The period between the Capture of Brielle (1 April 1572) and the Pacification of Ghent (8 November 1576) was an early stage of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) between the Spanish Empire and groups of rebels in the Habsburg Netherlands.
After Watergeuzen (in English known as "Sea Beggars") seized several poorly defended towns and cities in Holland and Zeeland in April 1572, the exiled stadtholder William "the Silent" of Orange launched his second invasion of the Netherlands from the east in another attempt to generate a general uprising against the repressive regime of Spanish General-Governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba.