Capture of Axel

The Capture of Axel was a military event during the Dutch Revolt and the Anglo–Spanish War in which the town of Axel, defended by the Spanish, was captured by an Anglo-Dutch force led by Sir Philip Sidney, with the garrison being put to the sword. It was also the first feat of Maurice of Nassau.

Maurice of Nassau was appointed stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland on his eighteenth birthday in 1585 and in the following year he began leading the fight.

Axel, a town in the County of Zeeland, was an important fortified city on the southwestern edge of the Scheldt estuary and had been in the hands of the Spaniards since 1583 when Alexander Farnese, the later Duke of Parma, had captured the place. The acquisition would make the Dutch and English holdings in the area such as Ostend and Sluys more secure and a reasonable base from which to launch attacks.