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The ''rampjaar'' ("disaster year") was the year 1672 in Dutch history. In that year, following the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was attacked by England, France, and the prince-bishops Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster and Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, the archbishop of Cologne. The invading armies very quickly defeated the Dutch States Army and conquered a part of the Republic. As a result the cities of the remaining coastal provinces of Holland, Zealand and Frisia panicked; the city governments were taken over by Orangists, who were opposed to the republican regime of the Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt. This signified the end of the First Stadtholderless Period in Dutch history. A famous Dutch saying describes the condition of the Dutch population at that moment as ''redeloos'' (irrational), its government ''radeloos'' (desperate) and the country itself ''reddeloos'' (beyond rescue). ==Situation in the Republic== During the Eighty Years' War there had been tension in the provinces between adherers of a government ruled by the burgher oligarchy, called regents, and those who favoured a government led by the Prince of Orange. These tensions had escalated in 1650 when William II, Prince of Orange had tried to conquer Amsterdam, the main bastion of the Regents of the De Graeff- and Bicker- clan. After negotiations he succeeded in removing a number of his adversaries from their offices. When William died from smallpox later that year, the republican party came back into power. In the Act of Seclusion, it was declared that they would not appoint his son, William III of Orange, or anybody else to the office of Stadholder, stating that a supreme head of government would be harmful to the 'True Freedom'. Johan de Witt was appointed Grand Pensionary of Holland and led the States of Holland, the most important province within the Union. The takeover by the regents did not go without protest from the Orangists, but with the economy booming and peace on the Union's borders they had little opportunity to remove the government from office. To appease the Orangists, and because of their own business interests, the Dutch Regents tried to keep the peace within Europe. ==Foreign affairs== When the Republic had been fighting for its independence from Spain, it had allied with France and England. In 1648, as part of the Peace of Westphalia, the Republic had made peace with Austria and Spain. France had only made peace with Austria and continued fighting Spain until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. A condition of that peace was that Louis XIV would marry Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV of Spain. Maria Theresa would renounce her share of the inheritance in exchange for a large dowry. The dowry was never paid by the Spanish. During the 1650s and 1660s the existing tensions between Dutch trade interests and English trade interests grew. The First Anglo-Dutch War was fought between the republics, resulting in a victory for the English. In a secret annex to the Treaty of Westminster, the Act of Seclusion, Holland declared that it abolished the office of Stadholder and would never allow the States-General of the Netherlands to appoint a member of the House of Orange to the office of Captain-General. Oliver Cromwell, who was Lord Protector of England at that time, insisted on this condition because William II had assisted Charles I during the English Civil War. While supporters of the Dutch Regent favoured diminishing the influence of the House of Orange, by agreeing to the English conditions they inter-mingled internal and foreign affairs and infuriated the pro-Orange faction. When during the English Restoration Charles II was crowned king of England in 1660, the Act of Seclusion was declared void, but to the dismay of Holland, Charles affirmed those clauses of the peace which negatively impacted Dutch trade interests. An English attempt to take over Dutch trade and colonies led to the Second Anglo-Dutch War. After the previous war Johan de Witt had supervised the expansion and improvement of the Dutch navy at the cost of neglecting the Dutch army. With the new fleet and the help of France, with whom they had allied again, the Dutch ultimately defeated the English at sea through the Raid on the Medway and put pressure on the English ally Münster. First Münster and then England were forced to make peace. While France had helped to put pressure on England and Münster they had not committed a major part of their army or fleet. After the death of Philip IV, Louis XIV claimed part of the inheritance for his wife. According to local law in parts of the Spanish Netherlands daughters of an earlier marriage took precedence before the sons of a later marriage. The way Louis XIV explained this, Maria Theresa, daughter of the first marriage of Philip IV, should inherit the Spanish Netherlands because Philip's son, Charles II was from Philip's second marriage. This went against the interests of the Dutch Republic, who preferred having a weak state as their neighbour. Because of this, Johan de Witt allied with the defeated English and Sweden, who had an army nearby in Germany, in the Triple Alliance. In secret clauses of the treaty they agreed to use force if Louis XIV would not come to terms with Spain. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rampjaar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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