The Revolt of the Netherlands - Essay Example

Nowadays most of people seem to think that Europe has always been a natural cultural and political area, but it was constructed through the intersection of capitalism expanding from the cities, coercion and regulation exercised by centralizing states, and contention fought out among states and between them and their people. Conflict Background Of those "important political events which make the sixteenth century to take rank among the brightest of the world's epochs, the foundation of the freedom of the Netherlands appears to be one of the most remarkable. If the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power claim our admiration, how much more so should an event in which oppressed humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good cause unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny"1. In Middle Ages there were tree independent dukedoms: Gelderland and Brabant, counties of Holland, Zeeland and Flanders, and episcopacy of Utrecht. In 1370 in order to protect own interests the cities of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht as well as the episcopacy of Utrecht established trading-political Hanseatic League. It carried out in practice the intermediation between West, North and East Europe and had a trading hegemony in Northern Europe. In the XV century there was a beginning of state main political institutions formation. The protoplast of future parliament - The States-General - was framed in 1463. Since 1482 the territory of Nederland was a part of Habsburg's realm, and since 1556 a part of Spanish Habsburg's realm. During the times of Charles V regiment (1500 - 1558), there was completed the process of integration with contemporary Belgium and Luxemburg and later on formed the one and undivided state of Hole Roman Empire. In this period of time the term "Dutch Republic" came into existence. In economically developed regions there were circulated monetary rent and different kinds of short-term lease; there were formed the order of farmers who do for on the entrepreneurial basis. There was forming the bourgeoisie and was germinating proletariat. The "proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is proletarian. Originally it was identified as those people who had no wealth other than their sons; the term was initially used in a derogatory sense, until Karl Marx used it as a sociological term to refer to the working class"2. Notwithstanding Spanish authorities were constantly trying to suspend the development of Netherlands. There was inquisition put into action, all people that were in bed odor with it were put to torture. In this time of spiritual oppression and political coercion in Netherlands the new religion doctrine of Calvinism, that is a "system of Christian theology and an approach to Christian life and thought within the Protestant tradition articulated by John Calvin, a Protestant Reformer in the 16th century, and subsequently by successors, associates, followers and admirers of Calvin, his interpretation of Scripture, and perspective on Christian life and theology"3. Calvinism got its broad spread and opposed itself to theological system of Catholicism. Impassioned and filled inside with religious protest the population of Netherlands excited iconoclast movement destroying icons, statues of Saints and other matters of religion cult. . Relegated Spanish vindicatory army started the severest terror. Finally it flamed up the nationwide war, which got the name of Eighty Years War or Dutch Revolt (1566 -1648). The laboratory movement was headed by William of Orange. It should be mentioned that the struggle against Spanish enslavers pushed forward the increase of national self-consciousness. Exactly this period of time is connected with becoming of Dutch nation and language. In 1648 Spain recognized the independence of Dutch Republic and the state retained control over the territories that were conquered in the later stages of the war. On becoming an independent state Dutch Republic got its official name as The United Provinces of the Netherlands or Dutch Republic. It is notable that Dutch Republic became a first in history bourgeois republic and a first country in the world where bourgeois revolution took place. Analysis There were three basic forms of state government power evolved, each of which was based on contingent circumstances of history and geography: coercion-intensive, capital-intensive, and capitalized coercion during the Middle Ages. Let us consider the Dutch Revolt in the course of time. Once established as an emerging power, the Dutch, under William the Silent (of Orange), also began establishing colonies and naval influence. The First Stage (1572-1584) In this period Philip II came to regiment and the situation worsened. People were boiled over by that fact that for the required military expenditures he issued a new sales tax of roughly ten percent to pay. Furthermore by people living in Netherlands Philip II was a foreigner. First of all he did not speak their native language; he had got his education in Spain and therefore he was a strict follower of all viewpoint and concepts of Catholicism. Moreover people treat him as a person who wishes and is able to toughen the power centralization and break the autonomy of Dutch people. Such intentions and policy was taken as unacceptable not only by the sticklers of Protestantism, though a lot of them emigrated in order not to betray their belief. A great number of emigrants found their harborage in Emden, a rich city and a center of reformed Protestantism at that time, producing the first Bible translation in Dutch. It was also the Dutch nobility that took such state of things threatened and took such intentions and policy as unacceptable. Later on there were some actions from the side of Spanish authorities that promoted further development of Revolt: In 1566 the Dutch nobility's appeal for the old privileges restitution was rejected; Among the Dutch people there were nicked a lot of innocents and claimed responsible for the revolts of iconoclasts that took place in 1566; Two honorable Dutch noblemen Van Egmond and Van Hoorne were taken into custody and thereafter executed in 1567 and there were many accidents likewise. Then one of the noblest Dutch landowners, William of Orange, took his off from his country, gathered cloth-in-thoughts people around him and from his residence in Nassau headed the Revolt in order to oppress and struggle against the regiment the King of Spain. We should mention that since 1567 the Spanish government presided mostly not on the on the base of traditions and supremacy of law as it supposed to be but on military power of Spain authorities. Having power those times Stadtholder Duke of Alba was extremely harsh ruler. He was sent by Phillip and is famous for the instituting the Council of Troubles (or Blood Council) as he erected a tribunal to try all people engaged in the late commotions that the rule of Philip had excited. Through the course of time he became one of the most hated men in the eyes of Dutch people. When in 1572 people headed by William of Orange came to the Dutch land, a great number of cities in Holland and Zeeland opened their gates to them and later accordingly joined the rebellion. For a long period of time Spanish forces found themselves blocked in the capital of Holland (Haarlem), which was totally sacked. There the whole garrison was massacred. The other Spanish siege took place in Leiden. There rebels opened the floodgates in order to increase the level of water, and therefore the Spanish were forced to leave and the city was saved. The main achievements of Dutch rebels there that they: did not let the Spanish to keep control over Holland; adapted Calvinist religion; established the University of Leiden as a Calvinist university. In conclusion there were framed the Staten-General, which was a protoplast of later parliament, were sympathetic with the rebels. They passed the Pacification of Ghent, a declaration by which the "northern and southern provinces of the Low Countries put aside their religious difference and united in revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs4". This document can be regarded as the first major expression of the Netherlands' national self-consciousness. The Second Stage The "Spanish answer was an armed one; the new stadholder Parma arrived with an army and began to take control of the southern territories, "representants" of which in 1579 established the Union of Arras, a pro-Catholic and pro-Spanish federation, the remaining rebelling provinces formed the Union of Utrecht (1579). From now, war was in full scale. In 1584 Balthazar Gerard, induced by a reward of 25,000 gold crowns, assassinated Prince William of Orange, Stadholder of the Netherlands and political head of the rebellion"5. There is no doubt that the Spanish army was much more experienced and better supplied than the Dutch rebels. In 1584 it went into the offensive and in a short time Bruges, Ypres and Ghent fell. Brussels and Antwerp fell the next year. A lot of people immigrated to Amsterdam. The only place where the rebels were stronger was the sea by making the Spanish army to line up on a dyke trying not to drown. Somehow or other the next event brought many changes in the life of Dutch people. William of Orange left trough assassination. As his son Maurice was too young to take the leadership and there was a time when the serious military threat did not allow any delays, the Staten-General proposed the power to the King of France and later on to the English Queen. She took the offer although made a decision to appoint Duke Philip of Leicester instead. It must be said that he really provided a policy that was directed with the aim to safeguard the Dutch Republic and its people. The Third Stage The Spanish weak place was that it took participation in many wars at the same time. During that time it was not only involved in civil wars of France but also preparing to attack England by means of the Spanish Armada. That is why it was very convenient and efficient time for the rebels to organize their defense. The other well-turned point is that Spanish treasury was almost empty as almost all money was spent to supply its army. Though, on setting some successful battles, the military situation for Spain was a stalemated. As a result, Spain kept the control in the South of Netherlands and the Dutch accordingly in the North. By the year 1585 when Maurice, the son of William grew up, he was appointed to become a stadtholder of the Holland and Zeeland and latter on he headed the other provinces. In his governance he was supported by his confederate and friend Jonan van Olden Barneveld. He was famous as a great and brave commander, for taking a majority of Spanish fortresses and clearing the territory to the north of the Rhine from Spain armed forces. William's son was a very smart leader; he had never made spontaneous decisions and based on tactics learned from Greek and Roman authors. In the issue the territory of Netherlands were separated in two parts. The first one was the Spanish Netherlands, which include Flanders, Artois, Hainaut, Namur, Liege, Limburg, Luxemburg, and the second one was represenred by the young Dutch Republic, which included 7 provinces: 1. Holland 2. Zeeland 3. Utrecht 4. Friesland 5. Groningen 6. Overijssel 7. Gelderland In 1609 people finally saw the beginning of a ceasefire between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish that was mediated by France and England at The Hague. During this period which was later called the Twelve Years' Truce Dutch nation made a lot in order to create own navy. In effect of Twelve Years' Truce Dutch independence was finally recognizes. Her you can observe the table the shows the changes of overweight that took place during the revolt. The causes of Dutch Revolt are really multiple; the success surprising and the result a republic, which could be labeled the United States of the Netherlands. "Resistance against the Hapsburg efforts to create a centralized state led to the loose federal organization of Dutch Republic. Resistance against the religious policy of Philip II let to the religious tolerance of the Dutch. Resistance against central and increased taxation and efforts to homologize the laws were responsible for the character of the Dutch state which combined the medieval past with proto-capitalist privatization"6. Let us argue a case using the theory of action showing how the responding side in the major conflict had a strategy to mirror or simply mess with the equation of violent action on the part of the violence initiating side. In contrast with the Dutch Revolt itself, the political thought of the revolt has never received much attention from scholars, including Dutch and Belgian ones. Van Gelderen7 writes that this neglect stems from the widely accepted belief, or assumption, that the political thought of the Dutch Revolt was simply borrowed from the French Huguenot theorists and adapted to fit the Dutch situation. To test the accuracy of this widely held assumption, the author studied some eight hundred political treatises written in the Low Countries between 1555 and 1590, virtually all of them by advocates of the revolt. In his analysis of these treatises, van Gelderen concentrates his attention on three main questions, or issues, namely the very central matter of political obedience versus resistance, the form of government to be adopted by the Dutch Republic, and the place of the political thought of the Dutch Revolt within the larger European context. The main actors of the Dutch Revolt are the Spanish absolutism and Rebels. The main policy dilemma: how to manage the willingness to act violently. According to the Theory of Action there are two ways to make to act violently: To incite violence: ensure all three elements ABOVE the action threshold To dampen violence: push one or more of the elements BELOW the action threshold. It should be stated that successful negotiators and combatants always learn opponents' equations and try to manipulate them. They have two main options here: "Mirror the Mix" that is harder, more permanent, and more costly now. "Mess with the Mix" - easier, short-lived if wrong, more costly over long term. In the given case we have "Mess with the Mix" variant. The actors of the above mentioned conflict became willing to act when they perceived latitude to control perceived variables to produce outcomes perceived more favorable because they thought they could. The "peace of Munster, signed between the Catholic Monarchy and the United Provinces in 1648, went, at least apparently, against the political culture of both polities. The fact that the Hispanic Monarchy accepted definitively, without the restrictions implied in the signing of the Twelve Years' Truce (temporality of the agreement), the independence of its former subjects (who rejected not only the obedience due to the natural lord, but also to the Roman Catholic Church) went clearly against the policy put forward by the Monarchy during the "eighty" years that the war lasted and, in general, to its declared main goals. For the United Provinces, signing a peace with the archenemy without having brought liberty and Calvinism/religious freedom to ten of the seventeen the provinces that formed part of the ancient Burgundian circle was also considered , at by important groups in the "rebel" provinces, as a defection"8. Conclusion The history of Dutch Revolt took its beginning with a series of usual battles fought by ordinary soldiers and mercenaries. It should be sad that the costs were extremely high in comparison to successes achieved. As this war was mostly concentrated on religious freedom and taxation aspects, it could not involve only soldiers. Unfortunately a lot of civilians were involved and suffered too. But surely due to this fact the rebels really succeed in protecting and clearing their native cities. Due to involvement of all parts of society in the Revolt the irregular Dutch army won the regular forces of Spain. A great number of that war's characteristics were precursors of the modern concept of "total war". By the end of war Maurice managed to set a professional army with soldiers familiar with the doctrines of their leaders. The Dutch Revolt effected a lot the development of Low Countries. The division of power in future would help to avoid conflicts between nobility and civilians as happened during the Civil War in England. However, later on the Dutch Republic, which is the oldest republic of Europe, would be reverted into a monarchy, which it still is today. The Eighty Years' War had a major effect not only on Netherlands but also on the Spain. Its government was forced to declare several bankruptcies. The Spanish population increasingly questioned the necessity of the war in the Netherlands and even the necessity of the Empire in general. The Dutch revolt got political implications in Europe. The possibility of acceptance of a non-monarchic country by the other European governments can be treated as a precursor of the English Civil War and the French Revolution. So to finish let us claim that "states are institutions. They are durable, nearly ubiquitous, and we take them for granted. In fact, states are so well institutionalized that it is practically impossible to imagine a world without them. Even so, the state - like other institutions - was created by people, and it does not exist without the continued participation, maintenance, and myth-making that people put into it. State is something that was socially constructed, but is now so accepted that it is difficult to conceive of life without it"9 Bibliography: 1. Schiller, Frederich. "The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete." Date: December 8, 2004 [EBook #6780] 2. "Proletariat." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 19 Oct 2006, 01:58 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21 Oct 2006 . 3. "Calvinism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 Oct 2006, 06:31 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21 Oct 2006 . 4. Merriman, John. "A History of Modern Europe, Second Edition: From the French Revolution to the Present", (Volume 2) (Paperback - Feb 28, 2005) 5. "Pacification of Ghent." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 17 Oct 2006, 08:47 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 31 Oct 2006 . 6. Thomas, Philip. "Piracy, privateering and the United States of Netherlands". 2003. Retrieved at http://www.ulg.ac.be/vinitor/rida/2003/Thomas_2.pdf 7. Martin van Gelderen. "Early modern Europe -- The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt, 1555- 1590". Canadian Journal of History, Aug 1994 by Gerrits, G H 8. Laura Manzano Baena. "Juridical and religious discourses in the catholic monarchy and the United Provinces around the peace of Munster (1635-1648). Retrieved at http://www.iue.it/Personal/VanGelderen/Theses/LauraManzanoBaenaThesis.shtml 9. State Formation in Comparative Perspective. Professor Leheny. Spring 1999. Retrieved at http://www.polisci.wisc.edu/users/leheny/pdfs/stateformation.pdf Read More