ABSTRACT
Summarizing the nature of the English challenge is made awkward by the slow pace of its development and the relatively unusual nature of the eventual outcome. After providing vital assistance to the Dutch challenge of the Iberian order at the end of the sixteenth century, the English backed away from their own direct, mid-seventeenthcentury challenge of the Dutch commercial order in the midst of fighting three wars. Yet they emerged ultimately (in the eighteenth century) as the systemic winner almost in spite of their intermittent and hesitant policies.
