Second Anglo-Dutch War

The Second Anglo-Dutch War was fought between England and the United Provinces from 4 March 1665 until 31 July 1667. England tried to end the Dutch domination of world trade. After an initial British success it ended in a Dutch victory. English and French resentment would soon cause another war.

Prelude

In August 1653 the First Anglo-Dutch War had been concluded with a British victory in the Battle of Scheveningen despite the fact that peace was not signed for another eight months in April 1654. The Commonwealth government of Oliver Cromwell tried to avoid further conflict with the Dutch Republic. It didn't come to the help of its ally Sweden, when the Dutch thwarted the Swedish attempt to conquer Denmark in the Battle of the Sound. The Commonwealth was at war with Spain and feared Dutch intervention, also because there was in the Republic a strong Orangist party inimical to Cromwell and under the influence of English royalists in exile. However the Treaty of Westminster sowed the seeds for much future conflict because it forbade the Dutch in its secret annex, the infamous Act of Seclusion, to install any member of the House of Orange as their stadtholder.

After the Restoration there was a general surge of optimism in England. There was great hope to end the Dutch dominance in world trade. At first however Charles II of England tried to stay on friendly terms with the Republic, also because he was personally greatly in debt with the House of Orange that had lent enormous sums to Charles I during the English Civil War. Soon however a conflict developed with the States of Holland over the education and future prospects of his nephew William III of Orange, the son of Dutch stadtholder William II of Orange, over whom he had been made a guardian by his late sister Mary. The Dutch tried to placate the king by prodigious gifts, such as the "Dutch Gift" of 1660. Negotiations were started in 1661 to solve these issues, which ended in the treaty of 1662, the Dutch conceding on most points. In 1663 Louis XIV made claims to parts of the Habsburg Southern Netherlands and this led to a short rapprochement between England and the Republic as Lord Clarendon for a time saw France as the greatest danger.

In 1664 however the situation quickly changed. Clarendon's enemy Lord Arlington became the favourite of the king and he began to cooperate with the king's brother James, the Duke of York and Lord High Admiral in order to bring about war with the Dutch, from which they both expected great personal gain. James headed the Royal African Company and hoped to take over all the possessions of the Dutch West India Company. They were supported by the English ambassador in The Hague, George Downing, who hated and despised the Dutch and reported that the Republic was politically divided between the Orangists who gladly would collaborate with a British enemy in case of war and the States faction consisting of wealthy merchants that would give in to any English demand in order to protect their trade interests. Arlington planned to subdue the Dutch completely by permanent occupation of key Dutch cities.

As the English people came in the mood for war, privateers began to attack Dutch ships, capturing about 200 of them. Dutch ships were obligated by treaty (1662) to salute the British flag first. In 1664 the British ships began to provoke the Dutch by not saluting in return. Though ordered by the Dutch government to keep on saluting first anyway, many Dutch commanders couldn't bear the insult. However the resulting flag incidents were not the casus belli as in the previous war. To cause open conflict James sent Robert Holmes, in service of his Royal African Company, to capture Dutch trading posts and colonies in West Africa. At the same time the Dutch settlements in North America (New Netherland among which New Amsterdam) were taken. The Dutch reacted by sending a fleet under Michiel de Ruyter, that recaptured their African trade posts and crossed the Atlantic for a punitive expedition against the British in America. In December 1664 the English suddenly attacked the Dutch Smyrna fleet. Though the attempt failed, the Dutch in January 1665 allowed their ships to open fire on British war ships in the colonies when threatened. Charles used this as a pretext to declare war on the Netherlands on March 4, 1665.

The war was supported in England by much propaganda; the cause célèbre was the previous Amboyna Massacre, where in 1623, after the British treacherously, but in vain, assaulted Batavia, the Dutch publicly tortured to death the main British factors in the North Maluku to show the natives the Dutch were in control of the situation there also. The British were hung up with cloths placed over their faces upon which water dripped until the victims inhaled water. After some time, the victims were taken down to vomit up the water, and then it was repeated. The Dutch also put candles on the victims' bodies to show the translucence of the flesh. The British never forgot this atrocity, and pamphleteers reminded the public of it as the war neared. Additionally, broadsheets demonized the Dutch as drunken and profane, with Andrew Marvell's 1653 insult of Holland, "The Character of Holland," reprinted ("This indigested vomit of the Sea,/ Fell to the Dutch by Just Propriety"). When De Ruyter recaptured the West African trading posts, many pamphlets were written about presumed new Dutch atrocities, although these had no basis in fact.

The true causes of the war were mercantile. The British sought to take over the Dutch trade routes and colonies while excluding the Dutch from their own colonial possessions. Contraband shipping had gone on from English colonies in America and Surinam for a decade, and the British felt that they were being cheated of their revenues. The Dutch on the other hand considered it their right to trade with anyone anywhere, defending the principle of the mare liberum. They inconsequentially enforced a monopoly in the Dutch Indies however and threatened to expand it to India, after having expelled the Portuguese from that area. The vilification of the Dutch traders was at least partially an expression of unease with the presence of notable Cromwellian politicians and officers in Holland in exile. Charles II of England had reason to be nervous about the possibility of a coordinated uprising within England and a Dutch invasion. An important factor was that many members of the British elite would gain personally if Dutch ships were captured.

After the First Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch were much better prepared. In 1653 it had been decided to create the "New Navy", a core of sixty new heavier ships with professional captains. Losses had been consequently replaced after that. However these ships were still much lighter than the ten "big ships" of the English navy. In 1664, when war threatened, it had been decided to completely replace the fleet core by yet heavier ships. When war broke out in early 1665 these new vessels were mostly still under construction, the Dutch only possessing four heavier ships of the line. During the second war the new ships were quickly completed and another twenty ordered and built. England could only build a dozen due to financial reasons.

The English population was about four times larger than the Dutch. However most of these were poor peasants. The only source of ready cash were the cities. In 1665 the Dutch urban population in absolute terms was larger than the British one. The outbreak of war was followed ominously by the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, hitting the only major urban centre of the country. These events, in such close succession, virtually brought Britain to its knees, as even before them despite an enormous nominal war chest the British fleet had an immediate cash flow problem. The navy didn't pay its sailors with money, but with "tickets", i.e. debt certificates. Charles had no really effective means to enforce taxation. The only way to finance the war was by capturing Dutch trade fleets. So the main cause of the war, British penury, made its outcome dependent on good fortune in privateering.

The War

1665

The first encounter between the nations was, as in the First Anglo-Dutch War, at sea. The real fighting started with the Battle of Lowestoft on 13 June, where the English gained a great victory, the worst defeat for the navy of the Republic in history. They failed to take advantage of this however. The leading Dutch politician, the Grand Pensionary of Holland Johan de Witt, quickly restored confidence by joining the fleet personally. Incompetent and cowardly captains were removed, new tactics formalised. In August De Ruyter returned from America, was hailed as a hero and given supreme command of the confederate fleet. The Spice Fleet from the Dutch East Indies managed to return home safely after the Battle of Vågen, though at first blockaded at Bergen, so the financial position of England deteriorated. For every warship the English built, the Dutch yards turned out seven.

In the summer of 1665 the bishop of Münster Bernhard von Galen, an old enemy of the Dutch, was induced by promises of English subsidies to invade the Republic. At the same time the British made overtures to Spain. Louis XIV, though obliged by a treaty made in 1662 to assist the Republic in a war with England, had postponed his aid on the pretence of wanting to negotiate a peace. He was now greatly alarmed by the attack by Münster and the prospect of an English - Spanish coalition. He intended to conquer the Spanish Netherlands in the near future, but a collapse of the Republic could create a powerful Habsburg entity on his northern border as the Habsburgs were the traditional allies of the German bishops. He immediately promised to send a French army corps; also French envoys — under the grand name of the célèbre ambassade — arrived in London to begin negotiations in earnest, threatening the wrath of the French monarch if the English wouldn't comply. These events caused great consternation at the English court. It now seemed that the Republic would end up as either a Habsburg possession or a French protectorate. Either outcome would be disastrous for England's strategic position. Clarendon, always having warned for "this foolish war", was ordered to quickly make peace with the Dutch without French mediation. Downing used his Orangist contacts to induce the province of Overijssel, whose countryside was ravaged by Von Galen's troops, to ask in the States-General for a peace with England conceding to the — the Orangists naively thought — main English demand that the young William III would be made Captain-General and Admiral-General of the Republic and ensured of the stadtholderate. The sudden return of De Witt from the fleet prevented the Orangists from taking over power. In November the States-General promised Louis never to conclude a separate peace with England. On 11 December they openly declared that the only peace terms acceptable to them would be either a return to the status quo ante or a quick end to hostilities under a uti possidetis clausule.

1666

In the winter of 1666 the Dutch created a strong alliance against England. In January Louis declared war. In February Frederick III of Denmark did the same after having been paid a very large sum. Then Brandenburg threatened to attack Münster from the east. Von Galen, the English subsidies having remained largely hypothetical, made peace with the Republic in April at Cleves. In the spring of 1666 the Dutch had rebuilt their fleet with much heavier ships — thirty of them had more cannon than any Dutch ship in early 1665 — and threatened to join with the French. Charles made a new peace offer in February, employing a French nobleman in Orange service, Henri Buat, as messenger. In it he vaguely promised to moderate his demands if the Dutch would only appoint William in some responsible function and pay £200,000 as "indemnities". De Witt considered it a mere feint to create dissension among the Dutch and between them and France. A new confrontation was inevitable.

This huge Four Days Battle 1666, one of the longest naval engagements in history, ended up in both sides claiming victory; the English because they contended Dutch Lieutenant Admiral Michiel de Ruyter had retreated first, the Dutch because they had inflicted much greater losses on the English, who lost ten ships against the Dutch four. In fact, it was the English fleet that had retreated first, although the Dutch had reached their harbours earlier, having sustained less damage than the English. Administrative difficulties in the Navy continued whilst a fleet of eighty ships under General at Sea George Monck, the Commonwealth veteran, (after, the Duke of Albemarle) set sail at the end of May 1666. Prince Rupert of the Rhine was detached with twenty of these ships to intercept a French squadron on the 29th May (Julian calendar), thought to be passing up the English Channel, presumably to join the Dutch fleet. In fact the French fleet was still largely in the Mediterranean.

Leaving the Downs, Albemarle came upon De Ruyter's fleet of 85 ships at anchor, and he immediately engaged the nearest Dutch ship before the rest of the fleet could come to its assistance. The Dutch rearguard under Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp set upon a starboard tack, taking the battle toward the Flemish shoals, compelling Albemarle to turn about, to prevent being outflanked by the Dutch rear and centre, culminating in a ferocious unremitting battle that raged until nightfall. At daylight on 2nd June, Albemarle's strength was reduced to 44 ships, but with these he renewed the battle tacking past the enemy four times in close action. With his fleet in too poor a condition to continue to challenge he retired towards the coast with the Dutch in pursuit. The following day Albemarle ordered the damaged ships forward covering their return on the 3rd until Prince Rupert returning with his 20 ships, joined him. During this stage of the battle Vice-Admiral George Ayscue on the grounded Prince Royal — one of the nine remaining "big ships" — surrendered, the last time in history for an English admiral in battle. With the return of the fresh squadron under Prince Rupert the English now got more ships, yet the Dutch decided the battle on the fourth day, breaking the English line several times. When the English retreated, De Ruyter was reluctant to follow, perhaps because of lack of gunpowder.

After the Four Days Fight, one other major sea battle was fought, the St. James's Day Battle on 4 and 5 August, which ended in English victory but failed to decide the war as the Dutch fleet escaped certain annihilation. At this stage simply surviving was sufficient for the Dutch as the British could hardly afford even a victory. Tactically indifferent with the Dutch losing two ships and the English one, the battle would have enormous political implications. Cornelis Tromp, commanding the Dutch rear, had defeated his English counterpart, but was accused by De Ruyter of being responsible for the plight of the main body of the Dutch fleet by chasing the British rear squadron as far as the English coast. As Tromp was the champion of the Orange party, the conflict led to much party strife; because of this on 13 August Tromp was fired by the States of Holland. Five days later Charles made an other peace offer to De Witt, again using Buat as an intermediary. Among the letters given to the Grand Pensionary, by mistake was included one containing the secret British instructions to their contacts in the Orange party, outlining plans for an overthrow of the States regime. Buat was arrested; his accomplices in the conspiracy fled the country to England, among them Tromp's brother-in-law Johan Kievit. De Witt now had proof of the collaborationist nature of the Orange movement and the major city regents distanced themselves from its cause. Buat was condemned for treason and beheaded. The mood in the Republic now turned very belligerent, also because in August British vice-admiral Robert Holmes during his raid on the Vlie estuary in August 1666, destroyed over 150 merchantmen (Holmes's Bonfire) and sacked the island of Terschelling. In this he was assisted by a Dutch captain, Laurens Heemskerck, who had fled to England after having been condemned to death for cowardice shown during the Battle of Lowestoft.

After the Fire of London in September, the next offer by Charles came, again reducing his demands. Small "indemnities", the return of the nutmeg island of Paulu Run and a deal over India would suffice now; no more mention was made of the position of William. The States-General simply referred to their declaration of 11 December 1665, no longer willing to make a slight concession to allow Charles to withdraw from the war without losing face.

1667: Medway

Early 1667 the financial position of the British crown became desperate. There simply was no money to make the entire fleet seaworthy so it was decided in February that the heavy ships remain laid up at Chatham. Clarendon explained to Charles that he had but two options: either to make very substantial concessions to Parliament or to begin peace talks with the Dutch under their conditions. In March these were indeed started at Breda in the Generality Lands as negotiations in the provinces themselves would by the conventions of the day be considered a sign of inferiority for the Dutch. Charles however did not negotiate in good faith. He had already decided to turn to a third option: becoming a secret ally of France to obtain money and undermine the Dutch position. On 18 April he concluded his first secret treaty with Louis, stipulating that England would support a French conquest of the Spanish Netherlands. In May the French invaded starting the War of Devolution; Charles hoped by procrastinating the talks at Breda to gain enough time to ready his fleet in order to obtain concessions from the Dutch, using the French advance as leverage.

De Witt was well aware of Charles's general intentions (though not of the secret treaty). He decided to end the war with one stroke. Ever since its actions in Denmark in 1659, involving many landings to liberate the Danish Isles, the Dutch navy had made a special study of amphibious operations. In 1665 the Dutch Marine Corps (then under the name of Regiment de Marine) had been created . De Witt personally had arranged for the planning of a landing of marines at Chatham. Both at the Four Days' Battle and the St James's Day Fight a Dutch marine contingent had been ready to land in the Medway immediately following a possible Dutch victory at sea. Conditions hadn't allowed for this however. But now there was no English fleet of any quality able to contest command of the North Sea. It lay basically defenceles at Chatham and De Witt ordered it destroyed.

In June, 1667, De Ruyter, with Cornelis de Witt supervising, launched the Dutch "Raid on the Medway" at the mouth of the River Thames. After capturing the fort at Sheerness, the Dutch fleet went on to break through the massive chain protecting the entrance to the Medway and, on the 13th, attacked the laid up English fleet. The daring raid remains England's greatest naval disaster ever. Fifteen of the Navy's remaining ships were destroyed, either by the Dutch or by being scuttled by the English to block the river. Three of the eight remaining "big ships" were burnt: Royal Oak, the new Loyal London and Royal James. The largest, the English flagship HMS Royal Charles, was abandoned by its skeleton crew, captured without a shot being fired, and towed back to the Netherlands as a trophy. Its coat-of-arms is now on display in the Rijksmuseum. Fortunately for the English the Dutch marines spared the Chatham Dockyard, England's largest industrial complex; a land attack on the docks themselves would have set back English naval power for many years.

The Dutch success had a major psychological impact throughout England, with London feeling especially vulnerable just a year after the Great Fire. This, together with the cost of the war, of the Great Plague and the extravagant spending of Charles's court, created a rebellious atmosphere in London. Clarendon ordered the British envoys at Breda to sign a peace quickly because Charles feared an open revolt.

Peace

Main article: Treaty of Breda.

On July 31, 1667, the Treaty of Breda sealed peace between the two nations. The treaty allowed the English to keep factual possession of the territory around New Amsterdam (the current New York), the Dutch kept control over Paulu Run and the valuable sugar plantations of Suriname which they had conquered in 1667. This temporary uti possidetis solution would be made official in the Treaty of Westminster (1674). The Act of Navigation was moderated in favour of the Dutch.

The peace was generally seen as a personal triumph for De Witt. The Republic was jubilant about the Dutch victory. De Witt used the occasion to induce four provinces to adopt the Perpetual Edict abolishing the stadtholderate for ever. He used the weak position of Charles to force him into the Triple Alliance of 1668 which again forced Louis to temporarily abandon his plans for the conquest of the Southern Netherlands. But De Witt's success would eventually bring about his downfall and nearly the downfall of the Republic with it. Both humiliated monarchs intensified their secret cooperation and would, joined by Von Galen, attack the Dutch in 1672 in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. De Witt couldn't counter this attack as he hadn't dared to create a strong Dutch army in fear it would strengthen the position of William. The same year Cornelis Tromp and Johan Kievit had him murdered and William became stadtholder.

External links

Painting of the Four Days Battle by Abraham Storck
De Ruyters' flagship 'The Seven Provinces' is being rebuilt in Dutch town Lelystad.
Very readable, detailed and illustrated account of the Raid at Medway (near Chatham).

Anglo-Dutch Wars | Wars of Norway

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