men under Maurice of Nassau) in Spanish Flanders. The CAA Database of Battles records 5 hours of fighting on a front of 0.9 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Dutch Republic held. Losses: Spain 4,000 (35%), Dutch Republic 1,000 (9%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Spain

Albert of Austria

Unit	Arm	Men
Spain left wing	Infantry	2,371
Spain centre	Infantry	3,162
Spain right wing	Infantry	2,371
Spain reserve	Infantry	1,976
Spain cavalry of the left	Cavalry	750
Spain cavalry of the right	Cavalry	750
Spain artillery (8 guns)	Artillery	120
Albert of Austria	Commander	—
In this plan		11,500

Dutch Republic

Maurice of Nassau

Unit	Arm	Men
Dutch Republic left wing	Infantry	2,354
Dutch Republic centre	Infantry	3,139
Dutch Republic right wing	Infantry	2,354
Dutch Republic reserve	Infantry	1,962
Dutch Republic cavalry of the left	Cavalry	700
Dutch Republic cavalry of the right	Cavalry	700
Dutch Republic artillery (6 guns)	Artillery	90
Maurice of Nassau	Commander	—
In this plan		11,299

What the sources report

	Spain	Dutch Republic
Strength, this plan	11,500	11,300
Losses, this plan	4,000	1,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 1, “Nieuport”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting: 5 hours
Winner: the defender
Terrain: Rolling, Bare, Dunes
Weather: Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture: Hasty defense
Front width: 0.9 km (attacker), 0.9 km (defender)

Force	Strength	Losses	Horse	Guns	Plan and outcome
Spainattacker	11,500	4,000	1,500	8	Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Dutch Republicdefender	11,300	1,000	1,400	6	Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack

Attacker’s advantages momentum +1 · initiative +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

US Army Concepts Analysis Agency; tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold, CAA Database of Battles (CDB90), no. 1 · ODC-BY-1.0Strengths, losses, front widths, hours of fighting, tactics and outcome.
Wikipedia contributors, Battle of Nieuwpoort · CC-BY-SA-4.0

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.