J.R. Jones - The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century

MODERN WARS IN PERSPECTIVE

General Editors: H.M. Scott and B.W. Collins

This ambitious new series offers wide-ranging studies of specific wars, and distinct phases of warfare, from the close of the Middle Ages to the present day. It aims to advance the current integration of military history into the academic mainstream. To that end, the books are not merely traditional campaign narratives, but examine the causes, course and consequences of major conflicts, in their full international political, diplomatic, social and ideological contexts.

ALREADY PUBLISHED

Mexico and the Spanish Conquest
Ross Hassig

The AngloDutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century
J.R. Jones

The War of the Austrian Succession, 1740-1748
M.S. Anderson

The Wars of Frederick the Great
Dennis Showalter

The Wars of Napoleon
Charles J. Esdaile

The SpanishAmerican War: Conflict in the Caribbean and the Pacific 18951902
Joseph Smith

The Wars of French Decolonization
Anthony Clayton

China at War, 1901-1949
Edward L. Dreyer

J. R. Jones

First published 1996 by Longman Group Limited

Published 2013 by Routledge
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Copyright 1996, Taylor & Francis.

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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-05630-5 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jones, J. R. (James Rees), 1925
The Anglo-Dutch wars of the seventeenth century / J.R. Jones.
p. cm. (Modern wars in perspective)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-05631-4 (CSR). ISBN 0-582-05630-6 (pbk.)
1. Anglo-Dutch War, 1652-1654. 2. Anglo-Dutch War, 1664-1667.
3. Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-1674. 4. Great BritainHistory, Naval
Stuarts, 1603-1714. 5. NetherlandsHistory, Naval. I. Title.
II. Series.
DJ152.166 1996
949.2'04dc20

95-36087
CIP

The words ship and ships in the text invariably mean men-of-war; vessels are merchantmen.

Dates are Old Style when referring to internal affairs in Britain, New Style for those of the Dutch Republic and France; when ambiguities may arise both are given; years start on 1 January.

This study originates in the course on seapower which I operated at the University of East Anglia from 1964 to 1990, and consequently I owe much to all those who took this course and participated actively in the discussions and the illuminating Anglo-Dutch wargames which formed a core element. Some of the main themes were presented in a paper given as part of a series Sea Power, Past and Present organized by Professor Paul Kennedy at Yale in 1986 and clarified in discussions which followed afterwards, and subsequently with my colleagues in Norwich. My other, very belated, acknowledgement of a debt is to those who served in the 21st Escort Group during the final campaign of 194445 against the U-boats which gave me a brief experience of naval warfare and of winter weather in the Western Approaches.

I am deeply grateful for the unremitting and vigilant help and advice of the series editor, Dr Hamish Scott, throughout the long period during which this book has been under way.

It cannot be said that the three Anglo-Dutch Wars of the seventeenth century have left any real impression on the national consciousness of Britain, and they have attracted comparatively little historical attention outside the Netherlands. For later generations of strategic analysts, with the very important exception of Mahan, they appeared to contain little that was interesting or relevant. Moreover, although Mahan made much use of developments and incidents during the Anglo-Dutch Wars to substantiate or illustrate his principles and conclusions, it is remarkable that the admirals, naval writers, politicians and, above all, the ruler of Wilhelmine Germany resolutely failed to see the close resemblances between the position of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic and their own, something that should have stood out from Mahan's discussion. In particular they ignored the basic fact that the geographic disadvantages of Imperial Germany were considerably greater than those of the Dutch, that they lacked 'ready access' to the oceans with the British Isles standing across the exits from the North Sea like an eagle with its wings outstretched as a Dutch skipper described the position before the first Anglo-Dutch War even began. Nor did Tirpitz (or his critics) see that in 1673 De Ruyter achieved as much as any fleet in being of inferior strength could ever hope to achieve, a successful defensive campaign. Of course this failure was politically motivated; a study of the Rump's reaction to the Dutch decision to set out a massively expanded fleet in 1652 would have warned the Kaiser and Tirpitz that the enlarged High Seas Fleet would be seen in Whitehall as a provocative challenge that had to be met.