Revolt

   The Dutch Revolt, beginning in 1568, was the result of sev eral political and religious conflicts. The high nobility felt neglected by the centralizing policy of the government with its seat in Brus sels and of the Spanish king Philip II of Habsburg, who was also lord of the Low Countries after 1555. Too many of the king’s coun cilors in Madrid were “foreigners.” The harsh measures, including the Inquisition, used against Protestant “heretics,” provoked fierce resistance, even among many moderate Roman Catholics who re mained loyal to the king in principle. Military resistance, organized by Prince William (I) of Orange, resulted in a civil war after the government attempted in 1566 to punish the Protestant iconoclasts. After two decades of war, in 1588 Philip II sent an “Invincible Ar mada” to bring his subjects and their ally, the English queen Eliza beth I, to their knees, but the Armada was destroyed by a storm on the western coast of Ireland and Scotland. After that, the seven revolting Northern provinces became de facto an independent Republic, founded on the alliance of 1579, the Union of Utrecht. The Treaty of Munster ended what became known as the Eighty Years’ War in 1648.