Battles Of The Guararapes, 1648 And 1649

By André Geraque Kiffer

After the defeat of the Invincible Armada in 1588, there was a huge expansion of Dutch maritime trade, with the Dutch extending their attacks to Spanish maritime domains. The Guararapes battles were fought on April 18 and 19, 1648 and then on February 19, 1649, between the Army of the Netherlands and the troops of the Portuguese Empire. The battles took place at Montes dos Guararapes, located in the current Jaboatão dos Guararapes, a municipality in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, in the then Captaincy of Pernambuco. In the battle simulation, I will try to correct the failures presented in the historical analysis, testing improvements in the maneuvers. And then we will prove which maneuver will prevail, both being instructed with the best and maximum effort.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Feb 5, 2024

Book preview

ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

Battles  of  the  Guararapes,

1648  and  1649.

A  historical  simulation

Author's  Edition Rio  de  Janeiro

2022

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

Battles  of  the  Guararapes,  1648  and  1649.  A  historical simulation.  André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author’s  Edition,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  2022. Bibliography:  108  p.  45  im.  21  cm..

1.  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  Science  of  War.  4.  War Games.  I.  Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-65-00-59589-5

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3 PROLOGUE

As  a  Military  Historian  I  rely  on  a  summary  of  the historical  fact,  I  analyze  and  highlight  the  decisive factors,  before  simulating  hypotheses  what  if… hypotheses  through  a  board  game.  In  the simulation,  all  possibilities  of  the  purpose  of  the study  are  completed,  when  the  past  of  history  is analyzed  based  on  the  theory  of  the  present  and projected  for  similar  situations  in  the  future.  Since 2010  I  have  published  the  following  series  of simulations:  I.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  Wars  of the  First  Empires;  II.  Historical  Simulation  of  the Wars  in  Classical  Greece;  III.  Historical  Simulation of  the  Roman  Wars;  IV.  Historical  Simulation  of Wars  in  the  Medieval  Era;  V.  Historical  Simulation of  Wars  in  the  Modern  Era  (1453  to  1774);  VI. Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Age  of Revolutions  (1775  to  1860);  VII.  Historical Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Industrial  Age  (1861  to 1913);  "VIII.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  First  World

War;  IX.  Historical  Simulation  of  World  War  II;  X.

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Historical  Simulation  of  the  Cold  War  (1917  to 1991);  and  XI.  Historical  Simulation  of Contemporary  Wars  (1991  to  ...)". Keywords:  History.  Art  of  War.  Science  of  War.  War

Games.

5 SUMMARY

HISTORICAL  FACT.…………..…….….……………6 HISTORICALANALYSIS….……………..…………26 HISTORICAL  SIMULATION…..……………………36 ANNEXES........…………………………………….103

REFERENCES....………………………………….107

6 HISTORICAL  FACT Luso  Dutch  War

In  1581,  one  year  after  the  Iberian  Union,  the territories  that  formed  the  Union  of  Utrechet,  also under  Habsburg  rule,  revolted  and  deposed  Philip  II of  Spain,  declaring  the  Republic  of  the  Seven United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands.

Im  1:  Empires,  Portuguese  (blue),  Spanish  (red).

During  the  Iberian  Union,  Portugal  formally continued  to  be  an  independent  kingdom  with  its own  administration,  but  its  foreign  and  naval  policy became  increasingly  subordinated  and  guided  by Spanish  interests.  In  1588,  the  Portuguese  fleet  was used  by  Filipe  I  of  Portugal  (Filipe  II  of  Spain)  to

fight  the  king's  enemies.  Because  of  this,  the  most

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powerful  Portuguese  ships  were  incorporated  into the  Invincible  Spanish  Armada.

After  the  defeat  of  the  Invincible  Armada  in 1588  (theme  of  my  book  Campaign  of  the  Great and  Felicissima  Armada,  1588  )  there  was  an enormous  expansion  of  Dutch  maritime  trade,  with the  Dutch  extending  their  attacks  to  Spanish maritime  domains.

At  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century,  Portugal had  almost  exclusive  control  of  trade  in  the  Indian Ocean,  however,  the  Portuguese  empire,  without autonomy  and  made  up  mainly  of  coastal settlements,  vulnerable  to  being  taken  over  one  by one,  became  an  easy  target.

Portugal  saw  its  great  empire  attacked  by  the English,  French  and  Dutch,  all  enemies  of  Spain. The  reduced  Portuguese  population  (about  one million)  was  not  enough  to  resist  so  many  enemies, and  the  Empire  began  to  crumble.

The  Netherlands  is  generally  regarded  as  the

aggressor,  as  its  attack  on  Portuguese  possessions

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was  unilateral,  and  the  initiative  for  the  war  always fell  to  the  Dutch  side.

Im  2:  Empires,  Portuguese  (green),  Dutch  (orange).

On  the  other  hand,  it  could  be  argued  that,  with Portugal  being  under  Spanish  rule  during  the  course of  most  of  the  conflict  (after  the  crown  of  Portugal was  inherited  by  Philip  II  of  Spain)  and  given  that Spain  was  fighting  the  Dutch  in  Flanders,  trying  to quell  the  war  of  independence  in  the  Netherlands,  it seems  legitimate  that  the  Dutch  would  take  the  war to  every  corner  of  the  Spanish  Empire.

This  argument  is,  however,  contradicted  by  the fact  that  the  Luso  Dutch  War  continued  after  the Portuguese  Restoration  (1640).  As  will  be  seen

later,  the  real  motivation  for  the  war  was  the  Dutch

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attempt  to  take  control  of  India's  spice  trade,  which is  not  consistent  with  any  technical  justification  of military  defense.

Although  managing  to  recover  Brazil  and important  territories  in  Africa,  where  the  Portuguese empire  would  be  centered  in  the  following  years, Portugal  lost  forever  its  prominence  in  the  East. The  Low  Countries  consolidated  their  independence and  formed  the  Dutch  Colonial  Empire,  paving  the way  for  their  Golden  Age,  despite  great  costs  and the  loss  of  resources  that  could  be  better  used  in preventing  English