Discussion: Dutch-screw

What would be the effects of, say, killing off the House of Orange-Nassau and/or destroying the Dutch during the Eighty Years' War?
 
The revolt fails without the House of Orange. William the Silent was the main financer of it all and was the central leader and his son Maurits was instrumental in driving the Spanish out of the northern Netherlands as well. What happens next depends on who is in charge.. Alva will be harsher than Parma and Requesens, who had more of a mind for compromise, for example, but in the end a lot of it depends on the orders of Philips II. Philips II is a fanatic so expect many deaths of Protestant leaders and merchants, though he of course can't go after all Protestants without killing half of the Netherlands.

I suspect the Spaniards will be far better off though with the rich Netherlands, if they can pacify it.
 
The how and what of the POD are very relevant here. Killing off William of Orange before (or in the early phases of his involvement in) the Dutch revolution would be... pretty catastrophic for the Dutch.

On the other hand, there would still be a lot of resentment against Spanish rule. A crushed revolt will lead to draconian punishments, creating strong anti-Spanish sentiments in pretty much all non-catholic parts of the Netherlands. Protestantism will continue to be practiced in secret (as it was before the revolt). Spain will get much less from the Netherlands than they would hope: constant unrest will make the region almost more trouble than it's worth.

Eventually, Spanish power will start to decline, and another Dutch revolution will be launched.
 
In such a TL chances are the Burgundian Netherlands stay intact, except for parts annexed by France. So no Northern or Southern Netherlands, just The Netherlands, no Belgium ITTL, but TTL The Netherlands might be more like OTL 'Belgium'.

A 'successful' Spanish rule might succeed in completing the Counter Reformation. Don't forget that IOTL Austria at one point had many Lutheran subjects, but eventually the majority was converted back to Catholicism.
Some of Protestants will flee to other countries, so some of the Protestant nation can profit from.

Keeping the Low Countries united is positive, but it comes at a price. It would probably screw the Protestants, OTOH in the Northern Netherlands Catholics won't be relegated to second rate citizens/subjects.
 
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