The Netherlands

Dutch means "lowland".

① That is, "Netherlands, Belgium".

② The Netherlands (The Netherlands: Nederland). refers to the Rhine, the Maas River, the lower reaches of the Schelder River and the North Sea coast, which is equivalent to today's Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. In 1516, after the death of the Spanish King Ferdinand, his grandson Charles I ascended the throne. Charles had inherited the Netherlands from his father (son of the Holy Roman Emperor) in 1506, and then he possessed this land as the king of Spain. From then on, the Netherlands became the West

The territory of Spain. That is, after the early 16th century, it was ruled by the Habsburg family in Spain. In 1566, northern provinces launched a bourgeois revolution against Spanish feudal rule. In 1579, eight northern provinces and some southern cities established the "Utrecht Alliance" and the "Utrecht Republic" in 1581. After 1795, it became the Dutch Kingdom under French rule. After 1815, the former southern provinces and the Netherlands merged into the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1830, the southern part broke away from the Netherlands and established the Kingdom of Belgium.

The Netherlands is bordered by the North Sea, with a low terrain. The deep water of the River Erd is convenient for large ships to enter and exit, so overseas transportation is very convenient. The Netherlands' handicrafts and commerce are developing rapidly, and foreign merchants come here to do business. After the opening of the new route, the European commercial center was transferred from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Netherlands' economy has further grown. In the first half of the 16th century, there were more than 300 cities in the Netherlands. The southern city of Antwerp is a center of European trade. Here, there are five or six thousand foreign traders who travel every day, and the port can also moor ships of all sizes and large ships.

More than 2,000 ships. Merchants transported gold and silver from America, spices from the East and other luxury goods, and transported textiles, metal products, ship tools from Western Europe and Northern Europe, etc. Antwerp has developed textiles, glass manufacturing, sugar making, printing and other industries; banks, foreign exchange and credit businesses emerged. The northern agriculture was developed, and the fishing, shipbuilding, weaving and wool industries were all very prosperous in the Netherlands and the northern provinces were traded with the United Kingdom, the Baltic countries and Russia. Amsterdam is the economic center of the northern provinces and an important market for grain trade.

Antwerp in the second half of the fifteenth century

Capitalist handicraft workshops began to appear in the Netherlands as early as the 14th century and developed rapidly in the 16th century. The most important ones are handicraft workshops in the northern Netherlands and the two provinces of Zeland, which operate textile and shipbuilding, and handicraft workshops in the southern provinces of Flander and Braben. Among them, the fastest-growing were wool and linen textile workshops. However, the sales of raw materials and products of the wool industry in the southern region mainly rely on the Spanish and British markets. The bourgeoisie here has close economic ties with Spain and its colonies. Capitalist farms also appeared in the rural areas of the Netherlands.

Spain's autocratic rule in the Netherlands

During the wave of the Reformation, Luther, Cywinli, Calvin and other sects were introduced to the Netherlands one after another. The Calvin sect had the widest influence, with the recipients including the bourgeoisie, the new aristocracy, and the working people, which became a powerful force against Spanish rule. The old aristocracy tried to maintain feudal land ownership and various vested interests. They followed the practices of the German Lutheran princes and confiscated the church's land and property to expand their power.

Charlie was an authoritarian ruler in the Netherlands, which was economically developed, cities were rich, and capitalist factors were growing rapidly. He sent a governor here, established financial, administrative institutions and Inquisitions, and implemented authoritarian policies on political, economic and religious issues. It turned out that all provinces and cities in the Netherlands enjoyed certain autonomy and traditional rights. In order to maintain the huge administrative, military, and war expenses of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlie collected money everywhere.

Lan was the richest, and Charlie's blackmail here was the craziest. He also used the Catholic Church as a tool of rule. The Edict of 1550 (called the Bloody Edict) prohibited copying, preserving, distributing, buying and selling collections of reformers such as Luther or Calvin. Anyone who spreads "heretic" doctrines, men beheading and women buried alive. During Charlie's reign, between 50,000 and 100,000 Dutch people died in religious persecution. Several uprisings broke out in the Netherlands against Charlie's autocratic rule.

Prince of Olenchi William

In 1556, Philip II inherited Charles' Spanish throne and inherited his debt of 4.5 million lithium, which intensified the high-pressure policy of the Netherlands. He excluded the power of the Netherlands aristocrats, abolished the privilege of merchants' direct trade with the Spanish colonies, and refused to repay the government debt, causing huge losses to the bankers in the Netherlands. Then he increased the tax on the acquisition of wool in Spain, reducing the import of wool in the Netherlands by 40%. The bourgeoisie in the Netherlands was greatly hit, and many handicraft workshops went bankrupt and workers were unemployed. He ruthlessly persecuted the Protestants and carried out the activities of the Jesuit. He attempted to reorganize the Church of the Netherlands, add fourteen bishops, and directly appointed bishops by the king, thereby stepping up control of the people. His policies aroused all levels of the church.

Opposition. The Calvin sects in the cities of the Netherlands organized thousands of armed forces to promote opposition to Spanish rule in the form of preaching gatherings and held riots. The great nobles who were linked to the interests of the bourgeoisie formed a "noble alliance" headed by William Prince Olen. In 1565, they sent representatives to Spain to meet Philip II and demanded a change of autocratic policy. The following year, with William's approval, a delegation of about 200 small and medium-sized nobles (including William's younger brother Louis) went to Brussels to petition the Spanish governor to oppose Spain's political oppression and religious persecution, and at the same time expressed allegiance to the king. These demands were fruitless. When the nobles tried to reconcile in a moderate way, the masses took active action.

Revolutionary War Against Spanish Rule

Since August 1566, large-scale icon destruction movements broke out in Antwerp, The Hague, Utrecht and other cities in the Netherlands. The masses held axes, hammers, and wooden sticks and rushed to the Catholic churches and monasteries, smashing icons and crosses, confiscating church property, burning church bonds and land deeds, destroying more than 5,500 churches and monasteries. The uprising soon swept over twelve provinces in the seventeen provinces, with tens of thousands of participants. The mass icon destruction movement against the Catholic church ignited the flames of the bourgeois revolution in the Netherlands, and the struggle against Spanish rule began.

Faced with the mass revolutionary movement, the Spanish authorities had to temporarily stop the activities of the Inquisition and allow Calvin to send worshipers at designated locations outside the city. At the same time, Philip II allocated funds to increase the army in the Netherlands and decided to send his veteran Duke Alfa to the Netherlands to suppress the revolution. In 1567, Alfa led an army of about 18,000 people and immediately set up a "Elimination Committee for the Elimination of Violence" to use bloody terror means to hunt down the revolution for treason. More than 10,000 people were innocently burned, killed, and hung. White terror enveloped the Netherlands.

William was exiled to Germany before Arfa arrived. In 1568, he brought mercenaries to the Netherlands to fight against the Spanish army, but was defeated. At this time, the guerrillas of the working people were hitting the enemy heavily. A large number of workers, handicraftsmen and peasants entered the deep forest and attacked small groups of enemy troops from time to time to punish reactionary priests and officials. Many sailors, fishermen and dock workers came to the vast sea and attacked Spanish ships and coastal strongholds; they were connected with William. On April 1, 1572, the sea guerrillas occupied the Brill port on the island of the Rhine River and raised William's flag on the city. This new

Victory brought a new climax of the revolution. Maritime guerrillas further attacked other cities. Many cities held uprising one after another to drive away the Spaniards. Almost all the provinces of the Netherlands and Zeeland were liberated. The exiles returned to the Netherlands one after another. The bourgeoisie organized revolutionary troops, took control of the city regime, and suppressed pro-Spain priests and spies. The peasants destroyed churches and manors, refused to fulfill their feudal obligations, and stopped paying tithes taxes. In July 1572, William was elected as governor by the Dutch Provincial Parliament. By the end of 1573, the northern provinces had declared independence one after another. Alfa was removed. William's power in the north was constantly expanding.

The revolutionary movement developed to the south. In 1576, the people of Brussels overthrew the Spanish regime. The people of the south joined the resistance movement. The situation required the unity of the north and the south. Representatives from the north and the south held a meeting in Ghent in 1576. During the meeting, Spanish soldiers rushed into Antwerp, killing and robbing, and seven to eight thousand men, women, young and old were killed. Three days later, the prosperous city was desolate. This atrocities further aroused the rebellious anger of the people of the Netherlands. Sixteen of the seventeen provinces declared resistance against Spanish rule. In November, the meeting issued the Ghent Agreement, proposing to withdraw the Spanish army, abolish all decrees of Alfa, and reaffirmed the original rights of the cities, but still recognized the monarchy of Philip II.

In 1577, insurrection broke out in many cities in the south, and revolutionary regimes were established. The peasant movements were surging, which caused fear of reactionary aristocracy and the Catholic Church. They launched a rebellion and compromised with Spain. In early January 1579, they established the "Aras Alliance" and declared allegiance to Philip II. More than ten days later, the northern provinces formed the "Utrecht Alliance" and declared that they would never split and formulate a common military and foreign policy. Soon, cities such as Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp in the south also participated. In 1581, they announced the deposition of Philip II and the establishment of the Union Provincial Committee.

The Kingdom of Hebrews. Since then, a long war between the Netherlands and Spain has been fought. William was killed by Philip II's assassin, and the southern cities were successively occupied by Spain. In 1588, Spain's "Invincible Fleet" was defeated by Britain at sea, and its national strength has never recovered and it has no strength to fight against the Netherlands. In 1609, King Philip III had to conclude a twelve-year truce agreement with the United Republic, which actually recognized the independence of the Republic. The southern part of the Netherlands is still under the rule of Spain. The Netherlands Province is the most developed, and the United Republic is also called the Netherlands Republic.
Chapter completed!