8.2. Netherlands XVI-XVII . Netherlands revolution and the formation of the Republic of the United Provinces

The breakthrough of Europe was due to changes in the production relations in the Netherlands and England thanks to bourgeois revolutions, which took place here much earlier than in other countries.

The causes of the rise of Holland. XVI century. - the time of the rise of Holland. Thanks to the movement of trade routes to the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of which this country was located, an active process of disintegration of feudalism and the rapid formation of capitalist relations took place. Holland, located at the junction of the main routes of world trade, became an intermediary between the North and the South, Europe and the colonies and the heir to the Hanseatic trade.

The causes and course of the bourgeois revolution. Another, more important prerequisite for the economic success of Holland is the bourgeois revolution that took place between 1566-1579. and became the world's first successful bourgeois revolution. In the Netherlands, by this time the contradictions between the nobility and the bourgeoisie, as well as between the possessing classes and the working people, city and village, were already ripe, the class struggle reached here by the end of the XVI century. the greatest strength. In addition, the people of the country began the national liberation struggle against the oppression of feudal Spain, which received up to 40% of its income through the exploitation of the Netherlands. The Spanish king Philip II (1527-1598) introduced the Inquisition in the Netherlands and mercilessly pursued the heretics. All this caused unrest in the country. In cities, there are armed clashes with Spanish soldiers. In 1566 a popular uprising broke out, a bourgeois revolution began in the Netherlands. Attempts by Philip II with executions and atrocities to stop the resistance of the Dutch people did not break his will to fight. The main milestones of the revolutionary events: the popular iconoclastic uprising of 1566 in the southern provinces; general uprising of 1572 in the northern provinces; uprising in 1576 in the southern provinces; the creation of the Union of Utrecht in
1579

The Netherlands bourgeois revolution ended with the liberation from the Spanish domination of the northern provinces and the formation of the bourgeois republic of the united provinces, although Philip II held the southern Netherlands under his rule. Seven provinces united in one state with a common government, treasury and army. Holland became the head of the republic of the united provinces as the most economically developed province. The new state became known as Holland.

The economic development of Holland after the revolution. The liberation from Spanish oppression, which shackled capitalism, created an additional incentive for the bourgeois development of Holland. The industry is intensively progressing in the country, where manufacture and trade began to predominate.

The leading industry of the Dutch industry was shipbuilding. The country had the largest fleet in Europe. One of the reasons for the economic growth of Holland is the vastness of its trade relations. She conducted trade with Scandinavia, Northern Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and the Russian state. She had close trade relations with England, with the countries of Southern Europe. Revenues from foreign brokering for Holland were the main source of primitive accumulation of capital. The cloth industry, the production of linen, silk, luxury goods, and leatherwork have been greatly developed. Holland has created a highly developed food industry - the manufacture of cheese, meat and dairy products, sugar. Many of these industries worked for export. In the XVII century. in Holland there were 50 sugar refineries-enterprises processing imported raw materials.

The transformation of the country's financial system is evidence of the capitalist evolution of Holland. Credit operations established in 1609 of Amsterdam Bank received a wide scope. The bank quickly became rich, and Amsterdam became the financial center of the world, the focus of international currency speculation. Antwerp became the major center of world trade, where the first commodity exchange was organized.

The latest trends in the economic development of Holland are reflected in agriculture. Reached a high level of intensive livestock, gardening, floriculture (cultivation of tulips). Earlier than other countries, the Netherlands introduced multi-field crop rotations and the seed-seed system on drained fertile fields (called polders); capitalist farms developed in which the peasant masses were in the position of farm laborers and hired workers. An important role in the economy of the Netherlands was played by fisheries, which annually employed 100-120 thousand people.

In the accumulation of capital for the Netherlands its colonial system was of great importance. In the XVI-XVII centuries. its largest colonies were the Netherlands Guiana, the Cape region (in southwest Africa). Since 1605, the Dutch have fortified themselves on the islands of Indonesia, in 1656 they captured Ceylon. And the revolutionary liberation wars gradually turned into so-called trade wars. Their goal was to eliminate the monopoly of the Spaniards and the Portuguese on the exploitation of the colonies. In 1602, with the participation of the government, the East India Company was established, carrying out a broad colonial trade, ensuring by all means the sending of colonial goods to the metropolis.

As a result, the Netherlands advanced in the XVII century. in first place in Europe in terms of economic development. This country was the first to create world trade. Karl Marx called Holland a model capitalist country of the 17th century.

The reasons for the backlog of Holland at the end of XVII. However, the leadership of Holland was short-lived. Already in the second half of the XVII century. she slowed the pace of economic development, and then ceded the leadership of England. The trade and colonial Anglo-Dutch wars, caused by the trade-economic and colonial rivalry of these states, took place in 1652-1654, 1665-1667 and 1672-1674. They were at sea and ended with the defeat of Holland, weakened its position and contributed to the transition of trade, economic and colonial hegemony to England. The main reason for this shift is the weakness of the Dutch production base. For the wide development of industry, it did not have enough raw materials and labor, and the intermediary nature of foreign trade made its economic system dependent on the economic and political situation in the neighboring countries of Europe. Long-term wars required huge unproductive expenditures on armaments, on the restoration of those destroyed in the course of hostilities, which was unbearable for the state treasury.

Since the second half of the XVII century. Holland begins to overtake England, which very soon comes to the fore in economic development in the first place among European countries.