The political and ideological causes of the Anglo-Dutch wars

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore and explain the causes of the first three Anglo-Dutch wars. It argues that the political and ideological causes of these wars were at least as important as the economic ones, and that they cannot be fully understood without highlighting the political and ideological differences between the regimes of England and the United Provinces at the outbreak of the conflicts. It discusses in detail the causes of the first two Anglo-Dutch wars, which are more controversial than those of the third.