lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jun 29, 2018 10:15:20 GMT
Well how do you then want to rule Europe, absorbing will make in the future a minor country despite all the tech and know how, a alliance lead by the Netherlands means you have member states becoming jealous of the Netherlands power, which they might be already. Depends on how good they are at absorbing other countries, if they only focus on absorbing and intergrating a small country at the time over decades then they could plausibly become a pretty big country before the Century is over. And the more popular Dutch culture becomes, the more People Will want to intergrate. win. And bomb Istanbul on occassion. After the sultan surrenders you now have an exhausted Austria dependant on Dutch support and naval bases in the Med to det er the muslims from trying anything. Well then looking at this map, we need first to create a nice buffer states who can make sure we are safe from attack.  |
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Post by eurowatch on Jun 29, 2018 13:18:31 GMT
Depends on how good they are at absorbing other countries, if they only focus on absorbing and intergrating a small country at the time over decades then they could plausibly become a pretty big country before the Century is over. And the more popular Dutch culture becomes, the more People Will want to intergrate. win. And bomb Istanbul on occassion. After the sultan surrenders you now have an exhausted Austria dependant on Dutch support and naval bases in the Med to det er the muslims from trying anything. Well then looking at this map, we need first to create a nice buffer state who can make sure we are safe from attack.  Time to liberate Hungary. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jun 29, 2018 14:23:25 GMT
Well then looking at this map, we need first to create a nice buffer state who can make sure we are safe from attack. Time to liberate Hungary. Why is that. |
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Post by eurowatch on Jun 29, 2018 14:55:28 GMT
Time to liberate Hungary. Why is that. So they can act as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire and future Dutch states Europe. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Jun 29, 2018 16:42:10 GMT
So they can act as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire and future Dutch states Europe.
Thinking small. The obvious buffer between Europe and the Islamic world is the traditional one. Re-create a Byzantium.  |
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Post by eurowatch on Jun 29, 2018 18:35:26 GMT
So they can act as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire and future Dutch states Europe.
Thinking small. The obvious buffer between Europe and the Islamic world is the traditional one. Re-create a Byzantium. Why stop at recreating Byzantium? Why not continue into the Middle East and correct all the historic mistakes made there like recreating the Crusader States? |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Jun 29, 2018 19:18:03 GMT
Thinking small. The obvious buffer between Europe and the Islamic world is the traditional one. Re-create a Byzantium. Why stop at recreating Byzantium? Why not continue into the Middle East and correct all the historic mistakes made there like recreating the Crusader States?
Do you mean correct or recreate historical mistakes? The crusades as performed originally were pretty much a total mess. If they had concentrated in driving back the immediate threats, such as pirates in N Africa and the Turks in Anatolia it could have been a different matter but waging a path of violent slaughter, coupled with the often chaotic infighting between assorted factions and groups did little/no good for anyone.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jun 29, 2018 19:19:27 GMT
Thinking small. The obvious buffer between Europe and the Islamic world is the traditional one. Re-create a Byzantium. Why stop at recreating Byzantium? Why not continue into the Middle East and correct all the historic mistakes made there like recreating the Crusader States? There are almost 400,000 Turks in the Netherlands, i would think they would try to create a New Turkish Republic out of the Ottoman empire with ore without the help and support of the Netherlands. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Jun 29, 2018 19:37:31 GMT
Why stop at recreating Byzantium? Why not continue into the Middle East and correct all the historic mistakes made there like recreating the Crusader States? There are almost 400,000 Turks in the Netherlands, i would think they would try to create a New Turkish Republic out of the Ottoman empire with ore without the help and support of the Netherlands.
Good point. I doubt openly anti-Muslim strikes are going to go down that well. Stepping in to protect Hungary from its OTL defeat and occupation is a different matter. Although of course the question of slavery could change this perhaps.
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Post by eurowatch on Jun 29, 2018 20:11:44 GMT
Why stop at recreating Byzantium? Why not continue into the Middle East and correct all the historic mistakes made there like recreating the Crusader States? There are almost 400,000 Turks in the Netherlands, i would think they would try to create a New Turkish Republic out of the Ottoman empire with ore without the help and support of the Netherlands. Depends on their Ability to get there in the first place, Europe at the time really did not like muslims and France is not going to just let a bunch of Turks pass through their country freely. So expect a lot of "do you have any useful skill? if yes, this way to the Church. If no, this way to the gallows." Back in the Netherlands they Will also not be safe, the big cities Will be hit by a stream of migrants on the way to either the colonies Overseas territories or blue collar work and they are not going to take kindly to what they view as lazy heretics. So places like Amsterdam and Rotterdam can expect a steep rise in the murder rate. The option many politicans can be supporting is deporting them to America, where they Will only have to handle With disease, hostile natives and maybe an exspansionist New Netherlands Down the line, but at least they Will be out of the public sight. And out of sight=out of mind. |
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Post by eurowatch on Jun 29, 2018 20:36:55 GMT
Why stop at recreating Byzantium? Why not continue into the Middle East and correct all the historic mistakes made there like recreating the Crusader States?
Do you mean correct or recreate historical mistakes? The crusades as performed originally were pretty much a total mess. If they had concentrated in driving back the immediate threats, such as pirates in N Africa and the Turks in Anatolia it could have been a different matter but waging a path of violent slaughter, coupled with the often chaotic infighting between assorted factions and groups did little/no good for anyone.
Correct in spirit at least. While re-establishing the Byzantium Empire as a means to keep the Muslims at bay is going to be good for both military and propaganda reasons, the west Will also want control over the Suez Channel and Arab oil so the empire is going to do some expanding to re-conquer its former provinces. |
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Post by eurowatch on Aug 19, 2018 6:08:21 GMT
Dutch ideas and knowledge spread quickly throughout its empire and past its borders. Some of the knowledge was deemed “non-essential” and was intentional spread to help save lives. Across Europe, the life-expectancy sky-rocketed as doctors got access to detailed knowledge about the human body and how modern healthcare worked. Farmers adopted new techniques and crops to increase their yields. The humble potato got its place as an important part of the European diet after a century of being considered a “devil's fruit” due to growing underground. Beside being very nutritious, it also had the advantage of not being ruined if an army decided to march through a field.
Proper sanitation procedures caused the rate of stillborns and infections to drop sharply, even if there was widespread scepticism about the whole idea of bacteria (“how can such a small creature kill a grown man?”) Access to products like shampoo and toothbrushes improved the cleanliness and health of the general populace. Being clean became a status symbol among nobles and the middle class that sough to emulate them. The decline in conservative clothes and wigs in favour of more (relatively) revealing clothes that exposed more of the skin can be directly linked to this status symbol.
To combat the smallpox and bubonic plague the first medical summit was held in Vienna in 1626 and included representatives from every major European country (the Ottoman Empire was invited but did not attend). On the summit lectures where held about ways to prevent the spread of infectious disease and how to cure them. The most important parts were the arrangement for the first of many waves of mass vaccinations in Europe. To support the campaign it was agreed that the Red Cross would be allowed to operate independently across national borders and that their personal and equipments were not to be harmed. Everyone had a vested interest in keeping the Red Cross active in their country and it was feared that threatening them would drive them away.
Thanks to the new farming techniques and high-yield crops Europe was experiencing the largest food surplus in three hundred years, large enough to support the baby-boom that was happening across the continent. Between 1625 and 1650 the Dutch population increased from fifty million to over ninety million, and would increase to over one hundred and twenty million before another generation had passed.
In France a change was occurring in the way the educated acted. For anybody who could afford it, from the rich baron to the merchant who saved for years, it became a privilege to send their son or daughter abroad to achieve a proper education. Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Utrecht and a dozen other towns would annually be flooded with hopeful applicants for an entrench spot into the local university or college. There they would be taught all about what a modern man needed to know about their chosen field and eventually go home to a well-paying job. Some cities (so-called university towns) came to completely depend on their universities for income and influence and gradually became centres of knowledge and economics. Luxemburg's status as a Mecca for start-up companies is partly thanks to its university being one of the leading schools about economics and technology in Europe and partly to its connections to the important companies.
The people who completed their degrees came home as changed men and women. They had tasted the fruit of knowledge and were determined to share it with others. Coffee shops across Paris bustled with intellectuals who discussed the latest discoveries and political theories. Republicanism spread to France and Spain through the bottom of a coffee cup.
One of their members was king Louise the Xvth, who had studied in Utrecht and became obsessed with giving France the things he had seen in The Netherlands. The French constitution was signed 1638, replacing a lot of older laws and standardising the rest, and introducing the office of prime minister. Instead of being the one who ran the country, in France the prime minister was supposed to help the king run the country. He was also not elected by the people or from one of the two political parties that had formed at this point but was chosen by the king for being the best suited for the job/a close friend. The
In Spain the process was not that smooth. In 1639 a group of disgruntled ministers and nobles kicked the door in of the palace and all but forced king Philip IV to sign under the newly written Spanish constitution. It severely limited the power of the king in favoured of the government and gave the president power to run the country as long as the king was unfit to carry out his duties (which with Charles II was basicly all the time). Due to how much power the post had and constant infighting in the Spanish government, whenever someone took the post this typically resulted in the new president purging the Grand Council of everyone who threatened him and who disliked him. He would rule with absolute power until the next person took the post (often though a coup, less often though getting elected) after which the whole process repeated itself. Spain had fifteen presidents between 1665 and 1685, only one who actually served a full four years before volunteerly stepping down.
Not all knowledge that spread through Europe was knowledge that The Hague wanted to spread. It was up to them France and Spain would continue to lag behind The Netherlands for as long as they considered in necessary. Attempts to censor knowledge about advanced technology were met with failure to the obvious fact that some knowledge was so widespread that it was impossible to censor (though not for lack of trying). The blueprints of a steam engine made its way to London in 1637 and from there the industrialisation of England began.
The thing that had the easiest time spreading across Europe was not revolutionary new knowledge or technology, it was a game. Football was spread across the continent in part through Dutch soldiers taking the sport with them when they conquered Germany and in part through osmosis due to how easy it was to play. With just two goals, a flat field and some rules everybody could (and did) play the sport. Within a few years every kid in Germany was playing with a ball, dreaming of one day standing in front of a cheering crowd in Feijenoord Stadium.
And while some of the elite were fond of some dribbling themselves, the vast majority looked down upon this “commoner's sport”. They were far more excited for the opera, which they viewed as the natural extension of theatre. They could just not wrap their heads around the notion of millions of people preferring to watch a game of football instead of a play made by Wagner.
What they could understand was fashion and what they saw was a bunch of upstarts with no semblance of taste when it came to clothes. Even the smallest of the Dutch factories could produce more clothes then an entire tailor guild and in whatever colour required. Colours like gold, blue or purple were no longer the domain of the elite, now everybody could potentially wear them. And wear them they did, in combinations that often clashed horribly. Rather the stop, the fashion trend accelerated, with dresses and wigs growing in size to become major artworks of their own. It got to the point that doors had to be expanded and an official dress code had to be established. To keep showing off their wealth, people started getting creative, like wearing the fur on the outside rather then on the inside of their jackets. Others began adopting a “less is more” approach, wearing simple suits or dresses made the old-fashioned way. In cities drowning in cheap polymer and nylon, no cloth demonstrated wealth like a silk dress made by the city's finest tailor.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 19, 2018 8:04:16 GMT
In Spain the process was not that smooth. In 1639 a group of disgruntled ministers and nobles kicked the door in of the palace and all but forced king Philip IV to sign under the newly written Spanish constitution. It severely limited the power of the king in favoured of the government and gave the president power to run the country as long as the king was unfit to carry out his duties (which with Charles II was basicly all the time). /quote] Would that not be the First Minster ore Prime Minster instead of a President. |
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Post by eurowatch on Aug 19, 2018 12:37:59 GMT
It should be but the Spanish view of the Dutch was not so positive that they were directly willing to copy one of their ideas like that. So they named the post "president of the royal government" and decided that it suffice as a sufficent variation.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 19, 2018 12:40:59 GMT
It should be but the Spanish view of the Dutch was not so positive that they were directly willing to copy one of their ideas like that. So they named the post "president of the royal government" and decided that it suffice as a sufficent variation. Did they ask help from the Spanish 2018 embassy in the Netherlands. |
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