Dutch Wars
| Anglo-Dutch Wars | |||||
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 Dutch attack on the Medway during the Second Anglo-Dutch War by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest c. 1667. The captured English ship Royal Charles is right of center. |
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The Anglo-Dutch wars (Dutch: Engels–Nederlandse Oorlogen or Engelse Zeeoorlogen) were a series of conflicts fought, on one side, by the Dutch States (the Dutch Republic, later the Batavian Republic) and, on the other side, first by England (the Commonwealth of England and then the Kingdom of England) and later by the Kingdom of Great Britain/the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. They were predominantly fought in the second half of the 17th century, mainly over trade and overseas colonies. Almost all the battles were fought at sea.
Overall, the Dutch were the victors of the three wars fought between 1652 and 1674 — the English had to wait until the Glorious Revolution of 1688 for their fortunes to begin to eclipse those of the Dutch.
There was a later round of conflicts between 1780 and 1810, which some argue was a separate set of wars.
During the Wars of Religion between the Catholic Habsburg Dynasty and the various (newly formed or converted) Protestant states, both the English and the Dutch were involved in this wider European conflict — diplomatically and directly. At the same time, both nations undertook long-distance voyages of exploration. During the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, neither England nor the provinces of Flanders and Holland had been European sea powers on a par with commerce-driven states such as Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Castile or Aragon; but as the Age of Exploration dawned, the Dutch and English—influenced by mercantilism and by centuries of interaction with each other over fisheries, textiles and the Baltic trade—were both tempted to seek profits in the New World.
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