Spanish Road

The Spanish Road ^[a] was a military road and trade route linking Spanish territories in Flanders with those in Italy. It was in use from approximately 1567 to 1648.

The Road was created to support the Spanish war effort in the Eighty Years' War against the Dutch Republic. Although sending reinforcements by sea directly from Spain was much quicker, Spanish vessels sailing up the English Channel were subject to attacks by the increasingly dominant Dutch navy. It was therefore safer to assemble troops and supplies in Northern Italy, then march them overland along the 1,000 km (620 mi) length of the Road.

Between 1567 and 1620, over 123,000 men were transported using this overland route, compared to only 17,600 by sea.^[1] The Road was eventually severed when France joined the Thirty Years' War in 1635 on the Dutch side.

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