ABSTRACT
The regents of the States party followed a cautious-policy of balance and abstention, while the princes of Orange were inclined to take risks and to act as though the Republic were more powerful than it was. Whichever party was in power, its foreign policy must be influenced and determined by the fact that the Republic was neither economically nor militarily self-sufficient. Dutch foreign policy threw its whole weight into the protection of the Spanish Netherlands from French annexation-ism. This policy, which inevitably alienated the former friends of the Republic in France, had to be carried out by the States party and by the De Witts. In 1672 the Dutch Republic was actually invaded by the French, who occupied the major part of its territory; but only at the time of the French Revolution was the annexa-tionist policy of France completely triumphant.
