Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0257/02579.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 40KB | 628 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02579}
$Pretitle{433}
$Title{Netherlands
Active Participation in European Power Politics}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Ministry of Foreign Affairs}
$Affiliation{Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington DC}
$Subject{republic
william
french
netherlands
constitution
new
dutch
king
north
england}
$Date{1989}
$Log{}
Country:     Netherlands
Book:        History of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Author:      Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Affiliation: Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington DC
Date:        1989

Active Participation in European Power Politics

     In response to the request of the States-General Queen Elizabeth of
England had sent a contingent of troops under the Earl of Leicester to the
Republic in 1585, since it was in England's interests that the North Sea
continental ports should not fall into the hands of a great power.

     In 1596 a triple alliance was concluded between France, England and the
Republic, directed against Spain. The alliance was important in that it
implied recognition of the new Republic by both England and France; its
military significance was less since Spain had little striking force left.

     The Southern Netherlands had remained Spanish and by the end of the
Eighty Years' War there was a growing realization in the Republic that it
would be better to leave the status quo unchanged, so that the South could act
as a buffer against France. Moreover, there was little desire in the North to
see the port of Antwerp become part of the Republic in view of the potential
competition to Amsterdam.

     Peace came with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The Northern
Netherlands were now officially independent of both the Spanish king and the
nominal suzerain, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Scheldt, affording access to
Antwerp, remained blockaded. Stadholder William II wished to continue the war
in order to gain more territory for the Republic, but the Provincial Estates,
particularly of Holland, resolutely opposed him. As a result of the dispute
between Estates and Stadholder, it was decided not to appoint a new stadholder
after William's untimely death in 1650. During this first stadholderless
period (1650-1672) William's widow, Mary Stuart (daughter of Charles I of
England), gave birth to a son who was to become William III of Orange and King
of England. The oligarchies deemed that the scion of the House of Orange
should be given no opportunity of acceding to his father's office and
consequently he was brought up under the supervision of John de Witt, Grand
Pensionary and de facto Head of State in default of a stadholder.

     The English, who had helped the Republic in its struggle for
independence, now perceived with dismay that Dutch ocean-going trade was
extending to all parts of the globe. The Dutch jurist Grotius (see
Independence, trade and prosperity), defended the principle of the freedom
of the seas, but English jurists opposed this with the notion of Britain's
supremacy over all the seas surrounding the British Isles. In 1651 the English
Parliament passed the Navigation Act, which dealt a severe blow to Dutch
shipping as it provided that raw materials or other goods destined for England
or her colonies could be carried only by English vessels or vessels of the
country producing the goods.

     The first war between the Republic and Britain (1652-1654) broke out
when, four years after the Treaty of Westphalia, Cromwell, now Lord Protector
of England, had Dutch ships held and searched outside British territorial
waters The Dutch navy was not yet powerful enough to secure prompt enforcement
of the Republic's claim to free access for her shipping to the North Sea and
English Channel. However, Cromwell feared a rising in Britain to restore the
Stuarts, while Grand Pensionary De Witt feared the restoration in the Republic
of the House of Orange, which was related to the Stuarts. For these reasons of
state, both sides were anxious to bring the war to an early close, and a peace
was accordingly concluded. The Navigation Act, the casus belli, was retained,
but the Estates of Holland undertook never again to appoint a prince of Orange
as stadholder, thus meeting the wishes of both De Witt and Cromwell.

     The Dutch navy subsequently grew in strength, with the result that it did
achieve success about 1660, this time in the Baltic where Dutch warships, then
nicknamed the 'Keys of the Sound', maintained free access and foiled Sweden's
bid for hegemony in the area.

     As a result of continuing trade rivalry, the second  Anglo-Dutch war
broke out in 1665. After the first war, the States-General had commissioned
a number of purpose-built men-of-war, so the great Dutch admiral, Michiel de
Ruyter, no longer had to make shift with converted merchantmen to do battle
against the English. In 1667 he even succeeded in forcing an entry into the
Thames estuary and destroyed or captured English warships tied up in the
Medway. Peace was now made with alacrity, the English relaxing somewhat the
provisions of the Navigation Act and ceding Surinam to the Republic in
exchange for New Amsterdam, which they had taken in the course of the war.

     It was then that King Louis XIV of France, seeking to take advantage of
the discord between the Netherlands and Britain, made a move to gain
possession of the Spanish Netherlands. He was obliged to abandon his
attempts, however, because the Republic made a pact with England and Spain
in 1668 to withstand French expansionism. Louis nevertheless laid plans for
a fresh attack in the north, and in turn concluded secret agreements with
England and the Bishoprics of Munster and Cologne.

     As a result, the Republic was attacked simultaneously on three flanks
in the spring of 1672: from the sea by an Anglo-French fleet, on the east by
troops from Munster and Cologne, and on the south by the French army,
commanded by Louis XIV in person, which had struck north along the Maas and
invaded the Republic. In the general confusion that ensued both among the
people and in the government, De Witt was forced to resign as Grand
Pensionary, and the son of William II of Orange was appointed Stadholder
despite previous undertakings. The new stadholder assumed office at a time
when most of the Republic was occupied by enemy armies. The French advance
had been checked, but only at the cost of flooding a broad area of land
between the provinces of Holland and Utrecht. In the north, the town of
Groningen was holding out against the attacks of the Bishop of Munster's
troops, and it was only with difficulty that the Dutch navy managed to prevent
an Anglo-French landing on the coast of Holland.

     William III contrived to reorganize his week land forces and even to
mount a series of offensives. The fortress of Bonn, where supplies for the
French army in the Netherlands were stored, was captured, as a result of which
the French were compelled to withdraw from the Republic. The troops from
Munster and Cologne also withdrew. Spain and Brandenburg concluded an
alliance with the Republic, and England withdrew from the war in 1674. The
Republic and her allies continued the struggle against the French in the
Southern Netherlands, until Louis XIV agreed to make peace in 1678.

     From then on the Republic, under the political and military leadership
of William III, was the keystone of all alliances designed to maintain the
balance of power in Europe by containing expansionist moves on the part of
France.

     At the invitation of the English Parliament, William III crossed to
England with an army in 1688 to help depose James II, a Catholic and loyal
ally of Louis XIV. William III and his consort Mary II, daughter of James II,
were crowned King and Queen of England. During the War of the Grand Alliance
(1688-1697) that followed, the members of the Grand Alliance of Vienna, namely
Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg, Sweden, Spain, Savoy and the
Republic, fought against France. At the end of the war Louis XIV was obliged
to accept the change of sovereignty in