Anglo-dutch War (1672–1674)

There were four naval conflicts between England and the Dutch Republic during the Anglo-Dutch Wars, also referred to as the Dutch Wars or the Dutch Engelse Oorlogen. The last war, caused by Dutch interference in the American Revolution, signified the decline of the republic as a global power. The first three wars, sparked by economic competition, cemented England's naval dominance. 

•    Four wars, known in English as the Anglo-Dutch wars and in the Netherlands as the Nederlandse-Engelse wars, were the outcome of the rivalry between the two trading nations. Three of them happened in the seventeenth century. The other one happened in the eighteenth century

 

•    Trade disagreements and naval dominance were the main causes of these wars. Unrest was common throughout the Dutch East Indies rule.

 

•    Each time a conflict erupted, both sides increased their propaganda operations. As usual, both sides had the belief that God was on their side.

 

•    For instance, an Englishman said that God's avenging hand was behind the sickness that claimed the lives of over a thousand people in Amsterdam in a single week in 1664, according to 'The English and Dutch events disclosed to life'.

•    After England approved the Navigation Act of 1651, which prohibited the Dutch from participating in English sea trade, the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–54) started in a tense period.

 

•    England declared war on the Netherlands on July 8, 1652 (June 28 in old style), following the destruction of a Dutch fleet commanded by Adm. Maarten Tromp in May 1652.

 

•    Off the coast of Dungeness, the Dutch under Tromp triumphed handily in December, but the important battles the next year were largely won by England's larger and better-armed men-of-war.

•    On April 15, 1654, the Westminster Treaty put an end to the first Anglo-Dutch War.

 

•    The Act of Navigation was still in force, and the terms of the peace were adverse to the Dutch.

 

•    On top of that, the Treaty contained a clause (known as the Act of Seclusion) that forbade William III, the young prince of Orange and son of Stadholder William II, from succeeding his father as stadholder.

 

•    The two countries' trade rivalry reached conflict in 1665 (the Second Anglo-Dutch conflict of 1665–1677) after hostilities started the previous year and the English had already conquered New Amsterdam.

 

•    The Battle of Lowestoft, which took place on June 13, 1665, and saw an English victory, was the first serious naval conflict.

 

•    In January 1666, France joined the conflict on the side of the Dutch.

 

•    The Dutch navy travelled up the Medway to Chatham after travelling up the Thames to Gravesend.

 

•    It sank four ships there and towed HMS Royal Charles, the pride of the English navy, to the Netherlands.

 

•    The Treaty of Breda's stipulations, which put an end to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, were seen as favoring the Netherlands.

 

•    In England, the prohibitions on navigation were loosened. The Republic, on the other hand, was forced to accept that New Amsterdam would initially remain under English control.

 

•    James II, Duke of New York and brother of the English King, is the reason the town was given the name New York. It was still a Dutch colony in Surinam.

 

•    In actuality, a decision regarding "ownership" of the colonies was put off.

 

•    The Third Dutch War, also referred to as the Third Anglo-Dutch War, was a naval conflict between France-allied England and the Dutch Republic.

 

•    It was a smaller-scale conflict within the wider Franco-Dutch War, which lasted from 1672 to 1678, and lasted from 7 April 1672 to 19 February 1674.

 

•    1672 is still regarded as "the Year of Disaster" in the Netherlands. An alliance led by England included France, Munster, and Cologne.

 

•    On April 6 of that year, these countries formally declared war on the Republic.

 

•    The Netherlands came under attack both on land and at sea. By dealing numerous significant injuries to the Anglo-French fleet, Michiel de Ruyter was able to stop an invasion from the sea.

 

•    Things did not go as well for the Dutch on land. A 120,000-strong French army marched through Cologne before attacking Britain across the Rhine.

 

•    At the same moment, the bishop of Munster and his troops crossed the border in the eastern province of Overijssel.

 

•    In 1672, "the people lost their senses, the government was at its wit's end, and the nation was irretrievably lost," according to history books.

 

•    The Second Treaty of Westminster's signature signaled the end of the war.

 

•    England was given the privilege to the first salute and given a million pounds as compensation.

 

•    The Anglo-French alliance, which had posed such a threat to the Netherlands, was finally broken up by William III.

 

•    The English were handed complete control over New Amsterdam, which the Dutch had taken back in 1673 and renamed Nieuw-Oranje (New Orange), while the Dutch kept Surinam.

 

•    Commercial supremacy has shifted to England since the Glorious Revolution and the accession of William III and Mary II Stuart to the English throne, with London growing in importance as a trading hub.

 

•    The rebellion against English rule in the American colonies was supported by the Dutch.

 

•    Through the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, the Dutch delivered weapons and ammunition to the Americans.

 

•    For Dutch Patriots wanting to curtail the power of stadtholder William V and enact a more democratic system of government, America stood as a model.

 

•    Prior to the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784), which was sparked by Dutch negotiations and clandestine trade with the then-insurrectionary American colonies, England and the Dutch Republic had been allies for a century.

 

•    On December 20, 1780, the English declared war on the Dutch. They quickly seized control of important Dutch possessions in the West and East Indies and erected a powerful blockade of the Dutch coast the next year.

 

•    A small Dutch army attacked a British convoy on Dogger Bank in August 1781, sparking the only major engagement of the conflict, leading to a draw.

 

•    However, England was never able to build a navy that was capable of fighting.

 

•    When the war ended in May 1784, the Dutch were at the height of their power and fame.

 

•    The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War was put to an end in 1784 by the Treaty of Paris. A year before, an armistice had already been agreed upon.

 

•    The Dutch were compelled to give up Nagapattinam on the east coast of India, and England was given free sailing rights in the East Indies.

 

•    The Republic of the United Netherlands' demise began with the fourth Anglo-Dutch War, as it turned out. 

 

The Anglo-Dutch Wars, which lasted from the middle of the 17th until the end of the 18th centuries, were a string of conflicts mostly fought between the Dutch Republic and England (later Great Britain). The fourth war was waged a century after the previous three, which were fought over trade and foreign colonies in the second half of the 17th century. The majority of the battles took place at sea. The English prevailed in the first match, while the Dutch prevailed in the second and third contests. The British Royal Navy, on the other hand, had grown to become the most powerful naval force in the world by the time of the fourth world war.