Dutch Republic Essay -- Dutch Economy, History

The Dutch Republic in 1650, being a formidable commercial, financial, and naval power at the time, faced many imperialistic challenges which led to the end of its golden age by the year 1713. The security of the Dutch Republic was consistently being challenged with wars because of weak military capabilities among the merchants, and this was viewed by the Dutch as a sign of an impending set of military conflicts and to foreign nations as a way to win over the republic. The wealthiest of the provinces, being Holland at the time, led to rivalries and jealous unequal provinces that all viewed Holland as a threat and also fought to get ahead of each other. The prosperity of the Dutch Republic was starting to crumble as trade was being damaged which led to the destruction of the empire, and the Dutch viewed this as a reason for why there was great competition between the Republic and the English. Because of all the wars that the Dutch Republic was involved in, they were not capable to deal with the wars because Holland was the only province with some money and could not win against larger nations such as England who could became a threat. In battle and in naval warfare, the Dutch were significantly outgunned. The estimated losses of Dutch ships seized by the English to merchant shipping in the three Anglo-Dutch wars were about 2000-2700. The Dutch on the other hand, only seized about 500 ships (Document 3). This particularly shows that the Dutch were in no position to be defending themselves against foreign nations, especially the English. It also shows that the English were a huge threat to the Dutch Republic because they could easily overwhelm the Dutch in battle. In the same manner, the Dutch were in no position to be engaging anyb... ...pport their East India Company. This point of view of the administrator is accurate because he is a member of the office which presides over the trade. Because of the drastic challenges the Dutch Republic went through, their golden age soon came to an end. Their profits soon turned into losses as the prosperity of the provinces soon became competed against by larger nations who had won over and dominated trade in Europe. As many nations wished to take over the Republic, the Dutch soon weakened by the wars which were seen as harmful by the people within the nation as well as surrounding countries. The jealousy of the provinces also caused conflict which weakened the unification of the whole Dutch Republic. Overwhelmed by the challenges that they were experiencing at the time, the Dutch soon spiraled down which led to the end of their golden age by the year 1713.