Comments by "Lynott Parris" (@DenUitvreter) on "Geography By Geoff"
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BS, he Dutch Republic wás a major European power, a world power even, the nation that dominated the 17th century in Europe, so no, it wasn't controlled by several European powers. The whole history section makes no sense without the split of the LowLands into the Northern Netherlands, the independent Dutch Republic, and the Spanish Netherlands which remained part of the Spanish Empire and later became the Austrian Netherlands in the South.
Yes, Belgium was indeed the result of a big event, a huge event, the emergence of the first nation state that denied the divine right of kings, claimed inalienable rights including freedom of conscience (religion) and resisting a tyrant, and declared independence in 1581. That caused the Northern Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands growing apart in those 2 centuries. That's why the reunification was just a 15 year long failed experiment, a footnote in history. Except for the plunder and resulting poverty, France was not important in this at all. It was the British who were mighty because of that poverty that wanted a buffer monarchy in front of France, when that didn't work out they opted for two buffer monarchies and got another German to be king of the other part of the Low Lands/Netherlands. The North kept the name Netherlands, the South got the former Latinized name of the whole region, Belgica.
If that's all too complicated, don't make a video. You can't just dumb it down into something factually wrong.
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@onurbschrednei4569 If you land a fleet bigger than the armada, march in with 40.000 troops, after a few skirmeshes have the legitimate king flee to France with a nosebleed and then occupy the capital and allow no British soldiers near for years and take the crown, that's an invasion, occupation and conquest by any definition. That he held an impressive propaganda campaing to win the hearts and minds of the people for a stable future as Duch ally does not change the facts on the ground.
He wasn't invited, he contacted a few rather powerless parliamentarians while preparing the invastion and asked them to invite him an invitation letter as part of this propaganda, which also included speeches, dressing for the occasion, bringing a printing press for pamphlets and severe punishment for soldiers using words like invasion instead of liberation and not being on their best behaviour towards the people. There was nothing happening in Britain but the king taking absolute catholic control until the Dutch made it happen, without any real help.
The Spanish Empire was by far the mightiest of that time, the biggest blow might have been the Netherlands stopping paying taxes, they were very rich and paid more than half of all tax income of the Spanish Empire. But they were the most highly acclaimed and feared army and got their asses handed to him in over a hundred of battles and sieges.
In 1579 the Dutch declared freedom of conscience, introducing religious freedom. In 1581 they declared a king had to serve his people, respect the inalienable rights of the people and by becoming a tyrant, he had left the throne. The Dutch printed more than half of Europe's books anyway, but they had freedom of print and thought. It was the birth place of the enlightenment. Not only did the philosophers of the englightenment have their ideas printed there, Rene Descartes was practically Dutch, he served in the Dutch army and lived and wrote his works there. Spinoza is just as Dutch as Erasmus of course, but also John Locke lived and wrote his most important works in the Dutch Republic. He basically only had to have a peak out of the window for inspiration. He was asked by William to accompagny is wife on the trip to London for his coronation.
The Dutch Republic managed to fend off the aggressive medieval monarchies and when they started to team up it got a bit too much to handle so they decided to conquer one and modernize it, pull it out of the Dark Ages so it would be a durable ally. It was the example to all that a different kind of state and a different kind of society was not only possible, but also doing great. In the two centuries since Dutch independence the ideas the Dutch stumbled upon as they went along in their revolt and war for independence got more ordered and sophisticated, but nor the American DOI or the French revolution were firsts in Western civilization. I'm struggling to think of British contributions to the enlightenment and Germany was mostly later on. Enligthenment is of course a bit difficult when you are still forcing people to believe in your god like you do.
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