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I was recently thinking about personal union for the Netherlands and basicly came to the conclusion that during the 17th and 18th century the Netherlands would basicly dominate most personal unions that could arise, or at least bean equal partner in it. The only clear exceptions i could think of were England/Great Britain and Russia (France, Spain, Austria etc are out as protestant Netherlands would not be able to form a personal union with catholic countries). Another possible exception I could think of would be Prussia. Basicly I wonder who would dominate in a Prussian-Dutch personal union? Sure Prussia was militairy stronger, but the Netherlands was richer and had a superior navy. Mind you I am talking about the 17th and 18th century, not a personal union between the kingdom of the Netherlands and Prussia in the 19th century (which would be impossible anyway).

So how could we get such a personal union? As the stadholdership wasn't hereditairy, it does become a little harder. The closest relative to stadholder/king William III was for example the ruler of Prussia, but the Dutch provinces did not make him stadholder. They made (after having no stadholder for a while) the Frisian stadholder the stadholder general. I can easily see the Dutch Estate-General trying to avoid getting a strong foreign ruler as stadholder. It probably be much easier to get the house of Orange inherit Prussia somehow, but I have no idea how to accomplish that.

Also how would a Prussian-Dutch personal union look like. Would any of the 2 powers dominate the others? Would it last? It is perfectly possible that the Estate-General refuses the Prussian ruler to become stadholder if he gains too much power and what would be his reaction? One interesting aspect of such a personal union is that Prussia is more of a land based power than the Netherlands. Would it try to increase the Netherlands, for example by trying to add parts of the southern Netherlands to it, if the possibility arises. Also interesting are the various Prussian territories close to the Netherlands: Cleves, Mark, East Frisia, Lingen, Moers, Prussian Gueldres. What would happen to those? Would they become closer to the Netherlands? If the personal union ends would they end up with the Netherlands or with prussia?

And of course what would be the effect on unifying Germany. Would it mean a Netherlands within Germany, a Prussia outside it? Would it mean the unification is butterflied away (certainly possible as it would have no doubt a big effect on the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars)?
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