Battle of Kallo - Background

Background

While no major offensive operation was carried out against the United Provinces by the Spanish Army of Flanders during 1636–37, in July 1637 the statholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, marched into northern Barbant in command of an army of 18,000 soldiers and invested the Spanish-ruled city of Breda. Garrisoned by 3,000 Spaniards, Italians, Wallons and Burgundians, Breda was one of the main fortresses of the Spanish Netherlands and a symbol of the Spanish power in Europe. A Spanish force under the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand attempted to relieve the garrison of the city, but failed to dislodge the besiegers. Ferdinand decided move with his army to the valley of the Meuse, where he took Venlo and Roermond after two fierce bombardments, in order to distract Frederick Henry. However, he had to turn back shortly after, alarmed by the French advances in Artois, Hainaut and Luxembourg, and could not prevent the fall of Breda.

For the campaign of 1638, King Philip IV instructed the Cardinal-Infante to undertake an offensive strategy against the Dutch in order to subject them to massive pressure and force them to agree a favourable truce and the restoration of their conquests in Brazil, Breda, Maastricht, Rheinberg and Orsoy. The main objective of that year would be the capture of Rheinberg, which would give to Spain a crossing point in the Lower Rhine and contribute to tightening the blockade over Masstritch. Ferdinand was also ordered, when the offensive operations had finished, to quarter his army near the Dutch frontier in order to protect Antwerp, which had become more vulnerable since the loss of Breda, and even to reinforce the garrisons of many secondary fortresses. In the end, however, the Spanish were pinned to the defensive by a coordinated Franco-Dutch attack in May 1638. Marshall Châtillon laid siege to Saint-Omer covered by Marshall La Force in Picardy while Frederick Henry marched on Antwerp commanding an army of 22,000 soldiers, determined to besiege the city.