Conflicting Traditions. Rethinking Tendencies in the Foreign Policy of the Dutch Republic, 1700-1763

Abstract

Using the General Petitions of the Council of State as new source material, this thesis re-evaluates the existence of long-term traditions in the foreign policy of the Dutch Republic from 1700-1763. In three case-studies, the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the General Petitions show that the existing paradigm of both the Continental and Maritime traditions influencing the foreign policy of the early modern Dutch Republic is in need of serious revision.