Siege of Breda (1637) when word came that the Dutch had suddenly invested the city of Breda with a besieging army of 18,000. Breda was the capital city of the baronial fief that had once been the crown jewel in the Dutch estates of the Nassau family in the Habsburg Netherlands before the war started. Frederick Henry had therefore a personal interest in recapturing the city and its surroundings. The siege was preceded by an attempt to surprise the garrison on 21 July 1637 by Dutch cavalry under Henry Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz. However, the gates were closed in time and the Dutch skirmishers
Congress of Breda Sandwich was rewarded for his role at the Congress by being made First Lord of the Admiralty, a post in the British cabinet. Newcastle and he were attacked by the Opposition for giving up Louisbourg, Britain's only significant gain in the war, to France. In France, there was enormous disquiet about how France's seemingly advantageous position on the European continent had been given up. A phrase "as stupid as the peace" became popular, in France, to express contempt for the terms agreed at Breda and Aix-la-Chapelle. Congress of Breda The Congress of Breda often also known as the Breda peace