A Revision by Darkest
[As an aside, what sort of world might have grown up if Britain and the Netherlands had unified at this point?]
- Tony Jones
...
1651
A number of Royalist uprisings occur across England, Wales and Ireland. These are brutally crushed.
A British diplomatic mission attempts to unite the Commonwealth of England with the Dutch Republic under Cromwell's leadership.
The decision of the Dutch to not only accept the diplomatic mission but to acknowledge certain possibilities were apparent between the Republic and the Commonwealth was based on many factors. The states of Holland feared dictatorial intentions of stadtholder William II of Orange, who was attempting to fulfill the monarchial intentions of his father. The two nations were also republics, and very puritan. Their similiarities were uncanny.
Also, the representatives present in treating the emissaries of the Commonwealth were of the aristocratic upbringing, and has substantial interests abroad that could have been hampered by a worsening of relations with the British.
Nevertheless, after an eight-month stay in which delegates debated policies, the English left to the Commonwealth, reporting to Cromwell that the Dutch were very open to further agreements, but that differences in political structure required more time for meeting.
With both rumours and evidence of plots against the government supported by funds provided by Charles I in France, British Roman Catholics become persecuted increasingly harshly. Because of this the number of Catholics fleeing the country rises.
In Ireland perhaps half of the population is killed in the suppression of their revolt, with many fleeing to Europe or being sent to the New World as slaves. Many British and Scotch settlers move to Ireland, with the Irish they are replacing being transplanted to poor-quality land in the west of Ireland.
1652
Prince of Orange, William II, hoping to crown himself the monarch of the Netherlands, orders an army of 10,000 troops on Amsterdam. It is a difficult battle, but with many casualties behind him, William II's soldiers take victory at the city of Amsterdam. He immediately begins a purge of the city of dissidents, and throws many wealthy, powerful merchants into prison. The Orange Prince has thus removed his political opponents into opposing the Treaty of Munster's troop reduction, and begins plans not only to build up the army, but to begin a treaty with France to take more land.
The ambitious stadtholder had, however, only stirred up trouble. Holland, Friesland, and Zealand began a rebellion against the monarchist. The seven Dutchmen made their famous dash to English soil, where at London it was made known to Oliver Cromwell that William II had seized power and was trying to enflame royalist opinion to overthrow the Commonwealth. They also reported that the states of Holland and a good part of Puritan Netherlands would be for joining Cromwell if he could send aid.
English ships of war approach Dutch ports and begin a blockade of William II's forces within short order, using the chaos to their advantage. Within the Netherlands, the Prince of Orange had begun a mad build up of soldiers, privateers and militia to take down the rebels of Holland and Friesland.
Within short order, the English blockade of provinces loyal to William II caused many states unsure of their side to join with the states of Holland as pro-Cromwell. The death of William II, Prince of Orange, thanks to his ferry boat collapsing when he attempted to cross a river during a storm, caused loyalty within the army to dissipate. Within eight months, the Commonwealth had taken the Netherlands.
With a delegation at the Hague only a month after, dialogue was picked up once more to include the Netherlands in the union of the Commonwealth. The British emissaries found the Hague this time a much more acceptable place.
The Dutch East India Company founds Cape Town.
Rhode Island becomes the first settlement in North America to make slavery illegal.
1653
As Oliver Cromwell, pro-Commonwealth forces (mainly consisting of those in Holland) consolidates power in the Netherlands, friction emerges. Cromwell begins a war on the remaining Orangists. One by one, the Dutch provinces fall to the Commonwealth. Extremely puritanical measures are put forth, while local power is convened more and more to the Dutch States-General. Cromwell and those loyal to him in the Netherlands decided that a good part of home rule would continue, while envoys would come to London to represent the Netherlands in the Parliament.
However, such measures never came to be. The trouble in the Netherlands had stirred up the royalists. At Canterbury, an uprising had began. It was chaotic enough that King Charles I set sail from France with a small army to lead it, but was only on land for two hours before more recent news determined his return to France. It is brutally put down. However, it causes Oliver Cromwell to re-evaluate the situation at home.
Within a matter of months, Cromwell dissolves the Parliament, believing it to have become a den of royalists. Accepting a constitutional document from a group of army officers, he assumes the title Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, agreeing to share his power with a Council of State and a Parliament of one house.
Another month passes and councils at the Hague arrive at the conclusion that the provinces should be reformed. Zeeland and Utrecht were absorbed by Holland, Groningen by Friesland, and Gelre by Overijssel. Thus, the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Holland, Ireland, Friesland, and Overijssel was born.
At this point, while in the Netherlands a transition period kept most of the original policies, the state of Britain changed from the Commonwealth to the Protectorate, a dictatorship resting on the power of the army. The buildup of the military that William II had began in the Netherlands, and many had died to stop, would continue. Within only a few years the Netherlands would become every bit of a dictatorship as well. Strict Puritan rule is imposed upon the people.
Furthermore, another month passes and even more radical changes take place. Cromwell divides the country into eight military districts, each under the administration of a major general who enforces the rigidly puritanical laws and collects taxes. With Royalist unrest in many across the country, harsh measures are sometimes imposed by the major generals of the various military districts, alienating significant sections of the population. [This actually occurred in 1655.]
1654 - The Third English Civil War
More Royalist uprisings occur, and spread. Gaining strength from the quick, sweeping, radical acts of the Lords Protector Cromwell, as well as royalist anger towards the purging of the Orangists in the Netherlands, some actually survive. Charles I takes his chance; he fears the Commonwealth taking the Netherlands and consolidating power. An army of expatriates accompanies him and sails for England. Landing in Dover, Royalist supporters rally to the King, while anti-Royalists rally to Cromwell. The Third Civil War begins.
In other news, the Commonwealth formally absorbs the New Netherlands into their other colonies on the American continent. Dutch ships open up in part to trade easier with English ports, increasing the status of life in the colonies. Dutch investors rush to make money off of the English colonies, while English Puritans make steady advancements into leveling the population difference between New England and the New Netherlands.
[No war breaks out between England and Spain here, as happened in the real world, leaving Dunkirk in Spanish hands. Jamaica also remains nominally Spanish, although in reality they had abandoned it by this point. Because of this abandonment it becomes a haunt for pirates and other unsavoury types, even more so than in the real world, and without at least nominal British oversight.]
War begins between Russia and Poland over the Ukraine after the Russian Army seizes the city of Smolensk.
1655
Uprisings up and down the country support the King, but the army is well-used to suppressing this sort of thing by now, and many of the people still support Cromwell, turning neighbour against neighbour yet again. Major battles take place at Naseby, Ireton and in London.
[The Great Fire does not occur here as in Puritan World A, as such, this bastion of Parliamentarian forces prevails, and with more morale due to the conquest of the Netherlands and less Royalist morale due to the lack of a Great Fire, the Parliamentarians keep a strong advantage.]
French astronomer Abbé Jean Picard measures the length of a degree of longitude and computes from it the size of the Earth, at the same time defining a prime meridian of longitude running through Paris.
1656
With signs that the Parliamentarians were slowly but suredly holding their weight, King Charles I decides to end hostilities, lest he burn out his armies, and he sails back to France. Nevertheless, large amounts of damage have wrecked a good part of the country. The flames of Royalist support has not disappeared, however, it was merely because of the army that the dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell survived. Indeed, a decent percentage of the British populace support King Charles I.
The war between Poland, Ducal Prussia, Russia and Transylvania ends.
The Dutch abandon attempts to oust the Portuguese from Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
1657
The Commonwealth extends toleration to Jews, Protestants (non-Anglicans), and Roman Catholics, upon aggressive measures from the Dutch communities.
The Netherlands left the Third Civil War with a little bit more approval for the Cromwell regime. Their ships and armies had played a small but significant part in the civil war, and returned with veterans. Some Orangists and anti-Cromwell forces still remain in the Netherlands, especially in the southwest. However, the Dutch army has expanded greatly, and the same military dictatorship found within Britain is very apparent in the former Provinces as well.
Cromwell reduces the money being invested in the Dutch navy, so as to try and finally gain a balance against them on the seas, while pushing forward the idea of Dutch land armies so that expansion could be possible, as well as security. Dutch colonies are visited more frequently with British ships, and many attempts are made at mixing fleets and focusing on combined efforts in mercantilism abroad.
The Fire of the Long Sleeves lays waste to three-quarters of Tokyo's buildings and kills an estimated one hundred thousand people.
