The Low Countries, 1566-1609.

Dutch independence from Spain was a landmark episode in European history. It created Northern Europe's first independent republican state out of a portion of the declining Habsburg empire, and gave rise to new concepts regarding national sovereignty, whilst also plunging Europe into nearly a century a increasingly destructive conflicts. But it gave the Dutch the leg-up they needed to assert their future role as a contender for the Atlantic Crown, becoming the base for many of Europe's financial institutions. So how did this loose confederacy of provinces ignite the age of revolution?

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