Antwerp in the second half of the fifteenth century
Capitalist handicraft workshops appeared in Holland as early as14th century, and developed rapidly in16th century. The most important are handicraft workshops engaged in textile and shipbuilding in the Netherlands and Reims in the north, and handicraft workshops engaged in textile, metallurgy, sugar making and printing in Flanders and Bra provinces in the south. Among them, handicraft workshop is the fastest growing wool and linen textile. However, the sales of raw materials and products in the southern wool industry mainly depend on the Spanish and British markets. The big bourgeoisie here has close economic ties with Spain and its colonies. Capitalist farms have also appeared in the rural areas of the Netherlands.
Spain's autocratic rule in the Netherlands
In the wave of religious reform, Luther, Ciwenli, Calvin and other sects were first introduced to the Netherlands. Calvinism has the most extensive influence, and its recipients include the bourgeoisie and new noble, as well as the working people. It has become a powerful force against Spanish rule. The old nobles tried to maintain feudal land ownership and various vested interests. They followed the example of the German Lutheran rulers and confiscated the land and property of the church to expand their power.
Charles is the autocratic ruler of the Netherlands, with developed economy, rich cities and rapid growth of capitalist factors in King's Landing. He stationed a governor here, set up financial, administrative institutions and inquisition, and pursued autocratic policies on political, economic and religious issues. It turns out that all provinces and cities in the Netherlands enjoy certain autonomy and traditional rights. In order to maintain the huge administrative, military and war expenses of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlie collected money everywhere. Holland is the richest, and Charlie's blackmail here is the craziest. He also used the Catholic Church as a ruling tool. 1550 royal decree (commonly known as bloody decree) stipulates that it is forbidden to copy, preserve, distribute, buy or sell the collected works of reformers such as Luther or Calvin. Anyone who spreads heresy will be beheaded by men and buried alive by women. During the reign of Charles, 50,000 to/kloc-0,000 Neanderthals died of religious persecution. Several uprisings against Charles' dictatorship broke out in Holland.
Prince Willem van Oranje
1556, Philip II inherited Charlie's Spanish throne and his debt of 4.5 million lithium, which intensified his high-handed policy towards the Netherlands. He squeezed out the power of Dutch nobles, abolished the privilege of direct trade between businessmen and Spanish colonies, and refused to pay national debt, which caused great losses to Dutch bankers. Then he raised the tax on buying wool in Spain, which reduced Dutch wool imports by 40%. The Dutch bourgeoisie was hit hard. Many handicraft workshops closed down and workers lost their jobs. He ruthlessly persecuted Protestants and preached Jesuit activities. He tried to reorganize the Dutch church, increase fourteen parishes, and appoint bishops directly by the king, thus strengthening control over the people. His policy has aroused opposition from all walks of life. Calvinists in Dutch cities organized thousands of armed forces to publicize their opposition to Spanish rule in the form of missionary gatherings and staged riots. Big noble, who was associated with the interests of the bourgeoisie, formed a "noble alliance" headed by Prince Willem van Oranje. 1565, they sent representatives to Spain to meet with Philip II, demanding that the autocratic policy be changed. In the second year, with the approval of William, a delegation of about 200 middle and small nobles (including William's younger brother Louis) went to Brussels to petition the Spanish governor, opposing Spain's political oppression and religious persecution, and at the same time expressing their loyalty to the king. These demands are fruitless. When the nobles tried to achieve reconciliation in a gentle way, the masses took positive action.
Revolutionary war against Spanish rule
Since August 1566, large-scale image-smashing campaigns have broken out in cities such as Antwerp, The Hague and Utrecht. Armed with axes, hammers and wooden sticks, the masses flocked to Catholic churches and monasteries, smashed icons and crosses, confiscated church property, burned church bonds and title deeds, and destroyed more than 5,500 churches and monasteries. The uprising quickly swept through 12 of 17 provinces, with tens of thousands of participants. The mass movement against the destruction of icons by the Catholic Church ignited the flame of the Dutch bourgeois revolution, and the struggle for independence against Spanish rule began.
Faced with the mass revolutionary movement, the Spanish authorities had to temporarily suspend the activities of the Inquisition and allow Calvinists to worship in designated places outside the city. At the same time, Philip II allocated funds to send more troops to the Netherlands and decided to send his veteran Duke Alfa to the Netherlands to suppress the revolution. 1567, Alpha arrived with an army of about18,000 people, and immediately set up an "Anti-Violence Committee" to hunt down the revolutionary masses with bloody terror for treason. More than10,000 people were burned, killed and hanged innocently. White terror hangs over Holland.
William went into exile in Germany before Alpha arrived. 1568 went to Holland with mercenaries to fight against the Spanish army, but failed. At this time, the guerrillas of the working people are dealing a heavy blow to the enemy. A large number of workers, craftsmen and farmers went deep into the jungle, occasionally attacking small enemy forces and punishing reactionary priests and officials. Many sailors, fishermen and dockers came to the vast sea and attacked Spanish ships and coastal strongholds. They are in contact with William. On April 1572 and 1 day, the maritime guerrillas occupied Brill Port on the Rhine River estuary island and raised William's flag at the head of the city. This new victory brought a new climax of the revolution. Maritime guerrillas further attacked other cities. Many cities held uprisings one after another to expel the Spanish. The Netherlands and New Zealand provinces were almost completely liberated. Exiles returned to Holland one after another, and the bourgeoisie organized revolutionary troops, seized city power and suppressed pro-Spanish priests and spies. Farmers destroyed churches and manors, refused to fulfill their feudal obligations and stopped paying tithes. 1572 In July, William was elected governor by the Dutch Provincial Assembly. By the end of 1573, the northern provinces had declared independence one after another. Alpha was replaced. William's influence in the north is expanding.
The revolutionary movement developed to the south. 1576, the people of Brussels overthrew the Spanish regime. People in the south devoted themselves to the resistance movement. The development of the situation requires the north and the south to unite, and representatives of the two sides held a meeting in Ghent on 1576. During the meeting, Spanish soldiers rushed into Antwerp, killing and looting indiscriminately, and seven or eight thousand men, women and children were killed. Three days later, the rich city became desolate. This atrocity even aroused the rebellious anger of the Dutch people. Sixteen of the seventeen provinces declared their rebellion against Spanish rule. 165438+ 10 In June, the meeting issued the Ghent Agreement, proposing to withdraw the Spanish army, annul all laws of Alpha, and reaffirm the original rights of the city, but still recognize the sovereign rights of Philip II.
1577, uprisings broke out in many cities in the south, and revolutionary regimes were established, and peasant movements surged, causing the fear of reactionary nobles and Catholic churches. They rebelled and compromised with Spain. 1579 1 At the beginning of the year, they formed the "Alliance of Arras" and declared their allegiance to Philip II. 10 days later, the northern provinces formed the Utrecht Union, declared that they would never split and formulated the same military and foreign policies. Soon, the southern cities of Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp joined in. 158 1 year, Philip ii was deposed and a unified province was established. Since then, a long war has broken out between Holland and Spain. William was killed by Philip II's assassin, and the southern cities were successively occupied by Spain. 1588, Spain's "Armada" was defeated by Britain at sea. Since then, the national strength has collapsed and there is no strength to fight the Netherlands. 1609, King Philippe III le Bon had to conclude a 12-year truce agreement with the United States, which actually recognized the independence of the United States. Southern Holland is still under Spanish rule. The Netherlands is the most developed province, and the United provinces and the United States are also called the Netherlands and the United States.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is the first country in the world where the capitalist revolution broke out.
More than 400 years ago, when this low-lying country won its independence against Spanish tyranny, its name was "Netherlands United Province and Republic", and there were many stories in it. Let's talk about the interesting side-the operating systems of the Netherlands and the Republic. For example, in diplomacy, sign a treaty of great importance: the heads of the United States and provinces have no right to speak, and the treaty must be discussed and decided by Congress; However, the Republic of China is composed of autonomous provinces, so it must be discussed and approved by the provincial councils of each province; Moreover, each province has some autonomous cities, so the treaty must be approved by the parliament of the autonomous city first. Then, the decision of approval or disapproval will return to the provincial Council-the provincial Council and the head of state.
What a bother! However, this is an earlier representation of culture; This is a system used by the Dutch to delay things they are not sure about, and sometimes they deliberately delay time.
Later, Napoleon annexed the whole Netherlands in order to make his brother king; After Napoleon's defeat, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was founded. However, the representative culture of America has long influenced the Dutch people.