In 2013 it will be 300 years since the Treaty of Utrecht put an end to a whole series of devastating European wars. This anniversary is celebrated extensively in the Netherlands. Strange really, because the Dutch Republic was not exactly a winner at the negotiating table.
From the moment King Louis XIV, nicknamed 'the Sun King' because of his delusions of grandeur, ascended the French throne in 1643, he plunged Europe from one war to the next. Virtually all the wars waged during his rule had been initiated by France or provoked by French action. Louis wanted to make France a great world empire, starting with absolute hegemony in Europe.
The first step to power was to provide France with natural borders; the river Rhine and the Alps in the west and the Pyrenees in the south. Beyond the river and the mountains, the French homeland would become an impregnable fortress. Lodewijk could then focus on expanding French power in the world.
As his name suggests, the Sun King was an ambitious man. He wanted to incorporate the necessary border areas into his empire as quickly as possible. As a result, France soon came into conflict with the states of the German Empire, which would have to cede territories along the Rhine. Lodewijk also clashed with Spain because he dropped all kinds of implausible claims on the Spanish Netherlands and the Franche-Comté area belonging to Spain.
Irresistible dominance
Several wars broke out in which the coalitions of England, Spain, the Republic and the German states had the greatest difficulty in limiting Louis and his ambitions. The Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange was always an important pivot in these anti-French coalitions. In 1688 he was also asked by the Protestant English opposition to become king of England. As monarch of both England and the Netherlands, he was the Sun King's main opponent.
When the weak, ailing Spanish King Charles II died childless in 1700, he named Philip of Anjou, a grandson of King Louis XIV, heir to the Spanish throne in his will. Spain would henceforth be ruled by a French king, but Charlemagne made the express condition that Spain and France would never be united into one kingdom. But that was exactly what the ambitious Lodewijk had in mind. He wanted to rule over the entire Spanish empire, including all the colonies, through his grandson.
If Louis had his way, the French supremacy in Europe would become irresistible. The cause of the Spanish succession to the throne soon concerned not only Spain, but all of Europe. When the Austrian Emperor Leopold III also dropped a claim to the Spanish throne, England, the Republic, the German Emperor and the emerging Kingdom of Prussia all joined Leopold. All went to war against Louis in 1702 to curb the French expansionism once and for all.
Negotiation table
William III died shortly before the so-called War of the Spanish Succession ('war of succession') broke out. The Dutch regents decided not to appoint a new stadtholder. Although William III was a great statesman, the regents felt that he was drawing too much power to himself. Nevertheless, the States General of the Republic raised the largest army in its history. 120,000 men were put under arms. It would prove a burden that the Republic was no longer able to bear.
At the beginning of the war, the Netherlands and England agreed that the English general John Churchill (family of Winston Churchill) would lead the joint troops. Due to the good cooperation within the Great Coalition, the war for France went dramatically. Invading armies ravaged the country while famine and epidemics claimed many victims.
Yet the coalition forces proved unable to decisively defeat the French armies and a protracted conflict loomed. It was not until 1712 that peace negotiations started because England wanted to withdraw from the battle as a result of a change of government.
The negotiations started on January 29, 1712 in Utrecht. The location was acceptable to all parties, because it became increasingly clear that the Republic would no longer be able to count itself among the European superpowers after peace due to the enormous burdens it had to bear during the war.
The war cost the Republic so much money that it would not survive the consequences. For Holland, traditionally the strongest region within the Republic, the debts had risen so high that in the years after the peace it had to pay seventy percent of its income in interest.
During the Treaty of Utrecht, for the first time in European history, a major conflict was ended at the negotiating table. Clear agreements were made about preserving the 'balance of power', a concept that would determine European politics for the rest of the eighteenth century.
Facilitator of peace
The great winner of the peace was England. The country received the colonies of Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain. Both are small tracts of land, but of great strategic importance as England was now able to control access to the Mediterranean, much to France's dismay. In addition, in addition to large French territories in Africa and Canada, the British also acquired the monopoly on the slave trade with South America.
And the Republic? Although the Netherlands had suffered the most losses in relative terms and had fought for forty years under William III to limit French power, the Republic was only allowed to eat the crumbs. The Dutch supremacy at sea was ended in England's favour, nor was it allotted the Southern Netherlands as had been hoped for; they went to Austria.
The Republic was assigned the fortified city of Venlo. She was also given the right to camp garrisons in a number of fortified towns in the Southern Netherlands. This area - although under Austrian control - became a safe buffer against new French aggression towards the north.
In a sense, the year 1713 marks the end of the Golden Age of the mighty Dutch Republic. The losses and debts from the war were enormous, and the territorial gains very limited. After 1713, the Netherlands would be exhausted and the country would no longer be able to compete at the level of the European superpowers.
The Treaty of Utrecht is therefore not a symbol of a great moment in history. Rather for a changing role for the Netherlands as a result of the circumstances. In the centuries that followed, up to and including the construction of the Peace Palace (this year also exactly 100 years ago) and further into the twenty-first century, the Netherlands became a facilitator of peace. As a weaker power with a major commercial interest, it no longer had an interest in wars, but rather in stability and security in Europe. A nice role for a small country and therefore quite worth a party.