What weapons did the Dutch use to defend Amsterdam against the French?

From ancient times to the present, many wars are not only the competition of manpower and material resources, but sometimes with the help of natural forces, they can often receive miraculous effects. For example, Napoleon and Hitler were defeated by the cold weather in Russia, and before them, French King Gneki XIV and his army also suffered greatly, suffered heavy losses in the Netherlands, and were humiliated by floods and unpredictable weather made by the Dutch. It was with these two weapons that the Dutch defended Amsterdam.

Napoleon

Why did France attack Holland and seize Amsterdam? 1667, French king Louis XIV attacked Spain and occupied a lot of land. When he tried to annex Spain's Netherlands (now Belgium), he was interfered by the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden, and all his previous efforts were in vain. From then on, Louis XIV hated the Netherlands, and his ambition to dominate Europe was turned upside down by the Netherlands, which made him very angry.

Economically, Louis XIV also wanted to replace the Netherlands, especially Amsterdam's important position in the European economy. /kloc-the 0/7th century is the golden age of the Netherlands, and Amsterdam is a very important city and port in the world and a transit point for goods. Grain and hemp produced in Baltic countries are transported to western Europe and southwest Europe through it. What the Baltic countries need is to import salt, wine and other commodities produced by France, Portugal and Spain through Amsterdam.

Dutch shipbuilding was also one of the best in the world at that time. There are dozens of shipyards in Amsterdam, the capital, and the shipbuilding price is cheaper than other countries. Many European countries order ships from Holland. Because of such convenient conditions, the merchant ships owned by the Netherlands account for more than 70% of the total tonnage in Europe. Tens of thousands of Dutch merchant ships cruise the world's oceans and monopolize maritime trade, which is worthy of the title of "sea coachman". In addition, the Bank of Amsterdam was a European savings and trading center and one of the international financial centers at that time.

Louis XIV

However, the seventeenth century, when Holland lived, was also an era when Europe stood side by side. France is a veteran military power in continental Europe. King Louis XIV is ambitious to replace Holland as an economic power in Europe. In order to achieve this goal, Louis XIV began to use diplomatic skills to deal with Holland.

1670 In May, in order to relieve the worries of invading the Netherlands, he signed a secret treaty against the Netherlands with King charles ii of England, and also bought and wooed the archbishop of Cologne and the bishop of Mü nster, the rulers of the eastern Netherlands, so that they would not act against themselves. Then Louis XIV began to mobilize troops in France and formed an army of 6.5438+0.2 million people, ready to attack the Netherlands.

Although the Netherlands has a high status in Europe, it is only a small country in terms of population. At that time, the Netherlands was a unified province and a small country with a population only one-tenth of that of France. Although its navy is very strong, in the face of the French attack from land, the population disadvantage is undoubtedly exposed, and 50,000 to 60,000 people are pieced together to deal with it. However, most of these people have poor military quality, so it is difficult to defend cities and fortresses, let alone fight hard. The maximum number of people who can really fight is 15000, which is not enough compared with the elite troops of the French army 120000.

The timing of the French attack was ingenious. Why did the Dutch create floods and stop the French attack? The number of people is obviously inferior, and the climate environment is also very unfavorable to the Dutch defense. It turned out that there was a drought in Holland in the spring of 1672. You should know that the Netherlands is a country with a dense river network, and rivers are also a weapon, which can play a certain role in delaying and blocking enemy attacks. However, the sudden drop of river water level or the near-cutoff due to drought means that the enemy can easily cross the river to attack, and the domestic waterway transportation in the Netherlands has also been greatly affected.

France, which has always coveted Dutch land, certainly saw this opportunity. 1672 in April, France declared war on the Netherlands, and the French army crossed the Rhine in June. Ahlem, derwent, Naimegan and other cities have all fallen, and some cities saw that the French army was so aggressive, and they also surrendered, so as not to suffer more losses when fighting with the French army.

The drought caused the water level of the Ethel River to be extremely low, so the French cavalry crossed the river easily and retreated to the 15000 Dutch army surrounded by the aysel River. In order to avoid being surrounded, the Dutch army had to retreat.

Facing the unfavorable situation of losing ground, the Dutch are also trying to deal with it. Among them, man-made floods are thought to stop the French attack. How to artificially create floods? In fact, the Netherlands has a geographical advantage in this respect.

The Netherlands is a low-lying country, with more than two-fifths of its territory below sea level. Low-lying areas are separated from the sea by a continuous sand dune belt with a height of tens of meters and a width of several hundred meters to several kilometers. If the French army enters the Dutch lowlands, it can use this feature to break its banks and release water to stop the French army. The question is, is water really effective? In fact, the Dutch have already tried this trick. 100 years ago, that is, 1574, Spain attacked Leiden, and the Dutch caused floods to inundate the area south of Leiden, so the Spanish army had to retreat.

However, the war is a double-edged sword, and the losses of the Netherlands are also great. Dutch farmers, in particular, strongly disagree that the sea will flood the lowlands, their crops, cattle and sheep will be gone, and the sea will destroy their land. The Dutch high-level officials did not make up their minds until the French army crossed the Rhine River and prepared to rush straight to Amsterdam. The Dutch high-level officials panicked and ordered the release of water to stop the French army. At this point, it is June 23. Man-made floods flooded a large area in northern Holland.

In early July, he entered Utrecht, an important city in the Netherlands. The city is only 35 kilometers away from Amsterdam. Fortunately, the flood created formed a "moat" about 20 kilometers wide, protecting Amsterdam. Nevertheless, in the face of Enemy at the Gates's French army, Amsterdam is still a mess and people are worried. Prince Orange and other high-level officials want to save Amsterdam by negotiating with the French, but the French are determined to win, and the terms of the negotiations are unacceptable to the Dutch. The two sides broke up in discord and had to continue to "debate" with swords and guns.