ABSTRACT
Time would show that Orange had taken too sombre a view of the future. The Spanish offensive he dreaded did not materialize. The most important reason for the total failure of Orange's attempts to introduce a more efficient system of government was probably that there was no single province with a sufficient preponderance over all the others to play a leading role in the States-General. When the cause of the Revolt began to appear so desperate in 1579 it was not just by strengthening the central authority that Orange attempted to turn the Spanish tide. Anjou's treasonable conduct was a major reason why so much of the south Netherlands fell back into Spanish hands, and it is understandable that Belgian historians have been highly critical of Orange's unfortunate pro-French policy. Anjou's decision not to use the army sent to him to fight the Spanish forces, but to turn it first against his own Netherlands subjects, is far from surprising.
