Product Description

The Dutch Revolt 1559-1648 begins by illustrating the historical background and causes of the revolt. This is followed by chronological sections devoted to each phase of the revolt and an assesment section that takes a more thematic approach, looking at the military, economic, political and constitutional issues.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164259 in Books
• Published on: 1989-12-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Textbook Binding
• 146 pages

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
I turned to this book seeking to gain a quick understanding of the events of the Dutch Revolt and although it just about lived up to this task I was fairly diappointed.

I was disappointed to find that Limm's book is not particularly well written, and later discovered the probably reason why: it is based HEAVILY on Parker, "The Dutch Revolt". If you read Limm followed by Parker you will not only recognise the structure of the argument, but also individual sentences will be eerily familiar.

I STRONGLY recommend, therefore, that you turn straight to Parker. In his attempt to provide "Parker without the detail", Limm provides a book that is much less satisfactory to the reader, and by the time you struggle throuhg Limm's poorly written 120 pages you could easily have read Parker's free-flowing and easy to read 300 pages, and have a much better knowledge of the Dutch Revolt.

revolt, no revolution
Peter Limm disentangled the Gordian knot of the Dutch revolt against Spain in the 16th and 17th century. It is an extremely complex history of alliances, battles, sieges and truces between all major European kingdoms, Spain and the Flemish and Dutch Provinces and even towns. To make matters still more complicated, there were not only political but also religious (Catholics against Protestants) revolts, and still more, intra-religion revolts (Calvinists against Lutherans).
Essentially, the revolts were a fight in order to maintain provincial independence and to keep age-old rights and privileges.

In the Spanish Low Countries the main political assembly was the States-General, which took all decisions in important matters (war, peace and taxes). It was controlled by a tight-knit oligarchy, mostly members of the nobility.
Its power was undercut by the king of Spain, Philip II, who found it too independent.
After most of its leaders were executed by the king's envoy, the duke of Alva, William of Orange (and the house of Nassau) became the undisputed leader of the revolt. He even became opportunistically a Protestant.
The outcome of the different battles and sieges was more a matter of money than of tactics. The king of Spain was regularly incapable of paying his soldiers. He even went bankrupt a few times. How could he win a war in these circumstances?
It all ended with the Treaty of Muenster in 1648 where the Protestant Seventeen Provinces were declared independent.
For the common people, the revolts were a disaster. Some towns lost half or two-thirds of their population.

Pete Limm brought a Herculean task to a good end.
Only for historians and people interested in the history of the Low Countries.