Antwerp Surrenders
On 17 August 1585, Antwerp surrendered. After the siege, the Dutch fleet on the river Scheldt was kept in position, blocking the city's access to the sea and cutting it off from international trade. Parma stationed experienced Castilian troops within Antwerp to make sure the city would not fall into enemy hands. The moderateness of Parma's demands and the behaviour of his troops were a complete surprise given the bloodiness of the siege and the rampage of 1576: Parma issued strict orders not to sack the city and the Spanish troops behaved impeccably, while Antwerp's Protestant majority were given two years to settle their affairs before leaving. Some returned to Roman Catholicism but most moved north and ended what had been a golden century for the city. Of the pre-siege population of 100,000 people, only 40,000 remained. Many of Antwerp's skilled tradesmen were included in the Protestant migration to the north, laying the commercial foundation for the subsequent "Dutch Golden Age" of the northern United Provinces.
The blockage of the Scheldt to shipping remained in place and crippled the city's economy. It was maintained for the next two centuries (see Scheldt#History) and is an important and traumatic element in the history of relations between the Netherlands and (what was to become) Belgium.
Read more about this topic: Fall Of Antwerp