Dutch Defiance: The (Staggering) Siege of Breda 1624/25 

These detailed siege videos are a passion project of ours and are pretty time-consuming to create but they don't do very well with a broader audience. We like to make them, so we probably won't stop covering the Eighty Years War and the like, but it seems that not as many people are interested in this time period. This is probably because most viewers don't know what names like Breda, Geertruidenberg, Haarlem or Antwerp (or Lützen & Breitenfeld) actually refer to. It would probably be much easier to get clicks by covering WWI (we won't change the focus of the channel, don't worry). Anyways, if you think our coverage is worth a coffee a month, then please do check out our Patreon account. It is simply the easiest way to make sure that we can continue doing videos that we like doing for the sake of it instead of optimizing for a more general viewership or whatever the RU-vid-algorithm demands. Patreon-link: www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory Further explanation: As you probably already know RU-vid doesn't really favor your channel when you publish content that doesn't do as well as other videos; for us this means we would do much better if we would just do things like Keelhauling or general overview videos that appeal to many viewers. In general, we lose a lot of traffic by covering things like the Eighty Years War and thus some other videos might never gain momentum. This also means agencies will pay you significantly less money for sponsorings because your average view count is not very high. Consequently, they're hesitant to invest in you in general. Anyways, thanks for the support to everybody who sticks around week after week; also, thanks for all the comments and suggestions as well (we do read most of them but answering everything is a Herculean task...)!

Keep up the awesome work man. You're literally one of the only youtubers covering this time period and the fact you do it with such detail and passion is quite simply astonishing.

I study in Breda and can confirm the people there look exactly like you depicted them here. Great work!

As a native of Breda I approve of this video. Fun fact: between Breda and Terheijden there still is an earthwork that is known as the Spinolaschans.

SandRhoman brings his own narrative, style, attitude. He creates something noone else does.

As a Spanish fan of your channel I can’t thank you enough for the quality of your channel,your valuable military analysis and personally also how you treat Spain in this period,unlike most other history channels in English I would definitely become a patron if it was a bit cheaper and I could allow it,now I can only support you with likes

Spinola Alesia-d his way through... for a year.

I've been up for 30 hours or so that I thought the thumbnail and title was an actual game where you have to keep a siege alive to starve out the city, and I was hyped!

Where did you learn to do your animations? From the little vignettes with animated soldiers, to the maps and their various overviews. They are all amazing.

You have a good voice for ancient and medieval warfare histories. You are very good at pronouncing the names of the people involved, cities/towns, army/naval units, and of the fortresses. It appears you speak more than a couple European languages and you can tell by your enthusiasm that you enjoy bringing the historical battles of long ago to the hundreds of thousands of subscribers who view your work. Being an American veteran of the war in Iraq and fan of military history I enjoy your stories immensely. Most Americans find, what to us are foreign accents, interesting to listen to and you definitely have a European accent and the way you say the proper names of the above listed subjects, sounds to at least this listener, must be the correct in that specific country's language and with the correct inflections and accent. You keep making them and I will keep watching them. Thanks for all your hard work

I kind of expected you to cover the siege of 1590 as well since that siege is really famous for it's famous 'Trojan Horse' strategy in the form of a peat barge.

3:04 Berg' op Zoom! So this is the town that is citated in the song Unser Liebe Fraue!

My favorite history channel on RU-vid. Thanks so much man.

I don't know why but your vids about sieges during 80 Years' War are undoubtedly the best. Maybe try to make some vids about War of Spanish Succession sieges or some sieges during colonial wars in North America.

Greetings from Breda! :D

I must say i am very impressed how you are able to pronunciate all the Dutch place names. Good job!

This battle arguably caused the present day split between Belgium and the Netherlands. Obviously, this would actually only manifest itself in the 1830s. But the split in the 1830s was possible because of differences that both sides had accumulated uptil then. (Belgium in the 1830s perhaps didn't proactively aspired independence, but many Belgian people had a clear notion that they didn't want to be part of France, Prussia or the Netherlands, and so independence was preferable.) The siege of Breda was the most clear exacerbation of differences between north and south: the Dutch simply couldn't beat the Spanish or retake the south, while the Spanish Habsburgs could no longer financially pay for their victories. The Dutch would focus more on colonial warfare, while the Spanish became increasingly drawn into the Thirty Years' War. The result was that the once wealthy Duchy of Brabant, an important medieval harbinger of Dutch language and music, was essentially split in two, with many of it's catholic inhabitants basically becoming second class citizens without representation in the Dutch Republic. Those 200 years of differences couldn't simply be swept aside after the Napoleonic wars. This might or might not have been a definitive cause, but it certainly reinforced the Belgian idea of being different.

*Kaptain Alatriste flashbacks intensify*

I was wondering if you would ever do a talk on communication in historical armies; how did commanders coordinate their units on the battlefield to execute their tactics? Was it simply flags somehow, colored to indicate certain movements? Really interesting as always!

I love this channel!. I can't find a single thing to complain about. And your animations! Very, very good. No, excellent!

Oh! Alatriste is in top 3 of my all time favorite movies that I have forgotten and remembered like 20 times! Now I need to watch it once more..! :)

So, How much Fortification you need? 16th Century IRON FIST: YESSSSS

I am a proud Bredanaar, born and raised! So cool to see the town names. Because of that i can actually imagine where the spanish armies would've been. Amazing video, thank you.

Your channel is such a gem mate, I wish my dutch school would have teached this, these battles are SO amazing!

I´m a spanish totally hooked to your channel. You don't know how GLAD I am to see you don't depict us as evil, bloodthirsty thiefs. Beyond that, I´m grateful, just grateful. Is incredibly difficult to find a quality history channel in english that does not ridiculize us or look down to our deeds. You are a great teacher and I´m sure a great man.

As a real Bredanaar I can say this is an amazing piece of art! Really nice to see the history of my home town.

Thank you for this great video! I have been waiting for the Siege of Breda for a long time. Also great that you mention Allatriste, sad that the siege was only briefly covered (although with brutal scenes in the mines). Please keep up the good work!

These videos are fantastically made. It’s great to see something new that most channels won’t cover. Keep up the great work! A suggestion is to make a video about how army logistics worked during this time period. I feel like it’s an important thing that is rarely presented in depth.

Your videos are so Incredible, i am Dutch, this is the story of my people, and no one ever tells it like you do.

Best history channel on youtube. Thanks for your amazing work!!

Very cool to see this. Especially because it’s in my area and I was teaches this at school when I was a kid. You did a great refresher!

My favourite history channel. Looking forward to see this video.

I am glad you included the masterpiece by Velazquez, La Rendicion de Breda. I have studied this seige a good bit, read a couple of books about it. I learned more in your 25 minute video, and it was more entertaining!

oh yesss, this is gonna be good!!!

Thank you for covering this war. It is really great that these events have there own videos on youtube

This video and your others on the same war are absolutely my favourite corner of youtube, thank you so much for making them!!!

10:46 In other words: “Hey, bro, I heard you like forts so I put forts on your forts.”

I love these documentaries. All your troop analysis, sieges are so detailed and good to follow. These sieges are extra interesting as I didn't know much of it. Thanks do much for sharing!

Amazing work as usual. Always excited to see a new video pop up.

God I love those videos! This channel made me interested in a time period that I was only vague aware of. Too bad I don't have any free money, but I hope atleast comment will amount for something.

Incredible quality. Well done.

you are quickly becoming one of my favourite channels on the internet. Thanks for a lot of nice content, keep up the good work !

I love the graphics you use, not overly confident or expensive but they give tons of information and add flair to the videos

thanks for the work you've done

Just went on patreon to say thank you. Keep up the good work

Your 80 years war content is phenomenal!

Just beautiful graphics! I really think your presentation is among the very best I have ever seen on YT. Salut!

learnt about it from Alatriste, good you finally made the Breda vid, i really hoped you would do

Okay, that Dutch (Spanish?) chef is my new favorite bit of Sandrhoman art.

I've lived in Breda for my entire life. Very nice to see some of the history of my city on youtube.

Great video as always

its so awsome to hear a story once thought in school in such depth, thank you for maiing these amazing videos.

Great job ! i really love your style man :D

Excellent watch, very interesting!

Really nicely narrated end of the video. Well done 👏

thank you for bringing light to some of the Dutch History (even though it is a strategic loss). I was once part of the Royal Military Academy, which is situated in the "Castle of Breda", We heard about the history that it had in the 80 years war and were part of that history, because we were right on the site of it. The way you bring history to live is commemorated!!

alatriste is a wondeerful film. Thanks for mentioning it

Thanks for letting this period of history shine!

Finally more 80 years war sieges. Keep up the great work!

Amazing Work! Shame that it doesn’t get as many viewers. Extremely High Production Value!

Great job on the pronunciation of all these names!

Great video, thanks!

Your videos are so good man keep up the good work

Finally! I wanted to see this for soooooo long!

Thank you for making this vid! I live near Breda and I'm well aware of the historic value of all the routes and surroundings.

I love these, watched every one of them

Awesome content men 👏 !

This is an amazing channel.

Very interesting. Thanks

I was pretty surprised how few of the defenders were left after the siege.

Absolutely staggering! Great video, as always.

I really enjoy your videos

Always love your videos on the Dutch Revolt; keep it up!

I live in Breda. It's cool to hear so in depth about the struggles and fights here centuries ago. Adds a whole new dimension to the city (which now seems so peacefully and small haha.

Amazing videos

Great video

I read your comment en symphatize with your struggle. I hope you find a way to keep making these videos while also growing your channel. Maybe try experiment with combining more general info content and then practical real world examples from this part of history, thereby drawing in a bigger audience while still being able to go deeper into actual situations where these concepts you explained will be shown. Good luck and thank you for the great content you provide! I personally love these detailed siege videos, and the open battle videos you make, the most.

I'm from Terheijden and live in Made right now. In Terheijden the fortifications are still there from that time, called the Spinozaschans. The schans at the Hartelberg is also still there. I knew they were siege works, but I never knew the prince stayed in Made before.

According to my account your channel is the best history channel

amazing video as always. but is a video about the siege of groenlo in the pipeline? last semester i needed to make a poster about the history and archeological finds near groenlo and it would have been a lot easier if i could have had your video an sources to help out. keep up the amzing work dude.

I’m from Breda and never had such a clear history class of my own city. Thanks for all this great detailed information.

Awesome to see this covered, you should do a video on the liberation of Breda as well. With adriaan van Bergen en het turfschip.

Another great one ! Greetings from Antwerpen !

I loved this story. And a famous telling in the Netherlands is how they conquered it back through a cunning trick.

You make staggering my favorite world in the english language Tank you

Today Ginneken is merely a small neighbourhood of Breda. Pity that only a small section of the wall still remains.

Geweldige video weer !

I love these videos

Good as always.

A great siege may not have the same visual flair as a pitched battle but if anything they require even more courage, skiil, and of course endurance to see through successfully. Popular history often doesn't quite give them their deserts.

The algorithm is a cruel mistress for not bringing me here sooner.

Great video, got a thumbs up from me 👍

Really cool video! Love to learn about my second home town

Learned something new about Dutch history today🤯😊

Nice video. Was about time someone cover the 80 year war.

When I hear about Breda, my mind immediately goes to the city's liberation in 1944 by the successors of the winged hussars. It's definitely interesting to learn about the earlier history of the city.

Great video. I am spanish and loved how accurate it was.

Very interesting! As a Brit we get little European history: a bit of the 100 Years' War i.e. Crecy & Agincourt, then Nothing until Napoleon, a brief nod to the Franco-Prussian omitting the Siege of Paris & the Commune then on to WW1 & 2. So this channel is filling in the gaps very nicely. Great work👍

very cool, i have never been tought the importance of breda when we learned about the 80 years war, also could you do a in depth video on the defensive architecture, especially what they call the "spanjaardsgat" the spaniardshole ( love your video's btw)

I have such respect for how you make a conscious effort to correctly pronounce foreign names. You get it pretty much spot on every time as far as I can tell. But even if you didn't it's the effort that I care about. Nobody expects anyone to be able to perfectly pronounce things in languages that aren't theirs, but I think it shows a lack of respect when youtubers are not prepared to spend 30 seconds to at least get a rough idea about how certain words are supposed to sound.