The Netherlands was once known as a maritime coachman and was very rich in controlling global trade. However, the Netherlands began to decline later, and the reason for this was that the British dismantled Dutch carriages.

Netherlands , an inconspicuous small European country. But such a small country has a glorious history. The Netherlands was once known as a maritime coachman and was very rich in controlling global trade. However, the Netherlands began to decline later, and the reason for this was that the British dismantled Dutch carriages.

The Netherlands is located in northwestern Europe with an area of ​​41,500 square kilometers and a population of 17.52 million. , in terms of area and population, the Netherlands is not conspicuous around the world. Of course, the Netherlands' GDP is very high, currently at $909.1 billion. Although it has not exceeded $1 trillion, it is also the forefront of the world. The Netherlands is currently a highly developed capitalist country, , and its people's living standards are very high, which makes many countries envious. However, this was not the peak of the Netherlands. The peak of the Netherlands was in history, during the period when it was called the sea coachman.

Although the Netherlands does not have a long history, they also have a glorious past and were even once the world's overlord, which many countries around the world recognize. Let’s now see how powerful the Netherlands was in its glorious period.

Dutch appeared very late, and it was not too early in the Netherlands on this land. We know that medieval Europe was a true feudal system, that is, feudal states were established, and there were vassal states everywhere. There are also many princes in this land of the Netherlands, but a unified country has never been formed. It was not until 1467 that the Netherlands officially formed a unified country. Although the Netherlands appeared, it became Spain's territory within a few days after it appeared. From the end of the 15th century to the 17th century, Spain has always been the hegemon of Europe and even the world, and it is very powerful.

Of course, although Spain ruled the Netherlands, the Dutch also began to resist the history of the rule of the Spanish. This resistance lasted for hundreds of years. 1581, the Dutch provinces officially declared independence and declared themselves to be the United Republic. At this point, the Netherlands broke free from the Spanish rule. Of course, the Spaniards did not recognize Dutch independence until decades later. However, it does not matter whether Spain admits it or not. What is important is that the independence of the Netherlands has become a fact.

The development process of the Netherlands after independence is completely different from that of other countries. They all develop slowly after independence, and then their strength gradually increases. Then they compete for hegemony with other countries and become the world hegemon after defeating other opponents. But the Netherlands is obviously different. The Netherlands was at its peak when it debuted. Within a few days after independence, it became the world overlord and was called a sea coachman.

Now we can see that half of the territory of the Netherlands is lower than sea level or equal to sea level, which means that the average altitude of this country is very low and they often have to deal with water. They live by the sea, which means they are good at going out to sea and have many excellent sailors. Furthermore, if you deal with water, you need to have a boat. Therefore, the Netherlands' shipbuilding industry has always been very developed. There are excellent sailors and a developed shipbuilding industry, which is very conducive to the development of overseas trade. After all, if it is only used for fishing, the shipbuilding industry cannot develop. The boats used for fishing are completely different from those used for sailing.

Before the Netherlands became independent, its business was very developed. Many rules in the modern economy were created by the Dutch, such as banks, stocks, etc. These were the first ones for the Dutch. Because of this, the Netherlands was called "a pearl in the crown" by Spain before independence , and half of Spain's tax revenue came from the Netherlands. At that time, Spain was an empire that did not set, and the Netherlands could bear half of the taxes, which shows how rich the Netherlands was. Of course, it can also be seen from the side that Spain is indeed exploiting the Netherlands, otherwise the Netherlands would not resist Spanish rule.

After the Netherlands' independence, its business continued to develop. At this time, the Netherlands made the decision on its own and without Spain's suppression, business became even more developed. The fastest growing part here is the Netherlands' overseas trade. Due to the low cost of ships and low freight in the Netherlands, they soon controlled the overseas trade of various countries. Overseas trade in most countries is controlled by the Netherlands.The peak of is that the Netherlands controls 3/4 of the total tonnage of European merchant ships, with 15,000 merchant ships. The Netherlands' merchant ships travel around the world every day. The capital of the Netherlands Amsterdam often docks more than 2,000 ships.

The reason why the Netherlands' overseas trade developed so fast was related to the Dutch's philosophy at that time. The republic established by the Netherlands at that time was ruled by the bourgeoisie , or the commercial bourgeoisie. Their main goal is to trade around the world, rather than colonization and plunder or colonization or the like. They just do business with various countries and regions, and don’t ask about anything else, which is completely different from other European countries. For example, in , the Japanese during the Edo period, in addition to communicating with my country and North Korea, they also trade with the Dutch. Because the Dutch do not interfere with them, unlike other European countries who always want to interfere in Japan's internal affairs.

In this way, more and more countries are doing business with the Dutch, and the Dutch business is getting bigger and bigger. The Netherlands is becoming richer and stronger. After the country's strength was strong, the Netherlands was able to maintain its maritime trade. It can be said that this is a virtuous cycle.

But the Netherlands is both successful and failure. As mentioned above, the Netherlands is in power by the commercial bourgeoisie, and they all want to get the best interests when trading. To get the most benefit, you need to reduce costs. If the cost is low, the benefits will naturally be great. The Netherlands' shipbuilding industry is very developed, so the Netherlands finds ways to reduce costs on ships. Simply put, the Dutch continued to reduce the weight of the ships. After the weight is reduced, the ship can run faster and load more cargo, which can maximize profits.

The modified Dutch ships do run fast and load more, but they do not have a defense system. At that time, there were defensive weapons such as artillery on ships in other European countries, but there were no one on Dutch ships. Not to mention what to do if attacked by various countries, even when facing pirates, Dutch ships can only run away and have no ability to fight back. This caused the Dutch to suffer a great loss later.

This is the general process of the rise of the Dutch. The Netherlands has risen very quickly and its wealth has grown very quickly. However, in that era when the strong prey on the weak, there must be people who earn so much money. Everyone wants to get a share of the overseas trade. Now that the Dutch has eaten, the stock is eaten by the Dutch, if others want to eat it, they can only snatch it from the Dutch. At this time, all countries were staring at the Netherlands, and the first to attack was Britain.

When the Netherlands was independent, the British bourgeoisie also developed rapidly. However, the development method of the UK is completely different from that of the Netherlands. The British bourgeois industry and commerce were also developing at the beginning, and its strength continued to increase. Later, there was even a bourgeois revolution. In 1689, Britain even established the constitutional monarchy, and the bourgeoisie achieved the final victory. However, Britain established a powerful army before the bourgeois revolution. The most obvious thing here is that British Navy defeated Spain's Invincible Fleet in 1588. After that, the British Navy began to rise and its strength became stronger and stronger.

When Britain completed the bourgeois revolution, it was discovered that the Netherlands had risen. If the Netherlands is strong overall, it would be fine, and the UK would not be able to provoke it. The problem is that the Netherlands is just a business development and its military strength is not strong. At this time, the Netherlands was like a rich man with countless gold, silver and treasures in his home, but he did not guard the hospital. Just imagine how could Britain not attack the Netherlands? However, Britain did not start directly. Before starting, it did something very important, which was to destroy the Dutch carriage. Isn’t the Netherlands a coachman at sea? If your carriage is destroyed, how can you be a coachman?

1651 In the United Kingdom, the Navigation Ordinance , which is specifically aimed at the Netherlands. The regulations stipulate that "Only ships owned and manufactured by the United Kingdom or its colonies can carry goods from the British colonies. Products made by other countries must be passed through the British mainland and cannot be directly transported and sold to the colonies." The regulations mean that only British ships can recognize maritime trade between the British and British colonies. This is too obvious to the Netherlands.Because at that time, the ones transporting these cargo were Dutch ships, after all, Dutch ships controlled the trade throughout Europe.

The United Kingdom's Navigation Ordinance is obviously against the Netherlands. Once the Netherlands acquiesced to this regulation, it will lose its fortune to control the fatty meat of Britain's overseas trade. Not only that, other countries will do the same if they see that Britain has done this successfully. In this way, the Dutch carriage will be completely useless and the title of coachman on the sea will be gone.

This obviously forces the Netherlands to go to war with itself. However, the Netherlands' military strength is not the opponent of Britain at all. As mentioned earlier, Dutch ships do not have defensive capabilities and if they encounter the British Navy, they can only surrender. Even if you encounter British merchant ships, you can't beat them. Then we can only be slaughtered. Of course, the Netherlands could dispatch its navy to protect its merchant ships, or directly attack Britain with its navy. After all, the Netherlands has money. But the problem is that although Britain has no money, the British navy is very strong.

British army quickly expanded after the end of the Civil War. The number of army personnel exceeded 30,000, and the naval battleship expanded to 120. The most conspicuous one here is the navy. The British navy had the best ships and crew in the world at that time and had very strong combat power. In 1652, the first British-Dutch war in officially broke out. This war ended with the failure of the Dutch Navy. Although both sides were exhausted in the end and had to settle it through negotiation. But the Netherlands failed to achieve its goal. The Netherlands has to recognize the "Navigation Ordinance" promulgated by the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has achieved its own goals, which means Britain has won.

After the Netherlands recognizes the "Navy Navigation Ordinance", the subsequent events can be imagined. Countries followed the example of Britain and took away overseas trade from the Netherlands. In this way, the Dutch overseas trade was completely disintegrated and its carriage was gone. Some people may say that the Netherlands is so rich, why didn’t they develop a navy after the failure of the First Anglo-Dutch War? The Netherlands can build a strong navy with its own financial resources, so that it can be invincible. In fact, this is impossible.

You should know that naval construction is not a matter of one day or one night. builds a strong navy requires a very long cycle. The Netherlands does not have this time at all. Even if the Netherlands invests heavily in building a navy, other countries will definitely try their best to stop it before it is completed. After all, everyone knows that the construction of the Dutch Navy is not good for them. Furthermore, even if the Dutch Navy is built, its own merchant ships still do not have the defensive capabilities. It is not realistic that the Netherlands cannot send its navy to protect its merchant ships around the world every day.

Perhaps some people say that Dutch merchant ships can build defense systems and install artillery and the like. Indeed, this can be installed. But after installation, the cost of ships increases and the loaded goods will be reduced. In this way, the advantages of Dutch merchant ships will be gone. Its profits will be reduced or even lose money. There is no advantage in competing with ships from other countries, and their overseas trade will definitely shrink. This is equivalent to self-destruction of martial arts.

Now do you realize how amazing the British Navigation Ordinance is, and directly dismantled the Dutch carriage, and invisibly joined forces with other countries to break the Netherlands' financial path. The Netherlands, which has lost its way to wealth, has no possibility of rising again. The reason why Britain was able to successfully dismantle the Dutch carriage was related to its strong military strength. Of course, even without the UK, other countries will do so. But no matter what, the Netherlands has been glorious for a while. It is still worthy of admiration for a small country to achieve such great achievements.

Reference: "Global History"