The Siege of Alkmaar (1573) was a turning point in the Eighty Years' War. The burghers of the Dutch city of Alkmaar fought off the Spanish (who had set up their camp in Oudorp) between August 21 and October 8, 1573, with boiling tar and burning branches from their renewed city walls. This battle forced the Spanish commander, Don Fadrique, the son of the hated Alva himself, was defeated and retreated.