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Battlefield Royal: Prince Maurits van Nassau

Maurits Van Nassau, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, was one of the great military geniuses of his time and one of the most influential military commanders in the history of war. He seemed to have been destined for martial greatness from the day he was born. That day was November 14, 1567, in what is now Germany, the son of Prince Willem the Silent (who would instigate the Dutch war of independence from Spain) and his wife Princess Anna of Saxony. He was named after his grandfather Maurice, Elector of Saxony, a noted general who greatly expanded the influence of his branch of the venerable Wettin dynasty. He grew up being trained for leadership as, although the emerging Netherlands was republican in style, they looked to the Princes of Orange for leadership. Maurits studied in that great center of German learning of Heidelberg before moving on to Leiden where he was schooled alongside his brother, Filips Willem, the eldest son and heir of Willem the Silent. The Dutch businessmen who were the leaders in their community paid for this education as Willem the Silent had sacrificed the family fortune carrying on the struggle against the Spanish.

As the second son, Maurits van Nassau was expected to be a military leader rather than a political one and he grew up to be what we might now call a rough character. He never married, being totally unsuited to the domestic setting, and preferred the occasional mistress while spending most of his time living rough in the field with his troops (though he did father a number of children by his mistresses). After the murder of their father in 1584 in Delft, Maurits van Nassau took up some positions of leadership right away even though his brother, Filips Willem, became Prince of Orange. There was some, mostly long-distance, trouble between the two and their opposing factions of supporters. Part of this was political and part was religious as Prince Filips Willem was a Catholic and Maurits was a Protestant. Eventually, however, his brother died and Maurits van Nassau succeeded as Prince of Orange and was promptly elected Stadtholder of the United Provinces. As he also held the position of Captain-General and Admiral-General of the Dutch forces, it would be largely left to him to win the war against Spain his father had started for an independent Netherlands.

The only way to do this was on the battlefield and there, Maurits van Nassau was a real ‘Dutch master’. He set about his task with methodical and comprehensive dedication the Dutch were known for. He studied the Roman history of warfare, learning from their methods of organization. Mathematically gifted, it was only natural that he would develop a new, more streamlined, method of marshaling troops for battle. Prior to this time, armies were little more than armed mobs, lacking cohesive units and set command structures. Prince Maurits changed this and divided his army up into smaller units (the birth of the modern battalion) which could be much more easily maneuvered on the field. He also developed a totally new method of deployment. The established military wisdom of the day was to arrange troops in very deep formations (military paintings of the period will show huge, solid squares of soldiers jammed together) so that continuous strength could be pushed forward with rear ranks immediately moving up to take the places of those killed. Prince Maurits recognized that this effectively wasted a large portion of the army as those in the rear ranks had to wait their turn at the front-line and, indeed, might go through a whole battle without seeing action at all. Maurits thinned out the ranks into longer lines, pikemen in the middle and musketeers on the flanks, so that as many guns as possible could give fire on the enemy from start to finish.

Some questioned how he would make up for losses and plug gaps in the line with this new tactical formation. That’s where his new battalions would come in. With the army organized into these smaller units they could be maneuvered even in the midst of battle to take up new positions where there was danger. Maurits van Nassau also placed a great deal of emphasis on training and drill in order to accomplish these battlefield maneuvers. He also took care to arm his men with the latest weapons; lighter muskets, muskets with greater range and he organized his artillery according to caliber so that the right weapons could be brought up for the right job. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, battles had more often than not consisted of mixed mobs of soldiers having at each other with commanders having little to do once the battle was joined but to inspire their men. Maurits van Nassau changed all that for good.

He poured over books on tactics, strategy, astronomy and every possible subject that could help him in his task. Intense study, combined with his own extensive battlefield experience made him one of the great military strategists in Europe. What had been a rather unorganized revolt against Spanish authority became a very organized and state of the art war effort under his leadership. As he lacked the well established authority of a monarch, he also knew that his continued leadership would depend on achieving quick and significant victories. The war in the Netherlands was one dominated by battles for cities and fortresses more than clashes in open fields and so siege warfare was paramount. It helped that Prince Maurits had taught himself to be a master of mathematics and when he set to work on taking Spanish positions his genius was evident. More than in any other field, the legacy of Maurits van Nassau would be most felt in his contributions to the development of siege warfare. He was the first to integrate artillery and engineer units into the infantry and engineering was something necessity had long made the Dutch experts at anyway, which gave them a considerable edge.

In 1590 he took Breda, in 1592 Steenwijk, and Geertruidenberg was captured by his forces in 1593. Prince Maurits also took great care that his soldiers were well trained, disciplined, well paid and that they had competent officers. He encouraged his officers to sit in on classes at local universities and finally established himself the first modern military academy for the specific training of army officers. Many future victorious Dutch commanders as well as future generals in the English Civil War learned their trade under Maurits van Nassau. After securing a string of victories in taking Spanish-held cities, he put his engineers to work building a defensive line that could be easily held while he used his highly expert and fast moving army to continue to harass the Spanish forces in the south. One of his greatest victories came on January 24, 1597 when he moved under cover of bad weather with 7,000 men to attack 6,000 Spaniards at Tournhout. His victory was so complete that Dutch losses numbered only 100 dead while the Spanish lost some 2,500 men. Three years later he invaded Flanders and won another crushing victory at Nieupoort but it was a costly one and this, combined with his long and vulnerable supply lines, convinced him to abandon Belgium and return north.

Back in the United Provinces he won a number of smaller battles while also having to deal with a challenge to his political power from Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. From almost the very beginning the Dutch republic was divided between those who favored a more ‘republican’ republic and those supporters of the House of Orange who favored something more monarchial. In the end, for the time being at least, Prince Maurits was successful in making himself the unquestioned leader of the Netherlands. However, the years and battles were catching up with him by that time. He had convinced his half brother, Prince Fredrik Hendrik, to marry and have children to continue the Orange dynasty and soon set back off to continue the fight with the Spanish. However, it would be his last campaign and accomplished no stunning successes for the first time in his career. Prince Maurits van Nassau, Prince of Orange, died of a liver problem on April 23, 1625, seeming much older than his 57 years. His life was over but his legacy would go on.

Unlike other great military leaders, Maurits van Nassau never held off hordes of foreign armies nor did he conquer vast tracts of enemy territory. However, his battles were brilliantly conducted and his sieges absolute masterpieces of strategic thinking. His establishment of the battalion as the primary unit of battlefield maneuver set the pattern for armies up until only very recently and his innovations in siege craft, organization of troops and the training of officers is still felt very much today. The great Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus borrowed from his book extensively and, with a few improvements of his own, became one of the influential captains of history. Almost every subsequent giant in the art of war owes something, whether they realize it or not, to the groundbreaking work done by Prince Maurits van Nassau. It would be some time longer before the war with Spain was finally and completely won but it almost certainly would not have happened were it not for the efforts of Prince Maurits and, therefore, the very existence of the modern Kingdom of Netherlands is owed, at least in part, to him and his achievements.

Favorite Royal Images: King William III

Depending on the calendar (Julian or Gregorian) this was the day in history that the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim were fought, either way, a good day for King Billy and a bad day for King Jamie. Here we have a portrait of the little Prince of Orange and future King William III of England painted by the Dutch master Jan de Baen who also worked for King Charles II during his exile and who turned down an offer to be court painter for the Elector of Brandenburg. And I think I've already mentioned how much I like portraits of royal figures trying to look like a conquering Caesar -no matter their age or background.

Dutch Royals Visit New York

(left to right: Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, HRH Princess Maxima, HRH Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton)

The heir to the Dutch throne and his wife are visiting New York City, being shown the sites by Mayor Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton, to start a week-long commemoration of the arrival of the Dutch in New York (which they had named New Netherland) some 400 years ago. The Prince and Princess of Orange were greeted with a 21-gun salute and music by the US Marine Corps band as they addressed the crowd from the deck of the USS Intrepid. Alongside in the harbor were a number of watching ships including an exact replica of the famous Half Moon; the Dutch vessel that carried Henry Hudson to the New World those many centuries ago. The Prince of Orange spoke well of New York and Mayor Bloomberg and Hillary outlined the long shared history of the Netherlands and the United States, Bloomberg making mention of the Royal Netherlands forces fighting alongside the US military in Afghanistan today. 400 Years ago the Dutch established a colony in what is now New York, which they named New Netherland and held for a fair amount of time before being conquered by the English who renamed the area New York in honor of the First Lord of the Admiralty, who was then the Duke of York, who later went on to become King James II of Great Britain. You can read the details at the New York Daily News.

Prince of Orange Honors Veterans

Today is Veterans Day in the Netherlands and HRH Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, will be in The Hague to attend official events honoring the 125,000 Dutch veterans. The Prince has undergone his training and service in the Dutch military and has always shown special attention to his future subjects who have served in unform for Queen and Country. Earlier this year, in April, the Prince of Orange made a surprise visit to Dutch troops in Afghanistan which was a great boost to morale. Perhaps this would be an appropriate occasion to comment on the often overlooked but long and disntinguished tradition of military service in the Netherlands. From their first, long, war for independence from Spain the Dutch became renowned military engineers and masters at siege warfare. A past Prince of Orange, Maurice of Nassau, son of Willem the Silent, stands out as one of the greatest generals in military history for his innovative tactics and training methods. On the seas the Dutch have long enjoyed an illustrious reputation particularly the legendary Amiral Maarten Van Tromp who was a great hero in the war against the vile regime of Cromwellian England. Whether their struggles resulted in victory or defeat the Dutch proved their courage on battlefields as far flung as the English Channel to Taiwan. During World War II, caught off guard, the Dutch struggled against overwhelming odds for four days in their homeland and fought a colonial and naval war against the Japanese in Indonesia. It is a little known fact that in the opening days of the War in the Pacific the tiny Dutch submarine flotilla based out of Indonesia actually sank more Japanese shipping than the whole US Navy sub fleet. In more recent years Royal Dutch forces have been deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan where they have participated in several hard-fighting combat operations. The Mad Monarchists salutes the Dutch veterans who have fought and are fighting for their monarch.

Anniversary of Orange Elevation

Today marks the anniversary of the enthronement of King William III and Queen Mary II following the Dutch invasion led by William of Orange, since called the "Glorious Revolution" which deposed the lawful monarch, his father-in-law, King James VII of Scotland and II of England. Of course, it was not as bad as most revolutions in that the British monarchy was not abolished altogether but it certainly saw its weakening and was a major triumph for the same faction that had murdered King Charles I and so hindered and harassed King Charles II; that is, the faction which wanted the absolute power in the country to be Parliament rather than the Crown. They had never really been defeated on the battlefield and so, even when forced to agree to the recall of Charles II, they never considered themselves beaten and still acted like the masters of the Crown. It was this spirit which caused them to so bedevil Charles II on the subject of the succession.
Of course, Charles II would have none of their intereference and insisted that the succession was in the hands of God alone and no one on earth could tamper with it. Because of that, James II became King after him and the Parliament plotted his overthrow and replacement by a pock-marked, asthmatic, hunchbacked Dutch republican simply on the grounds that he was a Protestant and would be content to let Parliament rule the British Isles so long as it served the interests of the United Provinces in their war against the Kingdom of France. The "Glorious Revolution" and the eventual coronation of William III and Mary II set another dangerous precedent and it is hard for me to determine how any monarchist can regard the affair as a totally good thing. Putting aside, for a moment, the villainy of treason against the legitimate, lawful monarch, what about the treason of a daughter against her father? For children to honor their parents is a Biblican command -not a suggestion.
Since that time Parliament has been the power in the British Isles (in fact if not name) and they know it and every monarch that has sat on the throne since have known it. Things might have been different had events at the Boyne or Culloden gone differently but it was not to be. The Stuarts were gone and the Oranges, later the Hanoverians, were the new Royal Family. Given the recent speculation over the possible amendment of the Act of Settlement, and all the uproar over that, I find it humorously ironic that it is the monarchists of the proud, Protestant Orange camp who most object to any change in the succession, to lifting the ban on Catholic marriages and to any changes that might effect the succession in the future. I wonder if they are aware that it was their own ideological forefathers who set the precedent of Parliament having control of the succession in the first place?