Siege of Venlo ( 1637 ) The Siege of Venlo was an important siege in the Eighty Years ' War that lasted from 20 to 25 August 1637 . The Cardinal - Infante Ferdinand of Austria , Governor of the Spanish Netherlands , retook the city of Venlo from the United Provinces , which had taken control of it in 1632 during the offensive of Frederick Henry , Prince of Orange against Maastricht . Venlo remained in Spanish hands for the rest of the war , balancing along with Roermond , surrendered to the Cardinal - Infante a week later , the loss of Breda to the Dutch in October of the same year . Background . After recovery of the Dutch fortress of Schenk in April 1636 , Spain adopted a defensive strategy in the Dutch front of the war between the United Provinces and France against Spain . In the first months of 1636 , the Count - Duke of Olivares insisted the Cardinal - Infante to continue concentrating the war effort in exploiting his gains in the Lower Rhine and in northern Brabant rather than in an offensive against France . In late May , however , the offensive operations were suspended and a secondary thrust was launched into France . The invasion succeeded in capturing a large number of fortresses and menaced Paris , but Ferdinand considered that more ambitious operations could risk his army and retreated . For the campaign of 1637 Olivares planned a renewed offensive against France , so Ferdinand began to mass his forces on the French border . In July the statholder Frederick Henry , Prince of Orange , seized the moment and marched into northern Barbant in command of an army of 18 , 000 soldiers determined to besiege Breda . On 21 July 1637 some Dutch cavalry under Henry Casimir I of Nassau - Dietz attempted to surprise the garrison of Breda , but the gates were closed in time and the Dutch skirmishers driven back . From 23 July the Dutch captured a number of villages around the city and then started to dig a double line of circumvallation that would eventually reach a circumference of 34 km . An outer contravallation defended the besiegers from outside interference , and outside this area the low - lying countryside was inundated by damming a few rivers . The Cardinal - Infante , who had come with his army to Breda , found no way to relieve the city and decided to open an offensive against the Dutch in the Maas valley . Siege . Ferdinand abandoned Goirle and Tilburg and marched with his army to Hilvarenbeek , where his troops crossed the Dommel river over the bridge of Halder , located a league from Den Bosch , and camped in Helmond , Neerwert , Heutsingben , and Rogelen . He ordered the Marquis Sigismondo Sfondrati to cross the Meuse through the bridge of Gennep with some companies and wend to Venlo , where he arrived the next day . By then the garrison had been warned , but Ferdinand decided to invest the town and entrusted this task to the Marquis of Sfondrati . They confronted the governor of Venlo , Nicolaas van Brederode , a bastard of the noble family of van Brederode who has at his disposition 15 companies of infantry and some cavalry troops amounting to a total of 1 , 000 or 1 , 200 men . Van Brederode judged that he had no enough troops to defend the inside and outside of the town , so he ordered his troops to guard the gates and the boulevards and assigned the rest to the burghers of the town . The Cardinal - Infante arrived at the camp the next day and divided his army into four corps . One was placed in command of the Count John of Nassau and was quartered with the troops of the Count of Rietberg and other imperial troops , another marched to the north led by of the Count of Ribecourt , consisting of two regiments and troops from Fratras , Geldre , Gennep and Brion . Colonel Roveroy quartered his troops , the regiments of Faramont and Lodrons , south of the city , and the Count of Feria did it on the east with the Spanish Tercio of the Marquis of Velada , the Old Tercio of the Count of Fuenclara , all the baggage , and the court of the Cardinal - Infante . When the camp was ready , trench es began to be dug , both from the horn of Blerick and from three other locations . At the same time were made the approaches and at each quartes was built a battery of five cannons that began to beat the town incessantly . At first the garrison of Venlo and the burghers responded to this fire with their artillery , but when the Spanish advanced in their approaches and set fire to the town with their shells , the burghers rebelled against Van Brederode and went to City Hall to demand to the magistrates that sued the governor for a cessation of hostilities . Meanwhile , the women climbed the walls and begged for mercy to the Spanish . Van Brederode decided then to send a drummer called Corneille Poorter to negotiate the surrender with the Cardinal - Infante . Aftermath . The Cardinal - Infante , surprised by the ease of the victory , left some troops in Venlo and continued his offensive . A week later his cavalry rapidly invested the town of Roermond , defended by a Colonel called Carpentier , and after another heavy bombardment forced its garrison to surrender . 1 , 100 Dutch infantry soldiers and 2 companies of cavalry left the town with weapons and baggage , and were convoyed to Grave . Ferdinand considered then besieging then Grave , Nijmegen or perhaps Maastricht , but advised by his commanders , he finally decided to cease the offensive alarmed by French advances in the south . The capture of Venlo and Roermond , nevertheless , was joyful received by the Southern Netherlands populace and allowed Ferdinand to isolate Maastritch from the United Provinces . However , Frederick Henry refused to lift the siege of Breda despite this setback and the city finally surrendered to him on October 11 . The loss of Breda supposed a considerable blow to Philip ' s IV prestige , as Breda was a symbol of the Spanish power in Europe .