“The great repression,” which took place under the reign of Philip ii, was a conflict initiated due to religious discrepancies, between the catholics (Philip II and the Spanish Empire) and the protestants, whose doctrine had been intensively spread in the current Netherlands territory that was ruled by the Spanish monarchy.
The violence exercised by the Spanish ruling triggered the conflict known as the Dutch Revolt (1568–1648), that confronted the newly created Dutch Republic, which united the several provinces of the region under the leadership of William of Orange, against the Spanish. These conflict also is called the Eighty Years War, and resulted on the victory of the Dutch and their independence from the Spanish empire.