The Twelve Years Truce (1609-1621) during the Independence War of the Netherlands against Spain and its impact on the Ottoman Empire

This study deals with a remarkable successful period (i.e. The Twelve Years Truce 1609-1621) of the early modern Dutch history within the eighty years independence war (1568 - 1648) of the Netherlands against Spain. The time span concerned can be seen as the beginning of the major Dutch breakthrough in commercial, political and military terms. The victory that the Dutch had won against the Spanish administration, had resulted in a temporary cease fire for the benefit of the Dutch Republic. Because the Spanish king had particularly acknowledged not to claim any rights to the lands, provinces and his field of authority, which the Dutch had captured during the war in Belgium as well as in the East Indies. Moreover, the Dutch Republic had been able to obtain very profitable trade privileges and immunities in territories of the Ottoman Empire. The main starting point of this paper is to examine general conditions leading to the Truce and its consequences for the Dutch Republic and the Ottoman Empire. Besides, steps and measures, which were taken by the Dutch as a result of their growing prestige on the international political arena, are compared and analyzed with regard to rather premature reflexes and passive responses of the Ottoman government. It is also argued on the basis of the historical data, that the submissive Ottoman attitude was presumably due to lack of a possible pro-active handling skill in commercial, political and diplomatic sense.

Keywords

Ottoman Empire, Spanish Habsburg, Dutch history, Twelve Years Truce, Capitulations, Dutch Trade in t