WI: No Dutch Revolt?

Either Protestantism doesn't take off so much in the Netherlands, or the King of Spain handles the situation better, or both. For whatever reason, the Dutch provinces don't rebel. How does this affect the course of events in the Spanish Empire and Europe as a whole?
 
Well, you left a rather broad question...

No protestantism will have a result on all of Europe far larger than no Dutch revolt, while a better handling by the king of Spain of this particular issue likely means he'll deal with others better, too.
 
Moreover the Dutch Revolt was not only about religion and religious differences. There were political issues the Estates had with their Sovereign and especially the Nobles had serious grievances, since they felt the sovereign, their liege lord, was shutting them out from a role in the administration.

No revolt would require Philip II to handle the Habsburg Netherlands much better, a more personal interest at crucial points could have helped, instead he send foreign Spanish nobles to do his bidding (I know he was Spanish by upbringing, but Castille & Aragon had nothing to do with why he ruled here, that was in his capacity as duke of Burgundy & Sovereign Lord of the Netherlands).
 
Let the POD be that the Duke of Alba is less repressive (or, if you don't think that's plausible, that the King sends somebody else who ends up being less repressive) after the Beeldenstorm, meaning that he manages to keep the majority of Dutch nobles on-side and there isn't enough support for a successful rebellion.
 
That means a better finantial situation for the spanish, as they no longer deprive themselves of trading with a major european trade zone. That depends how they handle things though.
 
To be honest if the hapsburgs never gets Spain and/or if Charles V divides his realms better the dutch would be better. But you need a surviving Trastamara or Trastamara-Avis survival for that.
 
To be honest if the hapsburgs never gets Spain and/or if Charles V divides his realms better the dutch would be better. But you need a surviving Trastamara or Trastamara-Avis survival for that.
That means the low countries would be more suscetible to be conquered by the french. Burgundy and her subjects, like Elsass and Lothringen, were part o a blurred line between the HRE and France, one which would be the cause of many conflicts, with or without Habsburg inheritance.
 
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