Spanish Road - Establishment

Establishment

To get to the Netherlands, the armies and travellers of the 16th century had to overcome many obstacles including extremely high mountain passes, large rivers, deep forests, and roadways filled with criminals. Therefore, it was necessary to find a route that would go around these barriers, for safer and easier travel, and the Spanish Road proved to be the answer. Parts of the road were already in use, but it was Philip II of Spain in 1565, who brought it together when he decided to link up his separate territories through a route that travelled through them and neutral territory. Merchants came to regularly use parts of the road between France and Italy to trade goods with neighboring countries. The main territories it linked were Franche-Comté, Luxembourg, and the territories of allies, Lorraine and Savoy.

The layout of the Spanish Road was a large improvement over the previous system of moving troops through neutral territory. Maps used for Spanish expeditions had only the information that pertained directly to the military, excluding any other details. However, this forced the armies to use guides and scouts when they crossed unfamiliar terrain, since their extremely generalized maps could not guide them. Travelling along the road took an average of 12 miles a day, although, in 1577 Spanish veterans left the Netherlands and marched 15 miles a day because of the heat, and in 1578, they made the trip at the rate of 23 miles a day during the cold month of February.