Event: The Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War was a revolution of the Netherlands against the Habsburg empire. The revolution lasted for eighty years, as the name of the event would imply. After eighty long years of revolution, the Dutch finally gained their independence. This is an important piece of European history and has had quite a few influences on history in the long run, so it has earned a spot on the timeline. (jan 1, 1568