Now for something a little different, I am going to look at a documentary on Holland. As far as I remember, we barely touched on the Netherlands in history class. This episode was part of the Rise of the Great Power Series and has a run time of 47:27. This episode is called Tiny Holland, Great Empire.
The Netherlands would rise from a humble beginning in the 16th Century. The Netherlands, the size of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, declared independence from Spain. Why would they declare independence from Spain? Freedom of religion would be the national creed. Eventually, the Netherlands would rule the oceans of the world. How did the tiny Netherlands become such a superpower? Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor abdicated his empire in 1555. He was an old man struggling to walk. He was walked to the throne by the Prince of Orange, his most trusted friend. Charles V was succeeded by his son Philip II. The Prince of Orange would swear allegiance to the new king. This allegiance was not to last and the two would face each other in battle. What happened? The Dutch had been loyal to the Habsburg family, however, it was King Philip that drove them to revolt. King Philip was a devoted Catholic and wanted to unite Europe under Catholicism. However, religious reform was spreading through the Netherlands. The reformation was spreading through the Dutch trade towns. However, this was opposed to King Philip’s philosophy of a united Europe under Catholicism. Persecution spread throughout Philip’s lands. Charles V would have allowed a different practice of Catholicism in the Netherlands. However, that changed under Philip II. Dutch protestants would suffer persecution, eventually, they would protest their treatment by burning churches and tearing down statues. At the time, nobody knew that tearing down the statues would have led to Dutch independence. In fact, the people loved the King and the royal family. They wanted the freedom to practice a different faith, something that King Philip would not allow. The tearing down of statues was an affront to King Philip. William of Orange, who was brought up as a Catholic, did not believe that King Philip had the right to dictate the consciousness of the people. He was a man willing to talk and debate with both sides. He wanted religious freedom and tolerance and not an empire where religion was dictated to either Catholic or Protestant. He wrote to King Philip pleading for religious toleration, but those pleas fell on deaf ears. The Duke of Alba was appointed to govern the Netherlands. He was a ruthless man who would put King Philip’s stamp on the Netherlands. He was a mass persecutor of the Protestants. Over 10,000 Dutch men were put on trial with over 1,000 men executed. These numbers shocked the people, even more shocking was the execution of a high-ranking statesman. Religious toleration was a sin in King Philip’s eyes. Then there is a short discussion on the Spanish Inquisition and the terror it had spread throughout Europe. The narrator talks about the cruelty of the Inquisitions. How people were burned and humiliated. People were imprisoned and sometimes they would die. There was no escape for the people who were accused of departing from the Catholic faith. Then there is a history of religious toleration in Spain and how the Spanish were open to different faiths. Jews, Christians, and Muslims would have lived in peace in Spain. Toledo was the center of this tolerance. However, as time move forward things would have changed and Spain would have grown less tolerant of other faiths. So what does the Spanish Inquisition have to do with Dutch Independence? What about the Jewish expulsion? What would be the official spark that would lead to Dutch independence? What role would William of Orange play? Tune into the rest of the episode to find out. This is a good start on the history of the Netherlands because it provided a good background on the lead-up to Dutch independence. That said, the Spanish Inquisition discussion went on far too long and should have been shortened. Then there would have been more time for Dutch independence. Despite the long discussion on the Spanish Inquisition, I would consider showing this to a history classroom and would recommend this documentary for research purposes too.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |