Editing Anglo–Dutch wars (section)

== Wars ==

=== First war: 1652–1654 ===
{{Main|First Anglo-Dutch War}}
[[File:Battle of Scheveningen (Slag bij Ter Heijde)(Jan Abrahamsz. Beerstraten).jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Scheveningen]], 10 August 1653]]

As a result of Cromwell's ambitious programme of naval expansion, at a time when the Dutch admiralties were selling off many of their own warships, the English came to possess a greater number of larger and more powerful purpose-built warships than their rivals across the North Sea did. However, the Dutch had many more merchant ships, together with lower freight rates, better financing and a wider range of manufactured goods to sell – although Dutch ships were blocked by the Spanish from operations in most of [[southern Europe]], along the coasts of the 
[[Mediterranean Sea]], giving the English an advantage there.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jonathan I. |last=Israel |title=The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1995 |page=713 |isbn=0-19-873072-1 }}</ref>

To protect English commercial interests in North America, in October 1651 the English Parliament passed the first of the [[Navigation Acts]], which mandated that all goods imported into England must be carried by English ships or vessels from the exporting countries, thus excluding (mostly Dutch) middlemen. Agitation among the Dutch merchants as a result of the Navigation Acts was further increased by Admiral Sir [[George Ayscue]]'s (1616-1652) capture in early 1652 of 27 Dutch merchant ships illegally trading with the English still royalist colony of [[Barbados]] in the [[West Indies]] islands chain of the [[Americas]], in contravention of an embargo imposed by the Parliamentarians. The Dutch responded to the growing tensions by enlisting large numbers of armed merchantmen into their navy. In 1652, Lord Protector Cromwell required all foreign warships in the [[North Sea]] or the [[English Channel]] to [[Striking the colors|lower their colours]] when encountering English warships. On 29 May 1652, Lieutenant-Admiral [[Maarten Tromp]] (1598–1653), refused to lower the colours of his ships after encountering an English fleet led by [[General at Sea]] [[Robert Blake (admiral)|Robert Blake]] (1598–1657). This resulted in a skirmish, the [[Battle of Dover (1652)|Battle of Dover]], off-shore of [[Dover, England]] in the [[English Channel]] in 1652, after which the Commonwealth of England then declared war on the Dutch Republic on 10 July.

After some inconclusive minor fights the English were successful in the first major battle, with Blake defeating the Dutch Vice-Admiral [[Witte de With]] (1599–1658), in the [[Battle of the Kentish Knock]] in October 1652. Believing that the war was all but over, the English divided their forces and in December were routed by the fleet of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp at the [[Battle of Dungeness]] in the [[English Channel]]. The Dutch were also victorious in March 1653, at the [[Battle of Leghorn]] near Italy and had gained effective control of both the Mediterranean and the [[English Channel]]. Blake, recovering from an injury, rethought, together with Duke of Albemarle [[George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle|George Monck]] (1608–1670), the whole system of naval tactics, and after the winter of 1653 used the [[line of battle]], first to drive the [[Netherlands Navy|Dutch navy]] out of the English Channel in the [[Battle of Portland]] and then out of the [[North Sea]] in the [[Battle of the Gabbard]]. The Dutch were unable to effectively resist as the [[States General of the Netherlands]] had not in time heeded the warnings of their admirals that much larger warships were needed.

In the final [[Battle of Scheveningen]] on 10 August 1653, Tromp was killed, a blow to Dutch morale, but the English had to end their blockade of the Dutch coast. As both nations were by now exhausted and Cromwell had dissolved the aggressive warlike [[Rump Parliament]], ongoing peace negotiations could be brought to fruition, albeit after many months of slow diplomatic exchanges. The war ended on 5 April 1654, with the signing of the [[Treaty of Westminster (1654)|Treaty of Westminster]] of 1654 (ratified by the States General on 8 May), but the commercial rivalry was not resolved, the English having failed to replace the Dutch as the world's dominant trade nation. The treaty contained a secret annex, the [[Act of Seclusion]], forbidding the infant [[William III of England|Prince William III of Orange]] (future King [[William III of England|William III]] of England) from becoming also the Dutch stadtholder of the province of [[Holland]], which would prove to be a future cause of discontent. In 1653 the Dutch had started a major naval expansion programme of their own, building sixty larger vessels, partly closing the qualitative gap with the English naval fleet. Cromwell, having already started the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1654)|Anglo-Spanish War]] against Spain in 1654 without Dutch help, during his rule then avoided a new conflict with the fellow Republic on the continent, even though the Dutch in the same time period defeated his [[History of Portugal|Portuguese]] and [[Kingdom of Sweden|Swedish]] allies.

=== Second war: 1665–1667 ===
{{Main|Second Anglo-Dutch War}}
[[File:Van Minderhout Battle of Lowestoft.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Battle of Lowestoft]], 13 June 1665.]]
[[File:Het verbranden van de Engelse vloot bij Chatham, juni 1667, tijdens de Tweede Engelse Zeeoorlog (1665-1667) Rijksmuseum SK-A-1393.jpeg|thumb|The 1667 [[raid on the Medway]].]]
After the [[English Restoration]] in 1660, newly-crowned King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] tried through diplomatic means to make his nephew, [[William III of England|Prince William III of Orange]], stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. At the same time, Charles promoted a series of mercantilist policies aimed at encountering Dutch mercantile dominance, which again led to a renewed deterioration in Anglo-Dutch relations. This subsequently led to a surge of [[anti-Dutch sentiment]] in England, the country being, as [[Samuel Pepys]] put it, "mad for war". English merchants and chartered overseas mercantile trade companies—such as the East India Company, the [[Royal African Company|Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa]], and the Levant Company—calculated that global economic primacy could now be wrestled away from the Dutch. They reckoned that a combination of naval battles and irregular [[privateer]]ing missions would cripple the Dutch Republic and force the States General to agree to a more favourable peace.<ref name="Rommelse">{{cite journal |first=Gijs |last=Rommelse |title=Prizes and Profits: Dutch Maritime Trade during the Second Anglo-Dutch War |journal=International Journal of Maritime History |year=2007 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=139–159 |doi=10.1177/084387140701900207 |s2cid=155011146 }}</ref> The plan was for English ships to be replenished, and sailors paid, with looted booty seized from captured Dutch merchant vessels returning from overseas.

In 1665 many Dutch merchantman ships were captured, and Dutch trade and industry were hurt. The English achieved several victories over the Dutch, such as taking the Dutch colony of [[New Netherland]] and seaport town of [[New Amsterdam]] (present day of later renamed [[New York City|New York]]) by an English fleet of King Charles' younger brother, the future King [[James II of England|James II]]; but there were also several Dutch victories, such as the capture of the renewed [[Royal Navy]] flagship ''Prince Royal'' during the [[Four Days Battle]] at sea of 11 to 14 June 1666 – the subject of a famous painting by [[Willem van de Velde, the younger|Willem van de Velde]] (1633–1707). Dutch maritime trade recovered from 1666, while the English war effort and economy suffered a downturn when [[Great Plague of London|London was ravaged by disease in the Great Plague]] during 1665–1666,<ref name="Rommelse" /> and much of the [[capital city|capital]] of the [[City of London]] along the [[Thames River]] was burnt to the ground by the massive devastating infamous [[Great Fire of London]] of September 1666, (which was generally interpreted across the English Channel in the Dutch Republic as divine retribution for the earlier [[Holmes's Bonfire]] raid in August 1666).

A surprise attack in June 1667, the [[raid on the Medway]], on the English fleet in its home port arguably won the war for the Dutch; British historian [[C. R. Boxer]] described it as one of the "most humiliating defeat suffered by British arms".<ref>{{cite book |quote=It can hardly be denied that the Dutch raid on the Medway vies with the [[Battle of Majuba Hill|Battle of Majuba]] in 1881 and the [[Battle of Singapore|Fall of Singapore]] in 1942 for the unenviable distinctor of being the most humiliating defeat suffered by British arms. |first=Charles Ralph |last=Boxer |title=The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th Century |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |location=London |year=1974 |page=39 }}</ref> A flotilla of ships led by [[Michiel de Ruyter]] (1607–1676), sailed westward up the [[Thames River]] and [[Thames Estuary]], on a daring raid, broke through the defences guarding [[Chatham Harbour]], set fire to several English warships moored there, and even towed away {{HMS|Unity|1665|6}} and {{HMS|Royal Charles|1660|6}}, flagship and second largest warship of the Royal Navy. Also in June 1667, the Dutch sailed vessels on a raiding expedition from the Caribbean north into the [[Hampton Roads]] harbor at the mouth of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] in the [[Battle of the James River (1667)|Battle of the James River]], near the modern-day [[Hampton, Virginia|Hampton]] and [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]] seaports of the English [[Colony of Virginia]], destroying an English ship in the harbour and bombarding its coastal protecting fort. The raid on the [[Medway]] led to widespread anger in England towards the government. This, together with the mounting costs of the war and the extravagant spending of the returned King Charles's court, produced a rebellious atmosphere in London. Charles ordered the English envoys at [[Breda]] to sign a peace quickly with the Dutch, as he feared an open revolt at home against him.

=== Third war: 1672–1674 ===
{{Main|Third Anglo-Dutch War}}
[[File:The Goulden Leeuw Engaging Royal Prince at the Battle of the Texel, 11 August 1673 RMG BHC0307.tiff|thumb|The [[Battle of Texel]], 21 August 1673.]]

Soon the Royal Navy was rebuilt. After the events of the previous war, English public opinion was unenthusiastic about starting a new one. However, as he was bound by the secret [[Treaty of Dover]], Charles II was obliged to assist [[Louis XIV]] in his attack on the Dutch Republic in the [[Franco-Dutch War]]. When the [[Royal French Army]] was halted by the [[Hollandic Water Line]] (a defence system involving strategic flooding), an attempt was made to invade the Dutch Republic by sea. De Ruyter won a series of strategic victories against the Anglo-French fleet and prevented an invasion of the Dutch Republic. After these failures, the English parliament forced Charles to make peace.{{sfn|Troost|2005|p=126}}

=== Fourth war: 1780–1784 ===
{{Main|Fourth Anglo-Dutch War}}
In 1688, the Dutch feared that England might align with France in the upcoming [[Nine Years' War]], potentially repeating the crisis of 1672. To prevent this, [[William III of England|William of Orange]], making use of an [[Invitation to William|invitation]] from seven influential and discontented Englishmen, led a Dutch invasion force that landed at [[Torbay]] in [[Devon]]. From there, he marched on London and successfully deposed [[James II of England]]. While occupying London with his troops William was placed on the English throne, on the basis of the [[Bill of Rights 1689|Bill of Rights]], alongside his English wife [[Mary II of England|Mary]]. His reign ended further Anglo-Dutch conflicts and both states joined forces to fight the expansionist policies of [[Louis XIV of France]].{{Sfn|Van Nimwegen|2020|p=183–185}} Though remaining allies, England (and after 1707, [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]) quickly surpassed the Dutch in military and economic power. From roughly 1720 onwards, Dutch economic growth experienced a significant decline, and in 1780, the ''per capita'' [[gross national income]] of Britain surpassed their Dutch counterparts, leading to rising levels of resentment from the latter.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The [[Diplomatic Revolution]] brought this to light and during the following [[Seven Years' War]] the Dutch remained neutral. When Britain's North American colonies [[American Revolutionary War|revolted against British rule]] in 1776, the Dutch provided indirect support to the rebels, angering the British, who eventually [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War|declared war]] on the Dutch in 1780. By this point, the Dutch navy had severely weakened, possessing only 20 [[Ship of the line|ships of the line]]. The conflict consisted mostly of a series of successful British operations against [[Dutch Empire|Dutch colonial interests]], though one [[fleet action]] took place at the [[Battle of Dogger Bank (1781)|battle of Dogger Bank]] on 5 August 1781, which was indecisive. The war ended in a conclusive British victory and exposed the weakness of the political and economic foundations of the Dutch Republic, leading to instability and [[Patriottentijd|revolution]].{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

=== Later wars ===
[[File:Thomas-Whitcombe-Battle-of-Camperdown.jpg|thumb|left|The 1797 [[battle of Camperdown]] ([[Thomas Whitcombe]], 1798)]]

During the [[French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars]], France reduced the Netherlands to a [[satellite state]] and finally annexed the country in 1810. In 1797 the [[Batavian Navy|Dutch fleet]] was defeated by the British in the [[Battle of Camperdown]], but an [[Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland]] in 1799 was less successful. France still considered both the extant Dutch fleet and the large Dutch shipbuilding capacity very important assets. The Dutch navy was supposed to take part in the planned [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invasion of the United Kingdom]]. To this end a large flotilla of flat-bottomed boats was built in the [[Batavian Republic]], that had to be transported over sea to Boulogne. [[Battle of Blanc-Nez and Gris-Nez|This was successful]], but after the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] France gave up its attempt to match the British fleet, despite a strong Dutch lobby to this effect.

Britain also invaded several Dutch colonies, firstly in the Americas - [[Essequibo (colony)|Essequibo]] was captured in 1803 and [[Invasion of Surinam (1804)|Suriname was taken]] the following year. Following their victory at Trafalgar, Britain was now able to strike Dutch colonies elsewhere at will. The [[Battle of Blaauwberg|Cape Colony was captured]] in Southern Africa in January 1806. The Dutch territories in the Caribbean were all taken by 1807 including the largest island, [[Curaçao]]. The Dutch East Indies was the only area left to be taken. Starting with the first [[Java campaign of 1806–1807]] which saw the Royal Navy defeating the Dutch fleets to ensure British dominance in the region.

After the incorporation of the Netherlands in the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] in 1810, the British that year [[Invasion of the Spice Islands|captured the Spice Islands]] during a six-month campaign. A year later saw the final conquest of the Dutch East Indies with the [[Invasion of Java (1811)|seizure of the whole of Java]] during a month-long campaign. With the signing of the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]], Britain returned all those colonies to the new [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]], with the exception of [[Dutch Cape Colony|the Cape]], [[Dutch Ceylon|Ceylon]], and part of [[Dutch colonisation of the Guianas|Dutch Guyana]]. Some historians count the wars between Britain and the [[Batavian Republic]] and the [[Kingdom of Holland]] during the [[Napoleonic era]] as the Fifth and Sixth Anglo-Dutch wars.