Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the economic benefits of the Dutch Wars of Independence depended upon an early example of successful commercialization of warfare, exemplified above all by the province of Holland. It uses the terms Dutch Revolt, Eighty Years War and the Dutch Wars of Independence interchangeably, dependent upon the scope of the argument. The book also links up with the old but still on-going debate regarding the thesis of the Military Revolution. The interpretation of this book deviates from the standard stories of the Dutch Wars of Independence that stress either conservative or modernizing tendencies, establish either statist or revolutionary achievements - with either the bourgeoisie or the Calvinists in the vanguard. In studying the interrelation between war, economy and society this book profits enormously from the fact that military history has lost its isolation during the last decades.