Unlike Spain, it has a mild Mediterranean climate and is famous for its frozen lakes and canals. So why did its king contact craftsmen and ask them to drop everything and make 7000 pairs of skates? As early as 1572, there were indoor skating rinks, hockey, ice dancing for two or Disney on ice. 7,000 Spaniards have heard that skating is unlikely, let alone willing to stand on the smooth ground.
Spanish acquisition
Remember, there was a time when Spain controlled most of the world-not only the New World or Africa, but also Europe. One of them is the "Seventeen Provinces", which consists of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of France and Germany. 1482 Lady duke of burgundy acquired this land when she married the Spanish royal family.
The Dutch got the original part of the deal. As Spain's holding company in the northernmost part of Europe, this means that even a small bureaucratic decision will have to wait for weeks or months, while cavalry or boats only need to travel 2200 miles from Amsterdam to Seville.
It was bad enough. Then the Spanish Inquisition.
with a clear conscience/have a clear conscience
During this period, the king of Spain was also the emperor of the holy Roman Empire of the German nation. This is one of the reasons why the king and queen of Spain have extreme faith in the Roman Catholic Church. 1492, they forced Jews and * * * to convert or leave the country. Then they established the infamous Inquisition to eradicate atheists, free thinkers, wrong Christians and "former" Jews and * * *, who just pretended to convert to Catholicism. Torture, extorting confessions and burning at stake are common means to save the souls of Catholics who are considered insufficient.
Another Martin Luther
1566, King Philip II of Spain received disturbing news about his northernmost province. There, people like Martin Luther and john calvin have sown the seeds of Protestantism, and poisonous weeds are taking root deeply. After trying a slightly milder method, Philip sent Spanish troops and ordered them to use any necessary means to scare off the Dutch. But the Dutch did not thank Philip II for his concern for their immortal souls, but rose up and resisted.
Philip redoubled his efforts. Of course, the result is that many provinces in the Netherlands-even Catholics and usually pro-Spanish aristocrats-are opposed to Spanish rule. However, not all people. Some towns are crowded with people who still consider themselves Catholics and loyal subjects (or don't want to get into trouble). They take pains to welcome and appease the army, such as 1572 1 1.
The citizens of Naton invited the invading army to a banquet and tried to surrender to Spain through negotiations. After food, toast and friendship, the army gathered 3000 citizens in the church, attacked them with swords, and then burned the survivors alive. Other towns were also shot at, and an estimated 65,438+08,000 men, women and children were executed.
Dutch threat
The news soon spread to other parts of Holland. If cooperation and surrender are not an option, resistance is the only option. But it's not easy.
At the end of August, 1573, the Spanish marched into Amsterdam, and there was no military resistance in the small cities along the way. Their leaders are desperately considering the almost non-existent choice: the cold weather is just around the corner, and it is feasible to hide in the Woods without even evacuating residents.
Holland has no defensive highlands. On the contrary, most villages in the Netherlands are flat (Dutch M means "lowland") and filled with swamps, lakes and even the seabed. 25% of the country's land is below sea level, and most of the rest is only slightly above sea level. How do you defend this land? "Amsterdam
Unchanged
Perhaps inspired by the biblical story, the Israelis lured the Egyptian army to die in the muddy sea, and the leaders of Alkmar decided on a crazy plan, which might not work: they would save their town by flooding. Volunteers went to work with shovels and pickaxes, and dug a hole in the dam and dam so that the river would not be affected. When the Spanish arrived, they found a huge shallow lake, and the map showed farmland. In the center of the city, it is almost above the water, and the city is located on an island.
The residents of the town flooded the land with just enough water, making it too shallow for the military transport ship, but too deep, and they could not walk through it unless they succumbed to the cold or the archers' arrows hidden behind trees and dam walls. Even in warm weather, water will slow down attackers and leave them nowhere to hide. The Spaniard looked at the setting and decided to bypass rather than pass, so that the city would not be hurt ... At present.
Other towns have followed suit and used small fast bottom boats to bypass. As many lands became temporary inland sea, the Spanish retreated to their ships and decided to attack through Amsterdam Port. They know that winter is coming, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. In fact, this may be a solution, because all these impassable water defense systems will freeze into ice roads and lead directly to the hitherto unpunished Dutch strongholds. The Spanish watched and waited, and a few months later,
Hans Brink Mahip
The Dutch fleet was frozen in the port of Amsterdam, giving the Spanish a chance to try their strategy. Using helpless ships and undefended coastlines, the Spanish army was ordered to March across the ice on foot to attack the ship "Sitting Duck".
When crossing the ice carefully, I met a terrible ghost. In the distance, they saw a dark, deformed human moving towards them at an alarming speed, then splitting like an amoeba and occupying their position in all directions.
Here comes the trouble.
At that time, roller skates were unknown in Spain. Dutch soldiers glided or flew over the ice at incredible speed, flew into the range enough to launch muskets, and then retreated behind the ice wall, which was different from anything the Spanish had ever seen. At first, the Spanish thought that the Dutch were using some kind of Lutheran witchcraft to plant new appendages so that they could walk on the ice like Satan's war horse. Duque de Alba, the Spanish appointed governor, later recalled with reluctant admiration: "It was unheard of to see a group of musketeers fighting like that on the frozen sea."
Alva didn't stare for long. He ordered a quick retreat, or at least at the speed of Spanish soldiers wearing wet shoes and frostbitten toes. The Dutch master followed closely, sliding Alva and his men off the ice, and selecting hundreds of people in the process. The Dutch won, and now,
General Alva finally commandeered a pair of skates. He sent them back to Spain with a message: If you don't want to lose these distant provinces, we need as many provinces as possible, the sooner the better. This is why the King of Spain ordered 7000 pairs of skates. On the lake in the mountains, the Spanish army began to provide compulsory skating lessons for the next battle.
It's cold and comfortable
Of course, the Dutch learned to skate skillfully from an early age and maintained a certain tactical advantage, but the Spanish did become quite good at skating. However, as defenders, the Dutch have an important advantage: they can let the Spaniards skate here. Literally, by cutting the ice in a tactical position, they can lure the enemy into a deep, usually fatal, icy water. The war lasted for 80 years, sometimes deadlocked and sometimes cruel and terrible. Finally, in 1648, the provinces of the Netherlands and Belgium drove away the Spanish who were already heavily in debt and diluted by defending their empire all over the world. The Dutch will continue to use and improve strategic floods as a defense strategy, increase small fortresses to accommodate tactical roads and bridges, and often plant trees along roads and bridges. These trees may be cut down in half by the invading army, thus forming an almost insurmountable barrier. The "Dutch waterline" tactic has been effective for nearly four centuries until bombers and paratroopers in World War II made it obsolete.
Random source: apron
/kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, the Scottish engineer John L. Macyadan invented a road construction technology, using gravel blocks with a diameter of about 3/4 "as the pavement. With the use, the gravel becomes dense and the surface is smooth and durable. As we all know, "gravel" is a great progress to other road construction technologies at that time, and "gravel roads" will soon spread all over the world. Decades later, when cars appeared, dust became a problem. 190 1 year, British engineer Edgar Hooley stumbled upon a solution. He happened to meet a gravel road paved with asphalt. Someone covered the overflow with slag, a by-product of metal smelting, which absorbed tar, took away the viscosity of tar and prevented the accumulation of dust. In less than a year, the lake has obtained the patent of asphalt slag mixture, which can be conveniently sprayed on the gravel road surface. He founded Asphalt Road Co., Ltd. through 1920. The word "apron" is used to refer to airport runways and eventually includes roads and similar surfaces. Macadam's gravel technology, together with the tar and slag added by Huli, is still the most widely used road construction technology in the world.
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