Warmatrix

Portrait of Alexander Farnese by Otto van Veen

Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma, was a very able military commander and diplomat. He reversed the tide in the Eighty Years' War and restored Spanish rule in the southern Netherlands.
Farnese was born in 1545 CE as the son of duke Ottavio Farnese of Parma, in a family with a condottieri tradition. He was not brought up in Italy, but in Spain. His youth interests were martial: hunting, riding and warfare. There was little opportunity for him to fight in actual wars, with the exception of his participation in the Battle of Lepanto. Things changed in 1578 CE, when Philip II of Spain sent him to the Netherlands. There he proved his worth in the Battle of Gembloux against the Dutch, who six years earlier had revolted against Spanish rule, starting the Eighty Years' War. When John of austria, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, died, Philip appointed Farnese both governor-general and captain-general.
In the war, Farnese immediately proved himself an able commander, both strategically and tactically. He exploited the division between catholics and protestants among his enemies, siding with the former but not treating the latter hard. In response to the northern Union of Utrecht, he established the Union of Atrecht in the south. His army, only 15,000 strong, was in poor shape, but he nonetheless won many cities by calculated sieges. He avoided the errors of his predecessors and offered generous terms to those who surrendered, to weaken resistance and keep the sieges short.
In 1582 CE he persuaded Philip to sent reinforcements, bolstering his army to 60,000 men. By selecting his targets with keen insight, he cut communications between Antwerp and Brussels and threatened the Dutch republic with encirclement. Antwerp was now isolated and in 1585 CE he captured it after a year-long siege, the pinnacle of his military career. After nine years of fighting he had reconquered most of the Netherlands and might have pressed further, however the winds of fate changed.
In 1586 CE Farnese's father died and he became duke of Parma, the title under which many know him. Elizabeth I of England, frightened by Farnese's capture of Antwerp, started seriously helping out the Dutch rebels. In response Philip planned an invasion of England. The mighty Spanish Armada was to give naval support; Farnese to provide the land army. He seems to have had little faith in the chances of success of the mission, but nonetheless gathered a large army and took the ports of Ostend and Sluis. But the Spanish armada was defeated and the invasion never materialized.
Farnese turned his attention back north, where the Dutch had recovered. In 1589 CE Spain got involved in a war with France and he had to shift his focus yet again. In France he took Rouen, then was wounded at Caudebec. The wound rapidly took away his health, which had been declining for several years, and in 1592 CE he died in Arras.