Vast and detailed plan of the Berg-op-Zoom, preceding its siege and capture by the French in 1747.

The plan shows in superb detail the fortifications of the town together with the defenses of Fort Moermont, Pinsen, and Rooweers. To the left of the plan is a large detail of part of the town's fortifications, with profiles of the forts' and town's defenses to the lower right. A key to the left of the town provides information upon the town's forifications.

The Siege of Bergen op Zoom took place during the Austrian War of Succession, when a French army, under the command of Lowendal and the overall direction of Marshal Maurice de Saxe, laid siege and captured the strategic Dutch border fortress of Bergen op Zoom on the border of Brabant and Zealand in 1747. Bergen op Zoom was defended by allies, consisting of: the Dutch, Austrians, British, Hanoverians and Hessians, that supported the Pragmatic Sanction. After seven years of brutal war, both sides in this conflict were suffering from weariness of the war. Although tentative peace initiatives had been put forward, neither side was yet willing to make meaningful concessions. The capture of Bergen op Zoom would be a signal defeat for the Dutch and would open the door for an invasion of the Dutch Netherlands. The siege was the center of attention in Europe and news of it followed eagerly in numerous reports with the Pragmatic allies confident that the fortress would withstand the French and the French determined it should fall.

At that time of the siege, Bergen op Zoom had fortifications built in the beginning of the 17th Century by Menno van Coehoorn, with the three forts of Moermont, Pinsen, and Rooweers surrounding the city and a canalized diversion of the Scheldt acting as a ditch around its walls. However, it had no second line of fortifications, nor any fortress. After seventy days of siege, the city was taken and thoroughly sacked; the garrison was slaughtered.

With the capture of Bergen op Zoom, the French now had control of the entire length of the river Scheldt. The defeat caused a rift between the Dutch and British governments. It now dawned on the British that they had demanded too much of the military capability of the Dutch Republic and that its ability to resist the French had been exhausted. The Dutch on the other hand were furious about the fact that her allies were unwilling to relieve the city. The city was key to opening up the Dutch Republic and Hanover to a potential French invasion. Lowendal was made a Marshal of France for his exploit and the French now controlled the length of the Scheldt river. Along with the defeat at Lauffeld, the defeat at Bergen op Zoom forced the British to re-enter negotiations, and to take seriously the on-going talks at the Congress of Breda, leading to a treaty in 1748.

Scale: (approx.) 40cm to 1km.