The Netherlands means Lowlands in Dutch.

During the Middle Ages, the Netherlands was in a state of feudal separatism for a long time. In the 15th century, it became part of the Duchy of Burgundy. Later, due to the evolution of royal marriages and inheritance, by the beginning of the 16th century, it fell under the rule of the Spanish Habsburg Dynasty.

The Netherlands faces the North Sea, and several rivers lead directly to the sea. Therefore, the industry and commerce, navigation, fishery, and shipbuilding industries here are very developed.

The level of urbanization is high, large-scale manual workshops have appeared in cities, and capitalist relations have developed in rural areas.

Amsterdam is the economic center of the north and has frequent trade exchanges with the United Kingdom, the Baltic countries and Russia, but its economic ties with Spain are not large.

There are 10 southern provinces, with Flanders and Braben being economically developed. Handicraft workshops appeared very early, among which the wool and linen textile industry has long been famous. However, its raw material supply and product sales for the woolen textile industry mainly rely on foreign markets, especially Spain.

Relative to the north, the southern provinces had closer economic ties with Spain and its colonies. Antwerp was the central city in the South and one of the most important commercial and credit centers in the world at that time.

In the mid-16th century, thousands of businesses and agencies were opened here. There are international exchanges in the city, and thousands of large and small merchant ships are moored in the port. Foreign businessmen gather every day and business is booming.

1) Economic aspect

2) Religion

Politically, it implements autocracy, economically restricts the development of industry and commerce, plunders the wealth of the Dutch people, and religiously restricts freedom of religious belief and persecutes heretics. These policies will inevitably hurt the national sentiments of the Dutch.

In April 1566, more than 300 Dutch nobles petitioned Governor Margaret to abolish the bloody edict, withdraw the Spanish army, and express their allegiance to the Spanish king. The petition was rejected and he was called a beggar.

In August of the same year, the urban poor and city-state peasants directed their struggle against the Catholic Church. They stormed churches and monasteries, destroyed icons and saints' relics and relics, confiscated church property, and burned bonds and deeds. Known as the Iconoclastic Movement, at least 5,000 churches and monasteries were destroyed.

Terrified by the power of the people, the Spanish rulers were forced to compromise and signed an agreement with the rebels, promising to suspend the activities of the Inquisition and allow Protestants to worship in designated locations. However, after a brief calm, the Spanish rulers began to counterattack, and the king sent the Duke of Alfa to lead an army into the Netherlands to defeat the rebels.

Alfa trapped the local aristocratic opposition leaders and sent them to the guillotine; established an anti-violence committee to deal with heresy and rebellion incidents; ordered the arrest of all suspicious characters who opposed the Catholic Church and the Spanish government. Informers were rewarded and suspects were tried in secret. .

Gallows and the stakes were spread throughout the country, and thousands of people were put to death. Therefore, this anti-violence committee was called the Blood Committee by the Protestants.

Alfa has implemented a new tax system. All property is subject to a 1% tax, land sales are taxed at 5%, and commodity transactions are taxed at 10%. The money collected was used as military expenses to suppress the Dutch.

William of Orange had been a favorite of the King of Spain, but later became the leader of the aristocratic opposition in the Netherlands. During Alpha's reign of terror, he fled to Germany, organized an army, and returned to the Netherlands many times to attack the Spanish army, but all failed.

The Dutch people dealt with the Spaniards in a unique way. They formed guerrilla bands and attacked small Spanish armies everywhere. The land guerrillas walk through dense forests and call themselves forest beggars; the maritime guerrillas, composed of sailors, fishermen and dock workers, call themselves sea beggars. Guerrilla groups in various places have repeatedly won, attracting more and more people to participate, and the momentum of the revolution is growing day by day.

In 1572, widespread uprisings against Spain occurred in the northern provinces. William of Orange was elected governor of the provinces of Holland, Zealand and Utrecht.

In 1573, the seven northern provinces were liberated from Spanish occupation. The King of Spain had to recall Alpha, appointed Lieutenant Colonel as the new governor of the Netherlands, and continued the attack.

In 1574, the residents who defended the city fought bravely and the food in the city ran out. Peasants and sea beggars came to support them. They dug up the banks of the Maas River and released water to flood the enemy, finally forcing Liekesheng's army to retreat. The victory of the northern revolution greatly inspired the fighting spirit of the people in the south, and various places launched uprisings and seized power.

In 1576, representatives from the northern and southern provinces of the Netherlands gathered in the city of Ghent and signed the Agreement of Ghent: all decrees issued by Alpha and laws that persecuted heretics were abolished. The south maintained Catholicism and the north recognized the legal status of Calvinism.

People in the cities launched new uprisings, while people in the countryside fought against rents and taxes, seizing lands owned by the nobility and the church. This aroused fear among the southern nobles and Catholic monks, who were prepared to compromise with Spain.

In early 1579, they formed the League of Arras in Arras in an attempt to protect their property and religion. They recognized the legal status of Spanish rule and Catholicism as the only legal religion.

Soon, the northern provinces and some cities in the south also formed an alliance in Utrecht to fight against the League of Arras. The three-level conference composed of representatives from each province serves as the highest authority, unifies currency and weights and measures, and implements common military and foreign policies.

In July 1581, the League decided not to recognize King Philip II of Spain's right to rule the Netherlands. The northern provinces proclaimed the establishment of the United Provincial Republic, which was also known as the Dutch Republic because the alliance was centered on the province of Holland.

In 1585, Spanish troops captured Brussels and Antwerp and restored rule in the south. In this way, the north and south of the Netherlands effectively parted ways.

Reason for split:

①Economically, in the Netherlands at that time, each province in the north and south had two economic centers: Antwerp in the south and Amsterdam in the north. are competing with each other. Relatively speaking, the South has closer economic ties with Spain, so it has more at stake.

②In terms of religion, the vast majority of residents in the south believe in Catholicism, while the majority of people in the north believe in Protestantism. Then Spain also believes in Catholicism, so it has closer ties with the south.

③Geographically, there are many bays and rivers in the Netherlands, forming many geographical divisions and barriers.

After Spain restored its rule in the south, it counterattacked northward, but was repeatedly defeated. Especially in 1588, the Spanish Armada was wiped out by the British, and Spain's subsequent military intervention in the Huguenot War in France failed. Spain was unable to put out the Dutch Revolution.

In 1609, Spain concluded a 12-year truce with the United Provinces, de facto recognizing its independence.

In 1648, after the Thirty Years' War, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, officially recognizing the independence of the Netherlands. The southern Netherlands later formed the countries of Belgium and Luxembourg.

After the Dutch bourgeois revolution, Dutch capitalism developed faster. Its woolen industry, linen textile industry and other industries enjoy a high reputation in the world. Its shipbuilding industry is particularly developed, ranking first in the world at that time. Dutch merchant ships sailed all over the world, and the Netherlands was also known as the Sea Coachmen. Its business is even more active than industry. Amsterdam has not only become the economic center of the Netherlands, but also the center of international trade and finance.