The Kingdom of the United Provinces - A Dutch TL

[Flying Dutchman]

William of Orange Nassau, Sovereign of the United Provinces (part 1)

The year was 1584 and it where dark days for the Dutch cause in general and William of Orange, nominal leader of the Dutch, in particular. After initial setbacks, the Dutch had managed to push the Spanish troops out of most of the Northern Netherlands. Yet the arrival of Alessandro de Farnese, the Duke of Parma, had changed the tides of war. The ever increasing tensions between Protestants and Catholics had forces most of the Southern Netherlands to accept the Duke of Parma as their governor, while most of the cities of Brabant and Flanders where conquered by the Dukes forces. William of Orange dream of keeping all the Netherlands united under a sovereign guaranteeing religious freedom and maintaining the rights of the individual provinces was all but shattered.

In order to bring in much needed aid, William of Orange had arranged for François, Duke of Anjou, the brother of the French king, to accept the position of Protector of the Netherlands (making him the new sovereign of the Northern Netherlands. Furthermore, the Dutch 'Staten-Generaal' (Estates General) declared in 1581 that they could no longer accept Spanish king Philip II as their king in the 'Acte van Verlatinghe' (Act of Abjuration). The appointment of Anjou halted Parma's advance, as the Duke feared French intervention. Yet the Duke of Anjou, unhappy with his limited powers, tried to gain more power for himself in 1583 by forcing the city of Antwerp to submit. The city resisted Anjou's efforts and managed to defeat and destroy the French forces. The Duke of Anjou left for France soon afterwards. The whole affair severely weakened the position of William of Orange, who maintained his support for the French Duke.

Yet history still had a role for William of Orange. The rich and powerful counties of Holland and Zeeland had maintained William of Orange as their Stadtholder and made preparations to invest William as their Count, which would make him the sovereign of the heartlands of the revolution. After surviving an assasination attempt by a certain Balthasar Gérard (which failed after Gérards pistol misfired) William of Orange was invested as sovereign Count of Holland in an elaborate ceremony in the Ridderzaal (knights hall) in The Hague in 1584. During his investment William of Orange swore that, as Count of Holland he would uphold the rights of the people of Holland and would respect the judgment of the Estates of Holland. Soon afterwards William swore the same oath before the Estates of Zeeland. The Revolt was finally united behind one man.

[Flying Dutchman]

This is my first attempt at writing a timeline on this forum, obviously based around the premise that William of Orange wasn't assasinated. I'm still struggling with the presentation I should use. Would a short timeline work best for a firsttime writer, or would an update like the one posted above work best?

Besides these points, feel free to make comments and suggestions.

[Parma]

Please continue...

[Muwatalli']

Interesting start of a timeline...

[Razgriz 2K9]

Interesting indeed. So the Netherlands will become a Monarchy rather than a Republic this go around...I wonder how this will affect the 80 Years War now that he has become the de facto head of the Dutch Revolutionaries...

...or rather, how long it will last.

[Dumanios]

I'd like to see how long the House van Oranje lasts as leaders of the Netherlands.

[Parma]

1584 siege of Antwerp. Is the new count able to lift the siege?