So, will the VOC abandon some areas to concentrate on more valuable and important ones?
Rebirth of an Empire "O Renascimento de um Império" v2.0
- Thread starter Lusitania
- Start date
So, will the VOC abandon some areas to concentrate on more valuable and important ones?
The Three-Years War (1780-1783) - The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782 -1783) (4 of 6)
Lusitania
Donor
The Three-Years War (1780-1783) (cont.)
The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783) (4 of 6)
South East Asia Rivalry & Growing Tensions (1780-1781)
Battle of Timor (1782)
“Once again, the Piranha has bit the wrong shark in Dili.”
-William, regarding his own campaign against the Dutch and the coincidence of the battle site
Battle of Timor (1782)
The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783) (4 of 6)
South East Asia Rivalry & Growing Tensions (1780-1781)
Battle of Timor (1782)
“Once again, the Piranha has bit the wrong shark in Dili.”
-William, regarding his own campaign against the Dutch and the coincidence of the battle site
Battle of Timor (1782)
By the summer of 1782, Luso-Dutch dispositions were hateful to say the least; the two forces had violated each other’s territory on numerous occasions in that decade, they competed for British and French favor in their diplomatic matters and finally their economic and political rivalry was reaching its apex. The Dutch, however, had extra reason to be angry in the SEA area, with the Piranha campaign being at the heart of their anger; the Portuguese had brought in war at a time of great vulnerability for the Dutch in the midst of the 4th Anglo-Dutch War, they had squandered their chances to fight off the British navy by destroying their Padang division and raiding Malacca, they had attacked and burned the capital of the VOC itself, Batavia, as well as the center of their plantation economy, Surabaya, and had kidnapped and captured numerous ships, sailors and important figures of Dutch-Indonesian society.
The chance to face the bulk of Portuguese forces head-to-head in a decisive battle, then, was a great temptation to the point the blockade of Dili was lifted so the entire force of the Dutch fleet present at Timor, numbering over twenty capable warships, to go crush William once and for all. This, however, put at risk the main power projection factor of the Dutch against an unpredictable and uncompromising foe, so defeat was unacceptable.
Hanging in the balance was also a recent history of decline for the VOC; from being the most powerful corporation in the world in the 1600s, with a merchant fleet surpassing the size of most world powers including Spain, Britain, France and Portugal combined, to being the arguably easy target and bargaining chip of the British and French navy conflicts, the Dutch enterprise had fallen a long way. The failure from Governor General Alting to establish Dutch as the educated language that decade in the area instead of Malay and Portuguese[1] had been a sign that the Dutch soft power strategy based on capitalist colonialism had failed to secure their control in the long-term, so unless their main competitor in the region was annihilated, the VOC would never regain the monopoly and focus it needed to concentrate its efforts in fighting off the British.
The enemy they faced, however, was also a cornered mouse in some ways; William had no stake whatsoever in the lives of his own men, being a privateer once hunted by the same Mariners he now employed and had a lifetime of learning how to deal as much damage as possible to enemies more numerous than his own forces. Moreover, Portugal was also at a turning point of its history where it wanted to reassert its positions all over the world just as much as the Dutch. Not only that but the Dutch were fighting the Portuguese in their own waters, where a much greater share of their stake in the region was endangered, so its arguable which side was most motivated to destroy the other.
On 22nd August 1782 the triple squadron of 12 warships, after securing land control over the entire island of Timor with the capture of Kupang, sailed northeast to try to fight off the Dutch and eventually met the unexpectedly powerful enemy fleet midway. William was truly caught off guard, believing his faster fleet had left the VOC forces far behind, but underestimated the time he wasted raiding the Dutch settlements for supplies.
What followed was thus the largest battle in the region’s history so far.
Knowing he could not face his enemy head on, William ordered his fleet to immediately shift direction north and begin strategic retreat. His initial strategy was to lure the Dutch to the Flores archipelago, where he would use the many tight island passages to lose or lure parts of the Dutch fleet away from its nucleus. Wise to William’s stratagems, however, the Dutch gave pursuit in disciplined fashion, chasing him in line instead of attempting to split off and surround him. William realized he was not going to trick the Dutch in his usual terms, so the Rear Admiral forced himself to take his stratagems one step beyond. There was one thing he could count on the Dutch wanting and that was a conclusive action on him.
Throughout the first day, the pursuit continued normally, with William luring the Dutch close to the southern shores of Flores to make the Dutch believe he was going with his usual tactics. At 16:45, however, the Dutch force split in two halves to attempt to initiate a semi-circular surrounding action to trap William inside the same barrage wall that ‘Hammershark’ had used to capture William in the past.
In an uncharacteristic decision, the Rear-Admiral decided to delegate and ordered his triple squadrons to split in twain as well.
Battle of Timor – Early Phase
Black: Current Direction
Green: William’s Squadrons
Orange: VOC Fleet
The currents favored movements to the northeast due to the islands’ enclosure of Indian Ocean waters, meaning the Portuguese division to the west was sailing against current while the Dutch splits were at full speed. The east division, however, was moving at a better current and sailed faster, so while the western one lead by William moved in a struggle against its Dutch encirclement, the eastern one lead by his subordinates successfully contoured the Dutch and defended itself at full force.
The Portuguese, however, had to pay the price of avoiding encirclement by enduring the harsher side of the first fire exchange. This, however, allowed the two divisions to move past the Dutch and unite behind them in a full line while keeping the Dutch split and, due to proximity to the shore, sail back in current favor and push the vulnerable Dutch division away from its comrades.
Battle of Timor – Decisive Turn
After enduring the first exchange, William united his two divisions back into a full force line that trapped the western Dutch split away from its eastern one, giving the Portuguese the full firepower advantage.
After this moment the battle never returned to Dutch favor; the Portuguese sailed alongside the isolated side against the shore so the Dutch could not break through and continuously pounded cannon fire to submission with an advantage of twelve to ten. This tactic mirrored the one employed by Hammershark against the Mysoreans in 1778 but adapted to take advantage of William’s ship speed instead of its frontal weight. The fighting continued for hours nonetheless as the Dutch repeatedly tried to regain the combat width they needed to fight with their full numeric advantage, but due to the elongated stretch of the archipelago they were unable to refocus their forces while the two sides of William’s ships continuously fought with both broadsides.
By the dawn of the next day, most of the trapped VOC division had been defeated and two of the Portuguese ships had to retreat due to damage and lack of supplies. This was because despite the success of William’s tactic, the Portuguese still had to tirelessly fight to not only take advantage of their divide & conquer stratagem but also overcome the difficulties of keeping off the other division of the VOC.
It was in the second day of battle, however, that William unleashed his usual bloodlust; having fought off the western split of the Dutch, he ordered his ships to maintain their line and sail off frontally to attack the eastern split, now facing a disadvantage of nine to eleven due to his own losses. This balance, however, was close enough to his own numbers for him to adopt his usual offensive strategy and predate on the orthodox line formation of the Dutch by splitting it off repeatedly. Sailing towards the rear of the division, William moved perpendicularly through its tail to split off the different sections of it before turning back and repeating, ultimately strangling the ship line like a snake all whole delivering broadsides to the weak points of the enemy ships.
Battle of Timor – Final Phase
Red Crosses: Ship losses along the line
This was by far the most intense part of the battle and most of the losses resulting from it occurred in this maneuver, when William finally killed off one of the enemy’s divisions before moving on to the all-out struggle to conscript and blast the last division, overcoming an ultimately huge numeric disadvantage in the short span where the battle caused the greatest destruction amongst ships. This was only possible due to a combination of extraordinary resilience from the sailors, the discipline instilled in the Marines accompanying them, the revised architecture of the ships and the close-range double-shots employed by William’s cannons which, albeit difficult to load, were devastating at point-blank.
HMS Barracuda corners the last warships of the VOC
The united Portuguese naval force under William counter-attacked and systematically destroyed the separate Dutch fleets, capturing or neutralizing countless ships using specialized advantages and an offensive mentality. This image represents the end of an era in power balance in South East Asia as a whole!
The day ended with William returning triumphant to Dili with several captured VOC warships and sailors to hold ransom, but, most importantly, an open sea to re-plunder.
Strategic Counter-Attack, Capture of Malacca and Ultimate Ceasefire
With the main VOC fleet force defeated and his ships resupplied after an exhausting battle, the three squadrons under Rear-Admiral William retook to the seas to attack VOC possessions one after the other to drive straight to Batavia the Portuguese victory. It would take until late September for news to reach Goa and Colombo, but in the meantime, William preyed on all the remaining Dutch ships still sailing the Spice Islands, inciting natives against the VOC and generally parade his conquest for everyone to see.
Eventually, in Batavia, William laid blockade to the fortified capital once more, the objective being of intimidation by threat of rocket fire rather than actual force, while sending out envoys to ensure the good news reached his superiors. General-Governor Alting, however, refused to surrender, confident that the VOC would be able to muster forces eventually to fight off the enemy fleet.
On 21st of September, however, reinforcements arrived from Goa in the form of marines battalions, one of them led by then young coronel Carlos Frederico Lecor. Lightly escorted, the mariners initial plan was to bombard and raid Dutch settlements, but upon crossing the Johor Strait they found the city of Malacca damaged and weakened by William’s April raids. Seizing the unique opportunity, the young coronel led a swift amphibious attack after bombarding the fortress.
Coronel Carlos Frederico Lecor & Capture of Malacca
The Bluecoat marines in the transports broke through the flimsy naval defenses and attacked the fortified trade post of Malacca, replacing the Dutch flag by the end of the day.
The attack was a testament to Marine boldness and used tactics perfected in the Cisplatina War; taking cover through the night, a small advancing force landed northwest of the city and captured villages and roads, letting the Dutch know they were coming. Once the fort relieved a part of its garrison soldiers to attack the marines in that area, the main naval force advanced on the fortress frontally at daylight and deployed a second division on the relief’s rear, allowing the two forces to pincer and crush the Dutch offensive before attacking the fortress itself.
With the two landed divisions united into a single advancing Battalion to attack the city with, the naval squadron opened fire from the sea, using the two-pronged offensive to split the defenders’ focus. Upon securing the first wall breach on the fortress, the bluecoats transport ships sailed through the counter-firing and used rowboats to approach and land through the seaside, taking the fortress on through its strongest side against the Dutch expectations. After an hour of bloody combat, the garrison was defeated, and the fortress holstered the mariner flag, conquering Malacca for the second time in two hundred years.
Believing the Portuguese position in the South East Asian sea to still be vulnerable, Coronel Lecor held onto his position and ordered his escort ships to sail ahead to Timor with the captured governor and flag of Dutch Malacca to join with Rear Admiral William and bring the good news of Malacca’s capture.
This encounter would occur unexpectedly early as the force met up with William at Batavia, rather than Dili. The news of Malacca’s capture was too much and, after weeks of being unable to travel outside and receiving no reinforcements, Governor General Willem Alting realized that continuing the war against the Portuguese would lead to the eventual arrival of the British and the destruction of Dutch interests in India. On that same day, he agreed to meet William and signed a ceasefire, granting the Rear Admiral victory in the SEA theater.
[1] iOTL the VOC and Dutch never established the Dutch Language as an educated language unlike the Portuguese and British who to this day have countries in South East Asia that speak their languages.
Note:
After the collapse of the Nantes Negotiations the Portuguese found themselves at war once again, this time against Portuguese Arch nemeses the Dutch who had used the Iberian Union to steal a huge part of Portugal's India and East Indies. It was only through sheer determination that Brazil and not all of Portuguese Indian and East Indies possessions were lost but what had been left was a mere shadow. Now almost 150 years later the hard won new acquisitions by sheer guts and blood were once again at risk. The Dutch seeing the Portuguese as the weaker of the two empires it was fighting decided to go against the Portuguese before trying to take on the British. How will the Portuguese fare? Will we again have loses and despair or will this be Portugal's time for revenge and retribution?
The Dutch out maneuvered and out played have been left completely venerable and at the Portuguese mercy. The devastating battle and loss of the main VOC fleet has left the VOC at Portuguese and British mercy. The only thing that might save them as it been demonstrated in past is the negotiations where soldiers and sailors blood are traded for diplomatic considerations and other matters. We will see what happens with the Portuguese.. Questions/Comments
Please return on July 28 as we post the 12th part in The Three-Years War (1780 -1784) -The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783).
I hope Portugal should regain all its colonies in the East Indies, colonies that grew quite a bit under Dutch care.
A separate peace could be an option, especially to avoid strengthening the British Empire, who tend to be treacherous even towards Portugal. After all, in OTL they expelled Portugal from India and voided the Portuguese Pink Map in Africa under an ultimatum. Also a powerful Portugal, it will be an economic, colonial and naval rival to the British Empire over time. Furthermore, breaking the alliance with the British could avoid being dragged into the Napoleonic wars. In any case, the Napoleonic Era will be something horrible, facing the British by sea or the French by land, and Copenhagen (Denmark) did not make clear what the British Empire thinks about neutrality.
On the other hand, it would be great if the Portuguese Empire stays together in the future instead of disintegrating like the rest of colonial empires, like a Federal Empire or European Union (Portuguese Union?). After all, the British Commonwealth is largely symbolic, the British Empire never attempted to annex / integrate their colonies, domains or territories. The British government mistake was to want London to be the only voice, instead of wanting to be the first among peers. Because Canada, Australia and New Zealand that have the same culture, ethnicity, language, etc. They could have been a part of the UK today, similar to Scotland and Northern Ireland. In other words, French Guyana is a province of France and Canada is not part of the United Kingdom. Obviously someone made a mistake, and it wasn't France. Or perhaps the British never considered the annexation and integration of their colonies or domains, something understandable when the Isle of Man is a kind of colony despite the centuries under British sovereignty.
A separate peace could be an option, especially to avoid strengthening the British Empire, who tend to be treacherous even towards Portugal. After all, in OTL they expelled Portugal from India and voided the Portuguese Pink Map in Africa under an ultimatum. Also a powerful Portugal, it will be an economic, colonial and naval rival to the British Empire over time. Furthermore, breaking the alliance with the British could avoid being dragged into the Napoleonic wars. In any case, the Napoleonic Era will be something horrible, facing the British by sea or the French by land, and Copenhagen (Denmark) did not make clear what the British Empire thinks about neutrality.
On the other hand, it would be great if the Portuguese Empire stays together in the future instead of disintegrating like the rest of colonial empires, like a Federal Empire or European Union (Portuguese Union?). After all, the British Commonwealth is largely symbolic, the British Empire never attempted to annex / integrate their colonies, domains or territories. The British government mistake was to want London to be the only voice, instead of wanting to be the first among peers. Because Canada, Australia and New Zealand that have the same culture, ethnicity, language, etc. They could have been a part of the UK today, similar to Scotland and Northern Ireland. In other words, French Guyana is a province of France and Canada is not part of the United Kingdom. Obviously someone made a mistake, and it wasn't France. Or perhaps the British never considered the annexation and integration of their colonies or domains, something understandable when the Isle of Man is a kind of colony despite the centuries under British sovereignty.
Malaca back in Portuguese hands is always good to see. And the East Indies seem to be for Portugal to take, I imagine that the Dutch will keep Java and the Moluccas but will likely lose the Sunda Islands and Malaca. These shouldn't be too hard to transform into Catholic and Portuguese speaking areas.
Great update.
Great update.
Lusitania
Donor
The Portuguese investment in training and professionalism is paying off. Remember that many of the soldiers by this time are Non-European with the reforms and upgrades the Portuguese have done over the last 30 years. This is in stark contrast to the other colonial and European powers. The Portuguese continue to build up its troops and these wars provide the training ground for the future wars. To answer your question they are and due to the various wars and wide scope of theatres they are not the same though. The troops fighting in East Asia not same as fighting in Atlantic, though the training programs instituted not only in Metropolitan Portugal but throughout the empire meant that the quality of soldiers and marines was at times far superior with better training and equipment than other forces the country had faced till then.
I purposely had not answered that question till we finished posting the Far East Asia section. As we can see disaster and misfortune has hit the VOC as it saw many of its locations hit, its navy seriously curtailed and weakened and one if not more strategic locations captured (Malacca). The losses to the Portuguese following their loses to the British has been so much for the Dutch that we not sure they will recover. But the Dutch are still not out, they still control parts of the East Asia, Ceylon and colonies in Africa. Which is where the story will take us next.
You raise several good points. The war will result in some gains for the Portuguese but at same time they do not want to destroy the Dutch to the point the British would gain even greater than iOTL. Exactly how things work out in the Paris will be determined by the Diplomats and some good back room maneuvers. Don't want to spoil the surprise.
As for the future we could very well see a Federation uniting the various Vice Rei and Metropolitan into a single country in the late 19th century. We will see if they have the whereabouts and determination to do so. The British never did, even with Canada and rest of settler Dominions. But a true Federation means that control is given to all and that all are equal otherwise there is no Federation. But that is speculation for the future 100 years in future at least.
The Dutch were overstretched to say the least. iOTL the late part of the 18th century saw the Dutch loose Africa, India and parts of its South East Asia territory to the British. Here a resurgent Portuguese just compounds their problems.
Peace negotiations are a beast onto themselves, a country could escape almost unscathed or be doubly unlucky by being plundered greater than its losses on the field suggest. It all depends on the negotiators view of the country and if it has powerful supporters who can intercede on its behalf. For the Dutch and Portuguese both have powerful supporters and both wish for the resolution in their favor. The battle field wins suggest the Portuguese have momentum on their side.
We will see what the negotiations bring. You are right that Malacca is a worthy prize.
The Three-Years War (1780-1783) - The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782 -1783) (5 of 6)
Lusitania
Donor
The Three-Years War (1780-1783) (cont.)
The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783) (5 of 6)
The African Theatre – Guinea & Cape
“The final and enduring reconciliation between Lisbon and Amsterdam’s animosities began with the British and the French poking their nose in African matters.”
-Secretary Cipriano, commenting on the Luso-Dutch war concluding in an unlikely alliance
The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783) (5 of 6)
The African Theatre – Guinea & Cape
“The final and enduring reconciliation between Lisbon and Amsterdam’s animosities began with the British and the French poking their nose in African matters.”
-Secretary Cipriano, commenting on the Luso-Dutch war concluding in an unlikely alliance
Central/Southern Africa – 1781
Green: Portuguese Africa
Orange: Dutch Cape Colony
Red: British St. Helena
Luso-Dutch rivalries in Africa were present but were far more low-key than in other territories despite a history of intense conflict and Dutch attempts to seize Luanda in the 17th century. Their nature consisted mostly of naval transit privileges on their respective way to India and the South East Asian sea, the true sources of Luso-Dutch animosities, and this did not change in this war. The Dutch empire in Africa consisted primarily of the Cape Coast refueling stations which throughout the 18th century had expanded into a rather large colony thanks to a successful history of integration of Khoikhoi tribes, as well as Dutch Gold Coast, a former Portuguese colony situated in Guinea, so the main frictions between Portugal and Netherlands in Africa were mostly about who had access to which port, rather than antiquated revanchist fantasies and philosophical differences.
In 1778, however, Angola expanded significantly by successfully defeating the usurpers of the Manikongo throne in the 4th Luso-Kongo War. This dramatically increased the political importance of Angola in the Congo region, with Portugal successfully establishing a free trade outpost in Cabinda so the Europeans would back its claims, a firm friendship with the new Manikongo, the Ovimbundu tribes under a protectorate umbrella, Luanda being developed as a regional pharmaceutical center and, finally, a Marque being established in the Ambriz region under a black nobleman promoted by Joseph II himself to act as a military buffer to protect Angola.
In 1779 Mozambique also began expanding, in this case thanks to the far-off Luso-Mysore and Luso-Maratha Wars which encouraged the PRP to bring discontent Islamic Indian populations to Mozambique Island, from where they began moving inland to establish their own properties in disorganized territories, allowing the disparate ports of northern Portuguese East Africa, namely Mozambique, Angoche and Beira, to be finally connected with a firm annexation.
The Dutch colony competed by expanding upwards and rightwards in Cape as well, with Company employees now rapidly replacing native cattle suppliers (the Khois themselves had been disintegrated by the early 1700s). All these territories (Dutch Africa and Portuguese Africa, that is), however, were far off between and served their respective masters with little discrimination against others’.
Rising Interests & Angolan-Cape Friendship (1778-1780)
“Your Majesty, this war is highly counter-productive to your interests, so I recommend an expedient resolution and, more importantly, a placation of the enemy’s resentment. It is in your hands to make a change in this conflict at the national philosophical level as the head of state.”
-Duke Lencastre of Angola, writing a peace appeal to King Joseph II in 1781, upon the outbreak of Luso-Dutch hostilities
“Your Majesty, this war is highly counter-productive to your interests, so I recommend an expedient resolution and, more importantly, a placation of the enemy’s resentment. It is in your hands to make a change in this conflict at the national philosophical level as the head of state.”
-Duke Lencastre of Angola, writing a peace appeal to King Joseph II in 1781, upon the outbreak of Luso-Dutch hostilities
After the Luso-Congo War, Duke Lencastre of Angola, hungry for development in Luanda and seeking to displace Marquis Henry of Congo in the king’s favor, began seeking friendship treaties with Dutch Africa. The objective was to secure a safe trade connection between Luanda, Kaapstad and finally the Mozambican ports on the other side of the continent to both foment commercial profits and encourage his citizens to settle further inland in search for an inland route to Sofala. In 1778, the first contracts for iron-labor exchanges began to be signed and Dutch settlers began buying stocks in Angolan iron companies. This relationship was complemented with equal contracts between Luanda and Dutch Gold Coast.
These contracts were important because Angola’s mining infrastructure and transportation was particularly expensive at the time (mainly due to the sources being significantly far inland or in Ovimbundu lands), so iron exports needed secure profits of reduced risks and firm contracts to encourage their development. Otherwise, transporting a single cart of iron extracts, according to experienced stockholders from Goa, could endanger the entire enterprise by falling off the dirt road and settlers would be tempted to abandon it in favor for less profitable productions like agriculture. Without a reliable client, Angola had no hope of developing steadily.
In 1779, the Dutch governor accepted to reduce tariffs on Portuguese ships re-supplying in Kapstaad. This was a critical point in Luso-Dutch relations in southern Africa; it turned the colony of Dutch Africa into a friendly entrepôt between the Portuguese largest possessions and allowed the Portuguese Army and Navy cheaper transit between the Atlantic and Indic Oceans, something both departments badly needed at the time. In a symbolic gesture of reconciliation, the Dutch governor authorized the restoration of the Cross of Dias, an icon of the world-changing crossing of the Cape of Good Hope in 1499, as a diplomatic gift to their new commercial allies. This gesture was viewed as highly positive by both Luanda and Lisbon, who in the same year reduced restrictions on Dutch merchants entering the Congo and Brazil (this was significant due to the highly mercantilist legacy of Pombal’s administration).
Stamp Commemorating the Dias Cross, as well as the retie of Luso-Dutch relations in Africa
The rise of friendship and profits, however, would be stomped on by the arrival of Anglo-Frankish interests in the area; starting from 1777 onward, the fighting between the French and the British began increasing exponentially, surpassing mere military and political matters and entering a whole new world of ancient world ideas against revolutionary concepts. This overshadowed the interests of lesser powers like Amsterdam and Lisbon, with the fighting spilling over to the Caribbean and South Atlantic regardless of which ports sheltered which warships. In 1778, ties between Amsterdam and Paris had interfered and limited Portuguese conquests in the treaty of São Salvador, with both powers demanding mediation from Duke Lencastre’s parts in the concessions he requested from the new Manikongo. In 1780 the 4th Anglo-Dutch war broke out and English ships began sailing from Saint Helena and British Guinea to assault Dutch possessions. Being allies of the Portuguese, this put a thorn in Luanda-Kapstaad relations.
An unexpected interference would come from Brazil, a third party interested in Sub-Saharan-African affairs; having fought together with their colonial masters in the 4th Luso-Congo war, the Brazilian politicians and plutocrats had a vested interest in keeping clear coasts and profit margins in the Congo region, so Brazil began taking a voluntary mediation part in Luso-Dutch affairs. They also had a social interest in keeping control over Angolan human exportations, with Northern Brazilians and Southern Brazilians locked in a bloody tug-of-war between Slavery and Emancipation, respectively, so southern representatives voted and acted in favor of hunting down slave ships.
In a conference meeting in Kapstaad in 1779, all parties (Dutch Caribbean, Portuguese Brazil, Portuguese Africa and Dutch Africa) officially expressed their lack of interest in a conflict between their masters, weather of religious, political or philosophical nature (but oddly not commercial), even if to appease the greater Anglo-Frankish conflicts they were allied to. This allowed all of them to be guaranteed that, even if Portugal and Holland went to war, the colonies had an official interest in seeing it resolved as harmlessly as possible.
Kapstaad Conference (1779)
The Luso-Dutch-Afro-Brazilian network of interests began rapidly developing between 1778 and 1781 and helped in the short span of three years to change the nature of western hemisphere Luso-Dutch relations. The Kapstaad Council in particular, preemptively allowed for the possibility of the 2nd Luso-Dutch War to be solved amicably in Africa by establishing a precedent of dialogue
This council was a form of discreet protest to Lisbon and Amsterdam in the current atmosphere of rising tensions between the two over East Asian matters. Both countries took the message, looking at the ongoing American Revolutionary War as an example of how interests in India endangered a European’s power in the American continent. This came from an understanding between the two colonial powers that their ambitions were being rapidly overshadowed by reckless Anglo-Frankish bickering.
Portugal, however, was growing increasingly pressed by both Britain and its own population to wage trade war with Holland; not only were commercial rivalries at stake, but Portugal had signed the New Methuen Agreement[1] affirming a commitment to fight slave trade in the Atlantic in conjunction with the British Fleet, a trade that was still occurring in Dutch possessions, particularly Gold Coast.[2]
Dutch Slave Trade
Despite a growing friendship between Luso-Dutch Atlantic colonies, the Dutch continued to trade slaves against the abolition of slave trade in Bissau and Luanda, hurting peace efforts.
Secretary Cipriano argued, though, that the New Methuen Agreement signed by the Marquis of Pombal foresaw combat against ‘clandestine and national slave trade with disregard to non-contracted sovereign nation trade (ex: Netherlands, France, Spain) to avoid diplomatic incidents”. This dissatisfied parties on both sides, however, since slave traders were beginning to act through Dutch agents to escape Anglo-Portuguese persecution in the South Atlantic.
English Attacks (1781) & War Outbreak (1782)
Throughout the 1770s, however, British interest in West Africa, particularly the Gold Coast, rapidly increased as a result of colonial rivalries with the Dutch and the influence of Malachy Postlethwayt, a commercial expert who authored ‘The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce’ in 1757, an adaptation of the homologue French treatise. The scholar published a number of works that discussed and incentivized the search for wealth in West Africa, even referencing a witness that claimed, "the king of Guinea, the greatest city in all the countries of Negroland, has a mass of gold of thirty pounds weight as it was naturally produced in the mines which is completely pure, tough and malleable without having been smelted".
By that decade the British were already the strongest presence in the Gold Coast, possessing the greatest number of fortified factories and being assisted by the strongest navy in Europe. The Dutch and the Danish, however, also possessed significant ports that helped them rival British Gold Coast, namely Elmina and Fredericksburg. Upon the outbreak of the Anglo-Dutch War, an opportunity was presented to seize these forts and become the uncontested European power in Gold Coast.
This was a part of a greater operation in the war to seize all of Netherlands’ colonial possessions; at the same time the British in Gold Coast began to prepare themselves to lay siege to Elmina, fleets were attempting to break through the Sumatra strait in South East Asia and Caribbean ships were sacking St. Eustatius and pondering the possibility of attacking Coraçao as well.
The defeat of Dutch Gold Coast was, therefore, a foregone conclusion; surrounded by British fortifications and a superior enemy fleet, the Dutch outposts could not resist the advances of the enemy for very long despite a protracted length of skirmishes between the garrison forces. By the end of 1781, before Luso-Dutch hostilities even began, British Atlantic forces had surrounded, captured or laid siege to all of Dutch Gold Coast, with only Elmina still resisting and the main trunk of the British fleet free to move on against the Cape Colony.
Fall of Dutch Gold Coast
The Dutch in Guinea were powerless to stop the British from checkmating and allowing the travel of their battle fleet towards St. Helena and, eventually, Kaapstad
The island of St. Helena became the springboard for the attacked planned by the British on the Cape Colony, a territory they viewed as an appetite-filler in what was the midst of an increasingly stressful war against American Revolutionaries and revanchist Frenchmen. Towards the end of 1781, Portugal successfully argued neutrality in this conflict using the arguments voiced by its South Atlantic governors, meaning that the British were initially on their own if they wished to attempt to seize Kaapstad.
In early 1782, however, the Nantes Negotiations occurred, the Dutch issued an ultimatum to Lisbon and Portugal declared participation in the Anglo-Dutch War on the English side, with news of the breakout reaching Luanda by May and Kaapstad by June. This severed the profitable bilateral relations between the two colonies and put the Angolans at a delicate position. Vexed by the situation, Duke Lencastre decided to play it out passively, sending agents to Cape Colony to assure them that Portuguese Africa would fight defensively in this conflict and perhaps this would prevent the two territories from hurting one another.
The colony of Cape, however, could not afford to stay still with the prospect of an incoming British fleet invasion and sent out its forces to preemptively attack St. Helena.
[1] See Section: Rebirth of Empire (Part 1 of 2) – The Pombaline Cabinet (1762 – 1777) – Prime Minister – The 1964 London Treaty a.k.a. The new Methuen Agreement.
[2] IOTL, Holland only outlawed slavery in 1863, mostly due to interests regarding sugar, coffee and tobacco plantations in Suriname.
Note:
After the collapse of the Nantes Negotiations the Portuguese found themselves at war once again, this time against Portuguese Arch nemeses the Dutch who had used the Iberian Union to steal a huge part of Portugal's India and East Indies. It was only through sheer determination that Brazil and not all of Portuguese Indian and East Indies possessions were lost but what had been left was a mere shadow. Now almost 150 years later the hard won new acquisitions by sheer guts and blood were once again at risk. The Dutch seeing the Portuguese as the weaker of the two empires it was fighting decided to go against the Portuguese before trying to take on the British. How will the Portuguese fare? Will we again have loses and despair or will this be Portugal's time for revenge and retribution?
The Portuguese - Dutch relationship in Africa was completely different than in Asia. Here the two nations had become partners in the development of expanded Portuguese colonies. While Portuguese merchants gained access to Dutch colonies. So the war could not come at a worse moment. What was different was that the Dutch were facing two enemies and that its fortunes in Africa seemed destined to follow Its Asian colonies. Questions/Comments
Please return on July 26 as we post the next part in The Three-Years War (1780 -1784) -The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783).
Even if the Portuguese don't want to attack the Dutch in Africa, the British certainly will. It was nice to see both nations build good relationships and a shame that the war ended them.
Good update.
Good update.
How are Islam, Buddhism and Hunduism allowed to be practised, whether openly or secretly, outside their areas of origin?
How is Surinam doing? We saw about the African and Asian possession of the United Provinces but not about their American ones.
Lusitania
Donor
Religion is an something that was greatly affected by the new religious freedom but at same time there exists a heavy Portuguese Catholic presence. Portuguese Catholic church with their new religious orders most of whom in the Indian Ocean are non-European are able to make a greater inroad than in Indian sub continent. Although small non Christian religious places of religious are allowed to exist the main determining factor in its existence is the sermon or direction it provides. Some such as Buddhism and Hinduism religious leaders there preached moral sermons and living a good life which also included obedience to the Portuguese. While Islamic imams who preached for resistance to the infidels and were against the Portuguese saw their lives cut short (usually by an agent of the government instead of direct government action. Agents and spies provided the Portuguese government a detailed picture of what was happening in their area.
It was also the practice to bring together groups from various regions of the Empire. Even from Indian sub continent people from the northern areas around Damao or Diu compared to old ports in Malabar were very different. Language was different. There were also people from East Asia and East Indies brought into a region being developed. Therefore religious and ethnic rivalries provided a mixture where Portuguese language and Catholic religion was the commonality. Lower Taxation and special privilege's for Catholics along with most if not all schools in these regions were run by the Catholic Church (although some of the new Christians were establishing their own schools and missions.
thank you, Yes the British will definitely be on the lookout to conquer with the loss of the 13 colonies. It is actually not in Portugal's favor the British getting bigger since they are not always known to consider the needs or interests of their friends especially when their interests lay elsewhere.
See my answer above, as mentioned Islam is the hardest religion to live under Portuguese control. The reason being that Islam emphasizes not only adherence to a religious belief but also a rejection of any laws that are not part of the Koran which was much more than a "bible" to Islamic people but also code of ethics and administrative manual. So it conflicted with Portuguese rule and laws. While other non - Christian religions are now slowly able to practice their religion. This happen iOTL too but about 50 years in future. Here it is ahead of schedule but at same time the Portuguese catholic church will be stronger and able to expand beyond what it did IOTL.
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The Three-Years War (1780-1783) - The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782 -1783) (6 of 6)
Lusitania
Donor
The Three-Years War (1780-1783) (cont.)
The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783) (6 of 6)
The African Theatre – Guinea & Cape (cont)
Battle of St. Helena (1782)
The Second Luso-Dutch War (1782-1783) (6 of 6)
The African Theatre – Guinea & Cape (cont)
Battle of St. Helena (1782)
At this particular point, the Netherlands were in the midst of an attempt of reinforcing the fledgling VOC in the East Indies with its own national fleet, which meant an above average number of national warships were traversing the Cape despite the fact that its European and Caribbean territories were almost entirely blockaded or captured, respectively. The Dutch fleet, however, had been in decline since 1712 mostly due to a steep drop in the ability to recruit sailors, with wages being smaller than in the British navy and impressment less practiced, so the actual ships sent to reinforce Indonesia through Africa totaled squadrons smaller than three or four warships at the time, most of were lost or stalled by fighting with the superior British fleet.
Pockets of naval power had, nevertheless focused around some Dutch interests, mostly Batavia, the Wadden Sea and Cape Colony. This meant, however, that even in a scenario of total and limitless aggressions, the war would be short and predatory.
Throughout 1781, moreover, British attacks were frustrated by French Admiral Struffen’s war expedition throughout the African coast towards India, in which he engaged and defeated the Royal Navy at several encounters, including the battle of Saldanha Bay where he saved the local VOC South African fleet of eight vessels from being captured by Admiral George Johnstone.[1] Attracted by rumors of use of false flagging by Johnstone, Struffen had delayed his travels in the area and encountered Johnstone’s twelve warships just off the bay as they attempted to attack the Dutch and fought them off with the VOC’s help. This allowed the Dutch a small breathing room for their own counterattack after Struffen forcibly moved on towards Mahé.
The best hope for the Dutch was to attack and eliminate critical British naval bases before a massive overwhelming attack on their empire could be conducted, hence the plan at Kapstaad at the time to attack the island of St. Helena. This plan was partially motivated by the preceding development of Cape trade interests in both sides of the continent’s underbelly; growing Luso-Dutch relations suggested that the Dutch could afford to alienate British friendship in Sub-Saharan Africa to maintain a stable naval control in the area and continue to protect Dutch Gold Coast and Cape without severe loss of trade benefits, as trade exchanges with Angola and Brazil, mostly in the form of financial exchanges, were growing more profitable than with British possessions. Fighting off the British from the south Atlantic, unlikely as it was, therefore held a glimmer of hope of strategic productivity.
The VOC fleet, however, was weak, possessing only eight merchant ships with an average of 20 cannons, while Johnstone’s ships averaged in the 50s. A direct naval attack made suicidal amounts of sense, so commander Gerrit decided to hold a defensive stance until reinforcements arrived from Amsterdam or Batavia. The Dutch hand would be forced, however, when a spy message broke out in Luanda and St. Helena that one of the Dutch East India Men held on board the "kings of Ternate and Tidore, and the princes of the respective families", which the Dutch had held in Isle Robin but moved to Saldanha Bay in the meantime.
This changed the situation for all parties, as it tied the South African theater to the conflict of interests happening in Indonesia. The Portuguese at the time were growing increasingly aggressive in Timor and capturing the heads of state of the Spice Islands would strengthen their claim to the Moluccas region. Not only that, but the British were also attempting to push their way through Sumatra. For both countries, capturing these political prisoners would be a boon for future negotiations.
Duke Lencastre continued to express interest in a peaceful resolution, but suspicion among the colonies grew to such an extent his claims were virtually worthless. Moreover, after French attacks on Luanda which littered the city’s bay with shipwrecked old galleons from Angola’s squadron, benevolent intentions from the Portuguese colony were viewed with suspicion. By January 1782, Dutch paranoia motivated a desperate operation to move their assets away from Saldanha Bay. With the Indic Ocean under siege by Luso-Franco-English combat, however, commander Gerrit decided that sailing through the South Atlantic beat the odds of both staying still and taking their chances towards Ceylon (where unbeknownst to them the port of Colombo was already blockaded by Vice-Admiral Hammershark).
The secret naval operation became possible when Dutch warships finally reinforced the Cape Colony in March with three brave warships that had sailed to defend Gold Coast but arrived too late to protect it from the British forts. Commander Gerrit sailed out with the total eleven ships with the objective of fighting through British patrols and make their way to a reinforced Caribbean colony or even Amsterdam itself, depending on developments. This depended entirely on Dutch ability to keep their movement a secret. On the night of sailing out in 21st of May, no one but the commander and the governor of Cape Colony knew of the operation.
By June 1782, however, the state of war between Lisbon and Amsterdam had reached Luanda and commander Johnstone successfully pressured Duke Lencastre to act in the best interest of the alliance and move out every available Portuguese war ship towards St. Helena, where they could mount an operation in which Portuguese forces would be ransom to British interests, forming an overwhelming total force of 15 warships and several smaller screening vessels usually used in commerce and pirate hunting.
Coordinated with the British ships, the Luanda squadron moved out to search for enemy ships. On the 4 June 1782, the HMS Jason and the HMS Cuanza successfully detected the Dutch ships sailing from the Cape during a chance encounter in daytime. Issuing a demand to surrender through flag signaling, they hoped to capture the fleeing force straight away but were instead answered with cannon fire. Luso-Dutch friendship in the area was effectively rendered null by this and from this point onward, upon informing the superiors in St. Helena, the Angola squadrons moved out to fight the Dutch willingly.
This resulted in the battle of St. Helena, which occurred southeast of the island itself when the joint Luso-Dutch force encountered, outmaneuvered and engaged the Dutch successfully with six warships against three Dutch warships and their minor commerce vessels. This was because the first phase of the battle consisted in a wider maneuver to detect the fleeing force that split Johnstone’s squadrons into several teams attempting to detect the enemy before they fled the zone of control.
In this fighting, the Portuguese took a unique opportunity at protagonist due to coincidentally maintaining a numeric superiority over the British, as their entire squadron was included in this particular team, so a decisive victory was mandatory for Lisbon and Luanda. This led to a rash action by the inexperienced Rear Admiral who ordered a full-frontal engagement which suffered significant fire return before ever getting in position to combat the Dutch.
Battle of St. Helena
Damaged Anglo-Portuguese ships trying to engage the better armed Dutch
Even so, the situation was hopelessly against the Dutch, as even if they fought through this force they would have to escape the remaining British squadrons patrolling the area and then breakthrough to Amsterdam. This played a role in the reduced morale in the enemy’s sailors, who failed to capitalize on their lighter, more numerous ships to resist this initial onslaught and escape and, instead, the Anglo-Luso squadron bogged the enemy and wore it down with superior firepower.
The battle was bloody and damaging to all sides, with the Portuguese losing two of its warships, the British losing one and the Dutch not surrendering until after its warships were completely beaten and its vessels captured. At 18:00 Commander Gerrit still attempted to split off his forces to survive the battle, but the vessels carrying the political assets were surrounded and blasted into submission in the midst of it.
The battle ended with the Portuguese escorting off the Dutch commander Gerrit to Luanda, who chose to be held ransom by the Portuguese instead of the British so as to avoid a collapse of Dutch interests before a single rival power, which also meant the political prisoners from Ternate and Tidore were carried to Angola with him. This would have a tremendous impact in the outcome of the war, with the letters sent to Europe confirming the presence of the kings in Luanda’s jails playing a part in advancing Portuguese interests.
The American Theatre – Brazil & Suriname
Fearing a Dutch intervention in the American Revolutionary War by the Dutch via sea, the British Crown had ordered the preparation of a reinforcement fleet from all its Atlantic colonies to guard the North American coast from the Dutch Republic’s attacks. The ships gathered in the South Atlantic never carried out this purpose because they were instead ordered to act in conjunction with the Portuguese Romanche Fleet formed by the Viceroy of Brazil and the governor of Portuguese Guinea to patrol the Romanche Trench for Dutch ships and protect Cape Verde.
With the British systematically capturing Dutch islands in the Caribbean and the Portuguese having no claims to any of the islands, the Brazilian Vice-Roys were once again left with the decision to vote on their participation in the conflict and the investment of the Army of Brazil. Their jurisdiction of fighting included the western South Atlantic, the South American continent itself and any Portuguese territory they chose to assist, meaning Dutch Suriname was the closest enemy front. The voting had been held off due to the ongoing conflict between France and Portugal and how this would endanger Brazil with reports of Struffen sailing a powerful fleet down the Atlantic.
With the conflict to be resolved in Nantes, however, pressured continued to build up in the colonies for them to have a proactive hand; both Brazilian northerners and southerners had profited immensely for different reasons from the Luso-Congo War, where they secured Brazilian assets and trade links with Africa and the opportunity to use the Army of Brazil to capture a nearby Dutch possessions before Europe could resolve the conflict amicably was slipping their fingers. Although it was physically separate from Brazil by French Guyana and an indomitable jungle highland patch known as the Guyana Shield, the territory held promising mineral and plantation resources that appealed to governors of northern Brazilian states and it formed, in the eyes of the southerners, a vital natural buffer to take hold off against rival Europeans.
Brazilian naval resources, however, were contextually limited; most naval supplies were sold off to Lisbon which built up the Portuguese Navy and, according to the MAD, Brazil was not entitled to a navy to begin with, with the Army relying on the Portuguese to carry out their expeditions. Plans were therefore draft out to attack Suriname, but none of them predicted independence from Portuguese assistance (at least legally). This was an instance in which the bureaucracy and legalism between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro ended up compromising a war maneuver and complicating the ambitions of both sides.
Hoping to unlock their offensive ambitions, however, Brazilian governors officially voted to join the war in their overlord’s side, with almost unanimous support (the endangered northern states had too much to gain and the safeguarded southern states had too little to lose). The Portuguese Navy, however, did not authorize any offensive operations on Suriname, limiting itself to blockading Paramaribo, arguing that an amphibious attack would be both life-costing and hard to translate into territorial gains in a future peace treaty (as any territorial consolidation promise was seen as difficult to argue).
The war on the South American theater ended therefore anti-climatically, with no shots fired but the Portuguese holding a technical superiority.
The Indian Theatre – Kandy Throne & Blockade Resolution
By end of 1782, the Portuguese navy had blockaded Colombo and Dutch Malabar for over a whole year with no significant battle occurring between the two parties. Reliant on news of developments in Europe and Indonesia, Vice-Admiral Rebelo maintained a semi-passive policy to his blockade even after the formal declaration of hostilities, as wasting resources and manpower in offensive actions while conflicts in other vulnerable theaters were still unresolved would be detrimental to centralized plans taking place in Goa and Lisbon.
In March, however, with the exhaustion of Dutch resources in Malabar, the ports of Quilon and Cochim were unable to defend themselves properly or conduct trade and were approaching bankruptcy. Taking advantage of inside information on this, the Rear Admirals under Rebelo issued orders to dispatch their ships to assist in the blockade to Ceylon itself. This allowed Vice-Admiral Rebelo to checkmate the Dutch at Trincomalee as well.
Trincomalee Blockade
The blocking of the two main ports of the island sent Dutch Ceylon into a cornered situation and effectively prevented the British from expanding their control further southwest from Bengal
The Dutch were no fools and knew that, even in a situation of complete blockade and comparable naval power, their enemy did not have the resources to attack Ceylon directly. The island ports were strongly fortified, and supplies were relatively vast, so they pursued a strategy of time binding in their stand-off, hoping further good news would arrive from Batavia.
Two events increased the pressure on the Dutch, however; the first occurred in July 1782, when Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha, pretender to the Kandy throne succeeded his brother into power in the native Ceylonese kingdom and met with the Portuguese squadron, bypassing Dutch authority in the island. With his brother and former king having also conspired with the British in the past, Governor Falck feared that a two-pronged attack would be conducted. While a Luso-Kandy conspiracy would not be impossible to crush, it was important for the Dutch to preserve strength to fight the British with.
The second was that, on September, to the despair of the Dutch and the elation of the Goans, news of Batavia and Kapstaad’s defeats had reached India and Europe. The Portuguese victory in Indonesia was especially devastating, with Malacca captured by a young bold mariner known as Coronel Lecor and numerous Dutch ships wrecked, captured or sacked, signaling the victory for William ‘Piranha’. This meant no new reinforcements would come to increase Dutch firepower in India and the top authority of Dutch Ceylon, the VOC itself, was approaching a position where it would be forced on the table with unfavorable peace terms.
Governor Falck therefore attempted to cut losses and save Dutch pride. His best option was to placate the weaker enemy, the Portuguese, so their greed would drive them to maintain the blockade amicably and prevent the stronger enemy, the British, from conducting a far more serious offense. Starting from September, he began negotiating terms for a ceasefire between Dutch and Portuguese possessions in India.
The interruption in communications caused by the expansion in the blockade and the shifting political tide in Kandy, however, caused the Dutch at Trincomalee to revolt against this action, misinterpreting the plans of the island’s central government to be treasonous or a product of the enemy’s conspiracies. This resulted in the ‘Action at Trincomalee’ where the Dutch ships stationed at the port attempted to attack the blockading Portuguese.
Despite this squadron being the weaker of Rebelo’s divisions present in India, however, the power balance was not favorable to the Dutch (otherwise the blockade would have never been authorized by Hammershark), and the offensive was unsuccessful, resulting a naval slop that resulted in several sailor deaths and wasted shots before the ships returned to the bay’s safety.
‘Acção Naval em Trincomale’
The reckless action was both unsuccessful and unprovoked, resulting in the Portuguese taking a harsher stance on the enemy for the rest of the war
This fruitless action reached the ears of Hammershark pretty soon and the veteran Vice-Admiral immediately ordered his entire fleet to conduct punitive bombardments on all Dutch ports. In Cochin, this resulted in a breach of defenses and the Goan Marines stormed the Dutch factory, capturing it completely and compromising Dutch sovereignty in the region indefinitely.
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Dutch India, who officially signed a ceasefire with Hammershark on the 30th of September, issuing copies to all interested parties in India and Europe.
The European Theater & Ultimate Ceasefire
“It is not merely the matter of crossing the Ocean and getting past the enemy fleet; the beaches themselves are unassailable.”
-Count Bylant arguing against direct naval attacks on Portugal
“It is not merely the matter of crossing the Ocean and getting past the enemy fleet; the beaches themselves are unassailable.”
-Count Bylant arguing against direct naval attacks on Portugal
With the battles in America, Africa, India and Southeastern Asia occurring more or less autonomously between the Dutch and Portuguese (or not occurring at all as in the American case), the European powers themselves were left to solve their differences directly in the homelands. Only able to reach each other by sea, however, the war between the two was left completely at the mercy of the overwhelmingly more powerful British home fleet, which was strong enough to dominate the entire North Sea and English Channel.
The Dutch experience in the war, however, was riddled with bad news and prospects; not only were they facing a naval power made up of the British Royal Navy and the Portuguese Mobilized Fleet, the latter which was fresh off the strenuous conflict with the French Navy, but the years of 1781 and 1782 were punctured left and right by news of the Dutch empire being increasingly captured overseas from the Caribbean to South East Asia, a blow to morale hard to endure for any colonial force.
In September 1782, the Dutch politicians agreed to attempt to coordinate with French forces in the ‘Brest Affair’, but lack of unity among the empowered figures, mainly stemming from Admiral Hartsinck’s hesitations to engage the brutally more powerful British Fleet and Count Bylandt’s insistence to declare the Dutch warships as unready for operation caused a series of delays that culminated in a political storm all the way up to the Stadtholder, as he was ultimately responsible for ensuring said readiness. The ensuing investigations on this would last all the way to 1787.
But the strong enemy presence at sea and the political conflict at home wasn’t the only thing stopping Amsterdam; Dutch spy networks suggested that important docking points in the territories themselves, including the islands, were significantly fortified. Just before the outbreak of the Luso-French Maritime War, fearing the highly possible success of a French offensive by sea, the Lusitanians had initiated an emergency project to fortify and supply most of its principal docks with coastal fortresses. The Tagus was guarded from bombardment by defenses from Cascais to Lisbon itself and other coasts like the Algarve and the Beira Litoral had several armament lines pointed directly at sea.[2]
This made the prospects of an attack unacceptable to Count Bylandt, but unfortunately the Dutch only secured information on this after the declaration of war, putting them in a very tough situation especially because it had been assumed the bulk of the war would be fought in South East Asia and India.
The Portuguese stance was, overall, stand-off; Vice-Admiral Bernardo Esquivel used his relative control over the large Biscay Bay naval front to ensure any skirmish would play into his hands, further de-incentivizing Dutch naval attacks; and by late 1782 the Frota Mobilizada was prepared to engage the Netherlands itself in an all-out blockade. This could be potentially catastrophic for the Dutch Empire which, albeit relatively more organized and self-reliant than the Portuguese one, was experiencing tremendous difficulties defending itself from the British. With the Patriot party making increasingly dangerous moves in face to the government’s inability to defend itself and the French demonstrating an unwillingness to defend their interests, the Dutch felt compelled to come to a ceasefire before news of further losses overseas reached Amsterdam.
In January 1783, the Count of Barca successfully sued Amsterdam for peace, ending the last theater of the Second Luso-Dutch War.
[1] IOTL the ships were captured by Johnstone after Struffen moved on towards India.
[2] See Section: The Three-Years War (1780 – 1783) – The Luso-French Maritime War (1780 - 1782) – Atlantic Theatre (1780 – 1782) – Brazilian Passiveness, Portuguese Anxieties & Naval Disorganization (1780).
Note:
After the collapse of the Nantes Negotiations the Portuguese found themselves at war once again, this time against Portuguese Arch nemeses the Dutch who had used the Iberian Union to steal a huge part of Portugal's India and East Indies. It was only through sheer determination that Brazil and not all of Portuguese Indian and East Indies possessions were lost but what had been left was a mere shadow. Now almost 150 years later the hard won new acquisitions by sheer guts and blood were once again at risk. The Dutch seeing the Portuguese as the weaker of the two empires it was fighting decided to go against the Portuguese before trying to take on the British. How will the Portuguese fare? Will we again have loses and despair or will this be Portugal's time for revenge and retribution?
The Dutch were completely devastated but its only salvation is if it can strike some sort of treaty with the Portuguese who while the weaker of its two opponents had inflicted very decisive defeats to the Dutch. Can the Dutch maintain its colonial empire? Will it have to give up the territory it still held or better yet would it be able to regain some of its territorial loses. The future did not look good for the Dutch. But when negotiations begin will it be able to turn things to its favor. How much will the Portuguese demand and what of the British demands? We will have to wiat. Questions/Comments
Please return on Aug 9 as we post the start of The Three-Years War (1780 -1784) - American Revolution.
They are all part of the same call for peace across separate regions.
Is Brazil autonomous enough to be able to acquire territory on its own?
Were these lerrers offers of submission to Portugal?
Why have I the impression this was the last official day of Dutch India having any importance (or even existence)?
After such defeat, how will the Dutch republic fare, whether internally (how many traders will be angry at the government losing their colonies) or externally (how will this affect the national standing)?
An amazing story as always.
Naval captains should earn even a few minor noble titles, a reward worthy of restoring the Portuguese Empire.
On the other hand, I am interested in how Portugal will be seen internationally, especially Spain because both countries have a very similar culture, language and history (exploration and colonization). There will be blood in the Spanish government when Portugal rises from its decline unlike Spain.
PS: Your maps are great !!!
Naval captains should earn even a few minor noble titles, a reward worthy of restoring the Portuguese Empire.
On the other hand, I am interested in how Portugal will be seen internationally, especially Spain because both countries have a very similar culture, language and history (exploration and colonization). There will be blood in the Spanish government when Portugal rises from its decline unlike Spain.
PS: Your maps are great !!!
That's a good point, but i see Spain being far to divided by various factions to ever really rise above their problems.
Excited to see how the negotiations go...what Portugal will gain too...
Keep up the good work.
Keep up the good work.