First Anglo-Dutch War

The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-54) (called the First Dutch War in England, and the First English War in the Netherlands) was the first of the four Anglo-Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with attacks on merchant shipping, but expanded to vast fleet actions. The English navy gained control of the seas around England, and forced the Dutch to accept an English monopoly on trade with English colonies.

Outbreak

French support for the English royalists had led the Commonwealth to issue letters of reprisal against French ships and against French goods in neutral ships. These letters carried the right to search neutral ships, which were mostly Dutch. The English Parliament passed the first of the Navigation Acts in October 1651. It ordered that only English ships and ships from the originating country could import goods to England. This measure was particularly aimed at hampering the shipping of the highly trade-dependent Dutch and often used as a pretext to simply take their ships. Agitation among the Dutch merchants was further increased by George Ayscue's capture in early 1652 of 27 Dutch ships trading with the royalist colony of Barbados in contravention of an embargo imposed by the Commonwealth. Moreover, the death of Dutch Stadtholder William II had placed the foreign policy of the United Provinces in the hands of the great trading concerns of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Accordingly, the States General decided on 3 March 1652 to expand the fleet by hiring and equipping 150 merchant ships as ships of war.

Related Topics:
English Parliament - Navigation Acts - 1651 - George Ayscue - 1652 - Barbados - William II - 3 March

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The news of this decision reached London on 12 March 1652 and the Commonwealth too began to prepare for war, but as both nations were unready war might have been delayed if not for an unfortunate encounter between the fleets of Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp and General at Sea Robert Blake in the English Channel near Dover on 29 May 1652. An ordinance of Cromwell required all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the Channel to dip their flag in salute, but when Tromp refused, Blake opened fire, starting the brief Battle of Goodwin Sands. Tromp lost two ships but escorted his convoy to safety.

Related Topics:
12 March - 1652 - Maarten Tromp - Robert Blake - English Channel - Dover - 29 May - North Sea - Battle of Goodwin Sands

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