Maurice of Nassau

Timeline

1. 1567–1584Dillenburg · HesseBorn into the House of Nassau, he followed his mother into exile in Germany after the assassination of his father William I, receiving military and classical education at Dillenburg and elsewhere, laying the foundation for his later career as a commander.
2. 1585–1590The Hague · Dutch RepublicIn 1585 he succeeded his father as stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, cooperating with statesmen such as Johan van Oldenbarnevelt to reform finances and defenses and beginning to build a new republican army.
3. 1591–1600Southern Netherlands battlefield · FlandersIn the 1590s he led sieges of cities such as Breda and Heusden, introducing linear formations and drill manuals, and in 1600 defeated the Spanish Archduke Albert at the Battle of Nieuwpoort, marking the establishment of the Republic's military superiority.
4. 1601–1625The Hague · Dutch RepublicHe continued as stadtholder of several provinces and intervened in the war against Spain at the start of the Thirty Years' War, later clashing fiercely with Oldenbarnevelt over the truce and church policy, tacitly allowing the latter's execution in 1619, and dying at The Hague in 1625.