Spanish Fury at Antwerp

November 4, 1576

Unpaid Spanish troops mutinied and sacked Antwerp, the richest city in Europe, killing seven thousand citizens and looting for three days. The Spanish Fury drove the southern Netherlands into alliance with the rebellious north at the Pacification of Ghent, briefly uniting all seventeen provinces against Madrid. The sack destroyed Antwerp's commercial preeminence and triggered the merchant exodus to Amsterdam that initiated the Dutch Golden Age.