2F - The challenge of William of Orange: the Dutch-English alliance after the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688
Learn why William of Orange became Louis XIV's most persistent opponent, how the revolution of 1688 brought England into the anti-French struggle, and why their combined resources changed France's strategic position.
William and Dutch security
William's opposition to Louis XIV grew from the danger that French expansion posed to the Dutch Republic.
The Dutch Republic, also called the United Provinces, was a federation whose provinces and towns retained considerable powers. William became its leading military and political figure in the crisis of 1672. As stadtholder, he held important provincial offices and commanded forces, but he was not an absolute monarch who could spend national resources at will. He had to work with influential provincial assemblies, especially wealthy Holland.
The French invasion of 1672 demonstrated that a large neighbouring monarchy could threaten the Republic's survival. The Dutch used flooded defensive areas, naval resistance and outside allies to prevent conquest. For William, the lesson was that Dutch security required a coalition strong enough to prevent France from isolating and overwhelming one opponent at a time.
The Spanish Netherlands, roughly modern Belgium and Luxembourg, formed a buffer between France and the Republic. French acquisition of its fortresses brought French armies closer to Dutch territory. A frontier gain for Louis could therefore be a security loss for William even when no Dutch land changed hands. This explains why opposition continued after the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678–1679 ended the Franco-Dutch War.
Trade also mattered. Dutch merchants depended on shipping, ports and access to overseas markets. French economic rivalry and naval strength could threaten commercial interests as well as territory. William's Protestant identity strengthened opposition to Louis's persecution of Huguenots after 1685, but his willingness to cooperate with Catholic rulers shows that security was not reducible to religion.
The revolution and English choices
The revolution of 1688 changed William's capacity to challenge France because it changed who controlled the English crown.
Under Charles II and then James II, French diplomacy had sometimes helped keep England detached from the anti-French coalitions. Louis had benefited from friendly relations with the Stuart monarchy. James's Catholicism and attempts to extend royal discretion, however, alarmed many English political leaders. The birth of a Catholic male heir in June 1688 raised the prospect of a continuing Catholic dynasty rather than eventual succession by James's Protestant daughter Mary.
William was Mary's husband and James's son-in-law. Invited by a group of English leaders, he landed in England in November 1688 with a Dutch expedition. His intervention had several purposes: protecting his and Mary's dynastic interests, securing a Protestant settlement, and preventing English resources from assisting France in the emerging European war. James lost crucial support and fled to France in December.
William and Mary accepted the crown in February 1689 and were crowned in April. The Convention Parliament and the subsequent Bill of Rights defined limits on royal action. The change did not give William unrestricted command of English wealth: parliamentary grants remained necessary to finance sustained war. Nor was the revolution equally peaceful everywhere. Opposition continued in Scotland and, especially, Ireland.
England's entry into war against France in May 1689 converted a possible French partner into William's ally. The political settlement also connected foreign war to parliamentary politics. English support depended on convincing Parliament that the cost served English interests, rather than simply treating England as an additional treasury for Dutch policy. The parliamentary financial history explains this continuing dependence on supply.
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