Which Catholic war did Guy Fawkes fight in before the Gunpowder Plot?

Guy Fawkes fought in the Eighty Years’ War before joining the Gunpowder Plot. More precisely, he served as a Catholic soldier on the Spanish side in the Dutch Revolt, the long conflict in which the Dutch provinces fought for independence from Spain.

Fawkes left England and travelled to the Spanish Netherlands, where he adopted the name Guido Fawkes and gained military experience. He served under Sir William Stanley, an English Catholic commander who had defected to Spain. Fawkes became known as a capable soldier, particularly for his expertise with explosives and siege warfare.

The war was religious as well as political: Catholic Spain opposed largely Protestant Dutch rebels. It is often confused with the Nine Years’ War or the Thirty Years’ War, but those were different European conflicts. Fawkes’s overseas service made him attractive to Robert Catesby’s conspirators, who needed someone experienced in military operations and gunpowder.