The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Renowned for the mastery of its seventeenth-century painters, the Dutch golden age also witnessed a period of unprecedented Dutch naval power. Before the British commanded the sea in the eighteenth century, the Netherlands established a sophisticated, well-provisioned navy unrivaled by its seventeenth-century contemporaries. Dutch historian Jaap Bruijn looks closely at this often overlooked aspect of modern history to produce the first comprehensive survey of the Dutch navy published in English. Bruijn recounts the fleet’s rise from obscurity to world dominance and its subsequent retreat to mediocrity in the span of two centuries. Although he describes many of the sea battles involving Dutch ships, Bruijn focuses primarily on the organization and administration of the Dutch navy before, during, and after its heyday. He describes the provisioning and financing of the fleet as well as the sophisticated infrastructure that supported it. Bruijn also profiles the Dutch sailors and officers, describing their backgrounds and the conditions in which they lived. Combining naval history with a social history of the Low Countries, Bruijn links the rise and fall of the Dutch navy to the strength of the Dutch Republic; the story of their simultaneous ascendancy and demise sheds new light on the Dutch influence in modern history.