Reprint of the original, first published in 1871.

To the Dutch Republic, even more than to Florence at an earlier day, is the world indebted for practical instruction in that great science of political equilibrium which must always become more and more important as the various states of th - John Lothrop Motley, from the Preface Motley spent five years in Dresden, Brussels, and the Hague to produce, in 1856, this popular three-volume history hailed by readers of the time and recognized by scholars since as a standard of the field. The lessons for modern society Motley finds in AUTHOR BIO: American diplomat and historian John Lothrop Motley (1814-1877) studied law at Harvard and Gvttingen, in Germany, where he befriended Otto von Bismarck. He traveled extensively in Europe, frequently in the diplomatic service, but he is remembered prima

In the first half of the seventeenth century the Dutch Republic emerged as one of Europe's leading maritime powers. The political and military leadership of this small country was based on large-scale borrowing from an increasingly wealthy middle class of merchants, manufacturers and regents This volume presents the first comprehensive account of the political economy of the Dutch republic from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century. Building on earlier scholarship and extensive new evidence it tackles two main issues: the effect of political revolution on property rights and public finance, and the ability of the nation to renegotiate issues of taxation and government borrowing in changing political circumstances. The essays in this volume chart the Republic's rise during the seventeenth century, and its subsequent decline as other European nations adopted the Dutch financial model and warfare bankrupted the state in the eighteenth century. By following the United Provinces's financial ability to respond to the changing national and international circumstances across a three-hundred year period, much can be learned not only about the Dutch experience, but the wider European implications as well.

The Dutch Golden Age, known for its renowned artists and writers, was also remarkable for its immense impact on the spheres of commerce, finance, shipping, and technology. Israel gives the definitive account of the emergence of the United Provinces as a great power, its subsequent decline in the 18th century, and the changing relationship between the northern Netherlands and the south, which was to develop into modern Belgium. 32 color plates.