The Second Anglo-Dutch War
Gijs Rommelse
230 pages including index
published in 2006
I’m not sure if in these enlightened times they still do it, but if you ever come across a Dutch naval ship with a broom in the top of her mast and you want to know what’s that all about, read up about the Second Anglo-Dutch War and especially the Dutch raid on Medway, when the English fleet was “swept” from the sea. Yes, though these days the Dutch have been reduced to the butt of cheap racist jokes about dope smoking and homosexuality in the English consciousness, there once was a time when Holland was Britain’s greatest enemy and competitor, despite the common ground between the two countries. In fact, it was exactly this common ground that was the problem. England and Holland both were dependent on trade for their prosperity, both tried to monopolise the lucrative trade in e.g. spices and it was inevitable that they would fight for supremacy — it took four wars in total for England to get the upper hand. Of the four wars, the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) was the one with the clearest Dutch victory.
Apart from that very general outline however, I knew little about this war, so I’m glad Gijs Rommelse decided to turn his thesis into a proper book. The Second Anglo-Dutch War‘s main interest lies in determining the causes of the war, how commercial, as well as both foreign and domestic political considerations on both sides drove the countries to war. In process Rommelse also delivers an overview of the war itself, giving short and to the point accounts of all aspects of the war, including the struggle in the Americans and the privatering both the English and the Dutch engaged in. This was after all as much as anything a war about trade.