Rise of the DutchRepublic

  1. CommercialRepublic
  2. Northern seven provinces officially recognized independence as result of Pearce of Westphalia.
  3. Southern 10 provinces of the Netherlands were known as the Spanish Netherlands.
  4. Government:
  5. NO MONARCH!!
  6. Confederation of strong provinces (Holland as strongest –navy/wealth)
  7. Power was invested in the sovereignty –the people!!
  8. A National assembly –States General
  9. States General
  10. Based in the Hague, it was the Legislative branch
  11. Deputies elected by the 7 provincial assemblies known as Provincial States
  12. Provincial states were comprised of deputies elected by city governments
  13. City Governments
  14. Power in the city governments rested in the hands of the regents (group of middle-class merchant men)
  15. Governing:
  16. Issues would come before the States General----deputies vote based on what the city governments wanted—via the regents.
  17. Executive branch ---Stadholder
  18. The Stadholder represented the states general in each province . Very ceremonial –not much real power
  19. The Stadholder traditionally was held by members from the House of Orange.
  20. The Economy:
  21. The republic was based on values of thrift, frugality, and religious toleration, including that for Jews.
  22. Religious toleration fostered economic growth.
  23. The fishing industry was the cornerstone of the Dutch economy--stimulating shipbuilding, a huge merchant marine, and other industries.
  24. Buying of whole forests from Norway
  25. Wine industry –Buying of vineyards from France pre-grape harvest
  26. Bought Grain in bulk from Eastern Europe
  27. Buying in BULK is NICE!!!!
  28. The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602; it cut heavily into Portuguese trading in East Asia.
  29. The Dutch West India Company, founded in 1621, traded extensively in Latin America and Africa.
  30. Wages were high for all and most people ate well.
  31. Bank of Amsterdam –founded in 1609
  32. Land reclamation facilitated agriculture production ---Feed the large urban populations.
  33. War with France and England in the 1670s hurt the United Provinces.
  34. “Anglo-Dutch wars” ----caused by the English Navigation Acts –way to go Cromwell!!
  35. The “Golden Age”
  36. Period between 1550-1650
  37. Painters:
  38. Vemeer (1632-1675)
  39. Rembrandt (1606-1669)
  40. Philosophers:
  41. Descartes (1596-1650)
  42. Spinoza (1632-1677)

Decline of Spain

  1. Absolutism achieved??
  2. Habsburgs at their height under Charles V and Phillip II—all downhill from there
  3. Bureaucracy:
  4. Too slow
  5. People did not act without Phillip’s approval---too afraid
  6. Phillip did not delegate---oversaw every detail
  7. Phillip signed every decree, read every report = = bureaucratic bottleneck
  8. The only Bureaucrats were Castilian nobles---Jobs in govt because they paid the highest taxes.~~~~~>Breeds incompetence
  9. Army:
  10. Expensive
  11. Citizens were forced to house soldiers
  12. Religious Uniformity---Phillip was successful on this
  13. Economic Problems:
  14. Country as a whole profited very little from the New World
  15. Rich men in small groups monopolized the profits from trade.
  16. Any governmental wealth from the New World often went to paying debts from previous wars----banks in foreign countries getting rich ---not Spain.
  17. Phillip II claimed bankruptcy 3X
  18. No investment in infrastructure for future
  19. Spain had only a tiny middle class--which had to face many obstacles to their businesses.
  20. Aristocrats were extravagant and their high rents drove the peasants from the land.
  21. Phillip III (r. 1598-1621)
  22. 1600 + ---Silver starts to dwindle from New World (English, French, Dutch in da game now)
  23. Labor shortage in the New World as more nations get involved in Slave trade. / death of natives due to disease
  24. Phillip IV (r. 1621-1665)
  25. Looked like Spain will rise again under Minister Count of Olivares
  26. Attempted to spread the tax burden all over the Spanish Empire = = = = Anti-govt revolts
  27. War of Spanish Succession puts the nail in the coffin of the Spanish Habsburgs // Phillip V is a Bourbon