The Dutch Republic
Introduced| English |
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| oligarchy/ˈɒlɪɡɑːki/ |
A state made by a revolt
- The Dutch Republic, established by a Protestant revolt against the Habsburg monarchy, developed an oligarchy 寡头政治 of urban gentry and rural landholders to promote trade and protect traditional rights.
- The CED packs origin, form and purpose into one sentence, and each is examinable.
- Origin: a Protestant revolt — which links straight back to 2.4's Habsburg attempt to restore Catholic unity.
The CED describes the Dutch Republic's government as...
It is a third model beside constitutional monarchy and absolutism.
Neither absolutist nor a modern democracy
- An oligarchy is rule by a small group, and the CED names which: urban gentry and rural landholders.
- So the Republic is a third model beside 3.2's constitutional monarchy and 3.7's absolutism.
- That makes it essential to 3.8, which compares different forms of political power, not two.
Select both purposes the CED gives the oligarchy.
A government of merchants funds a navy before a court.
Built to promote trade
- The CED gives the oligarchy a purpose: to promote trade and protect traditional rights.
- A government of merchants and landholders will fund a navy, a bank and a fleet before it funds a court.
- So the Dutch case is the clearest instance of 3.3's market economy shaping a political form.
Origin, form, or purpose?
Sort each element of the CED's sentence on the Dutch Republic.
The Republic was established by a ____ revolt against the Habsburg monarchy.
Which links straight back to 2.4's Habsburg attempt to restore Catholic unity.
An oligarchy is a third model, not a halfway house. The CED names it precisely — rule by urban gentry and rural landholders — and 3.8 asks you to compare different forms of political power. Treating the Republic as an incomplete version of something else removes one of the forms.
Constitutional arrangements in this unit were created to preserve existing privileges.
Both the Dutch oligarchy and the parliamentary settlement protect traditional rights.
Traditional rights, not new ones
- The CED says the oligarchy formed to protect traditional rights — the same defensive logic as 3.2's parliamentary settlement.
- In both cases, a constitutional arrangement is created to preserve privileges an absolutist crown threatened.
- So constitutionalism in this unit is conservative in origin, whatever it later became.
Select all the factors this lesson names.
Mechanisation is a nineteenth-century development.
Factors that contributed
- The objective is the factors that contributed to the development of the Dutch Republic.
- Religious: a Protestant revolt against a Catholic monarchy (unit 2).
- Economic: a commercial elite with a reason to govern (3.3). Political: Habsburg overreach on two fronts (2.4).
A government whose members are merchants funds a navy that protects the routes their own ships use. There is no court, no royal building programme, and no standing quarrel with a nobility over precedence. The form of the state follows from who is in it.
The Dutch Republic, established by a Protestant revolt against the Habsburg monarchy, developed an oligarchy of urban gentry and rural landholders to promote trade and protect traditional rights. It is a third model beside constitutional monarchy and absolutism, its politics follow from its commercial elite, and like 3.2 its constitutionalism is defensive in origin.