The Republic of the Seven United Provinces

It helps to realise that the Dutch Golden Age, that period of political, economic and cultural blossoming in what is now called the Netherlands, roughly coincided with a war that dragged on for 80 years. In 1572, the towns in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland started an armed uprising against the lawful ruler, King Philip II of Spain, who had inherited the Burgundian Netherlands from his father, Charles V. The displeasure with the taxation Philip imposed, in particular, and the strict, inflexible attitude of the deeply devout Roman-Catholic King towards Protestant sympathisers with the faith of the Reformation, resulted in a revolt led by William of Orange, a high-ranking nobleman and politician. Initially the rebels did not stand a chance against the Spanish army, which consisted largely of mercenaries from surrounding countries. One Dutch town after another was conquered, but the military reversal of fortune began with the failure of the sieges of Alkmaar and Leiden in 1573-1574. From then on, the war would be fought mainly in the south and east of the Netherlands.

An important event was the capture of Antwerp by the Spanish in 1585. When the rebels closed off the waterway to the city, Antwerp's role as the largest port of the Netherlands came to an end, and Amsterdam took over as the main trading centre. On top of that, around 40,000 people, mainly Calvinists, left Antwerp, which was from then onward strictly Roman-Catholic again. Many of them moved to the liberated north, where they provided important economic and cultural stimuli. In 1581 the insurgent provinces deposed Philip II as sovereign, and Dutch independence became a fact. The war efforts of subsequent years delineated the frontiers of the liberated provinces. They forged a political union based on self-rule without a king; the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was born. Not until 1648, at the Peace of Münster, did Spain recognise the young Republic and did the war come to an end. The Southern Netherlands remained under Spanish rule, later that of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.