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timelines:netherlands_look_to_the_west

The Netherlands (Look to the West)

In Look to the West, the Netherlands spent the 18th century as a second-rank power, as in OTL, although there are a few improvements relative to OTL - there was no Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the Dutch picked up a few Danish colonies when Christian VII sold them off in the 1750s.

When Flanders declared neutrality in the Jacobin Wars, the Dutch Republic under Stadtholder William V supported Charles Theodore. This alliance continued for the next decade and more, and helped the Stadtholder suppress two popular insurrections which in OTL weakened and eventually toppled him. The French Republicans attacked the Netherlands in 1807 as part of their 'Le Grand Crabe' strategy, with Admiral de Villeneuve defeating the Dutch Navy and landing troops on the islands at the mouth of the Zuider Zee. However, this force was not backed up as Lisieux redirected the troops intended to occupy Amsterdam from the sea, instead sending them to invade Britain. Because of this, Villeneuve's troops were forced out and the Dutch were able to devote their full attention to helping drive back the French from their occupation of Flanders.

At the Congress of Copenhagen and successive treaties, the Netherlands gained legal recognition for their suzerainty over the German lands they had occupied during the war, and also were awarded the northern reaches of Antipodea (Australia) which they named Nieuw Holland in pointed reference to the fact that the continent had originally been discovered by Dutch navigators long before.


List of Hereditary Stadtholders since 1747 (House of Orange-Nassau)

1747-1751: William IV

1751-1759: Anne, Princess Royal (Regent for William V)

1756-1765: Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel (Regent for William V)

1765-1766: Carolina of Orange-Nassau (Regent for William V)

1766-1806: William V

1806-1828: William VI

1828-1835: William VII


Flag of the Netherlands

The flag of the Netherlands as of 1800 is the same as that of OTL.


Royal Chartered Companies

The Dutch were one of the first European nations to establish powerful trading companies.

United East India Company

Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Dutch, the UEIC has a history of blocking Britain from trade in much of the East Indies, though its attempts at Indian trade have been less successful, limited to a few trade posts such as Calicut. The UEIC also, at present, runs the continuing Dutch presence in the Cape.

Flag of the UEIC

Same as OTL.

Chartered West India Company

Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie in Dutch. The GWC has declined since its heyday in the 17th century, with its chief North American possession of New Netherland having been conquered by the British and turned into New York, and increasing British and American domination of the Caribbean Sea. The GWC continues to run Dutch Suriname and the trading posts in Guinea, of which it has picked up several more from the Danes when Christian VII sold off Denmark's African interests.

Flag of the CWIC

Same as OTL.


timelines/netherlands_look_to_the_west.txt · Last modified: 2019/03/29 15:13 by 127.0.0.1

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