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Great Historical Events That Were S. Lindgren Institute of History Significantly Affected by the Weather: University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland 6, nundations and the Mild Winter and 1672-73 Help Protect Amsterdam from J. Neumann Department of Atmospheric Sciences The Hebrew University French Conquest' Jerusalem, Israel Abstract 1. Introduction In the 17th century, the small Dutch Republic, the union of seven The effects of cold winters on wars or battles were considered provinces of the northern part of the Low Countries, was the most in some previous papers (Neumann, 1978,1981; Stolfi, 1980; important country in the world in matters of finance, commerce, and Lindgren and Neumann, 1982). The winters of concern either shipping (as well as in the arts, especially painting). Within the Re- public, Amsterdam wielded most of the economic power. Louis made some military operations possible that would not have XIV, King of France, whose rule was characterized by expansionist been feasible in mild winters (e.g., the crossing of firmly ice tendencies, began a war against the Republic in June 1672 (war actu- bound sea surfaces), or influenced the conduct of wars ally was declared in April of that year). France and her allies, eastern and/or battles in a decisive manner. In the present paper, we neighbors of the Republic, sent an invading army of about 150000, as against a hastily collected and poorly trained defense force of study a case in which a winter was comparatively mild and 50000-60 000 Dutch led by Prince William of Orange, who became the mildness played an important role in the shaping of his- William III of Holland in July 1672 and King William III of England torical events. The winter of concern here is that of 1672-73 in 1689. and the country involved was the Dutch Republic or, as it The spring of 1672 was dry and, as a result, the water level in the was called then, the United Provinces (of the Netherlands), rivers was low, a fact that facilitated the crossing of water courses by the hostile forces. Within less than a month, most of the eastern sec- i.e., the northern region of the Low Countries whose area tor of the Republic was captured by the invaders. In order to prevent coincides approximately with the Netherlands of our days. the penetration of the French into the province of Holland, in which Amsterdam was situated, the Dutch resorted to inundating much of their low-lying lands, creating a kind of moat, roughly 20 km wide, about Amsterdam. The French, who were not equipped for crossing wide water areas, decided to wait until the winter when, so they hoped, the cold would freeze the flooded areas and make it possible 2. The Dutch Republic for them to reach Amsterdam. However, the winter of 1672-73 turned out to be mild on the whole. On 13 December, a frost set in In the 16th century, the Low Countries were part of the Span- that does not appear to have been excessive. On 27 December, the ish Empire. From about the 1560s on, the Low Countries were French began theiradvance across the ice, but on the 28th the winds in a state of intense social, economic,2 religious, and political turned from east to west and the milder air and rains caused the ice to thaw. The French returned to their former positions, but with diffi- ferment (see, e.g., Geyl, 1964; and Parker, 1977). These tur- culty, losing many men in the process. January was mild altogether. moils led to repeated revolts against the Spanish rule, which As a result of the mild winter, Amsterdam was saved from French Spain tried to quell in a ruthless manner. In 1579, the seven conquest. northern provinces of the Low Countries founded the Union Our estimates of air temperatures for the two critical months are: of Utrecht, which was to bring these provinces and some addi- December 1672, 3.3°C; and January 1673, 3.4°C. The observed av- erages for 1735-1834 at Utrecht-DeBilt, however, were 2.4°C and tional areas that did not enjoy the status of provinces into a 0.5°C, respectively. Thus, both of the two months of concern appear kind of confederacy in which the individual provinces had a to have been relatively warm, especially January. not insubstantial measure of autonomy. By far the most impor- tant of the seven was the Province of Holland, which subse- quently gave its name as the alternate name for the Nether- 1 Part 1, "The Mongol Invasions of Japan," was published in the lands. The capital of that province was The Hague, but the November 1975 BULLETIN(56, 1167-1171); Part 2, "The Year Lead- most important and richest city of the province was Amster- ing to the Revolution of 1789 in France," was published in the Feb- dam. ruary 1977 BULLETIN (58, 163-169); Part 3, "The Cold Winter 1657-58, the Swedish Army Crosses Denmark's Frozen Sea Areas," From the point of view of trade and commerce, Amsterdam was published in the November 1978 BULLETIN(59, 1432-1437); Part was the most important city and port of the world in the 17th 4, "The Great Famines in Finland and Estonia, 1695-97," was pub- century. Much of the grain and other agricultural produce lished in the July 1979 BULLETIN (60, 774-787); Part 5, "Some Me- teorological Events of the Crimean War and Their Consequences," was published in the December 1980 BULLETIN (61, 1570-1583). 2 In some phases of this period of ferment, a contributory cause © 1983 American Meteorological Society was the weather—see, e.g., Neumann (1981, especially pp. 11-16). 770 Vol. 64, No. 7, July 1983 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/24/21 05:07 AM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society 771 (hemp, flax) sorely needed by countries of western and south- 4. France prepares for war western Europe came from the Baltic States and northwestern Russia (and timber from Scandinavia) through Amsterdam's From the outset of the tariff war, Louis and his Minister of mediation and, in exchange, Amsterdam supplied these coun- War, Marquis de Louvois (1639-91), a young genius (Baxter, tries with salt, wine, and other commodities from France, 1966, p. 67) and a ruthlessly efficient administrator, under- Portugal, and Spain. The real market of English textiles was took diplomatic action with the aim of isolating the Republic. held at Amsterdam, where they were dyed, finished, and then In May 1670, a secret treaty directed against the Republic was exported (van Dillen, 1964, p. 135). Most of these goods were signed at Dover between France and England, whose king at shipped in Dutch vessels: the Dutch Republic was a great the time was Charles II. Additional action was taken to obtain country for shipbuilding. When the young Tsar Peter (the fu- the support of powers to the east and north of the Republic. ture Peter the Great) went on his first study visit of the West Diplomacy and bribes won over the Archbishop of Cologne in 1697, his first "country of call" was the shipyards of Am- and the Bishop of Miinster (Geyl, 1964, p. 102), secular rulers sterdam. To all the foregoing, we have to add that the Dutch to the east of the Republic. Both hoped to get their share of had overseas colonial possessions as well, which contributed the spoils, and the pretext of beating down a leading Protes- significantly to Amsterdam's wealth. tant state suited their purposes. However, the Republic was strong not only in trade, fi- It was not until 1671 that Pieter de Groot, the United Prov- nance, and mercantile shipping: it was a naval power, too, inces' Ambassador in Paris, was able to obtain details of the which during the period 1650-80 was able to inflict defeats on secret treaty of Dover. In his report to Jan de Witt, the Coun- England's navy as well as on the combined navies of England cil Grand Pensionary (a type of Chief Magistrate) of the Re- and France. When the Republic cared, even its land forces public, de Groot wrote (Geyl, 1964, p. 104): "The intention is were important, as, for instance, in the Nine Years War of said to be ... to sap the strength (of our State) to its very 1688-97 in which several countries aligned themselves against foundation . and to ruin, in the interest common to both Louis XIV's expansionist policies. The peace treaty ending England and France the commerce of a State [the Dutch that war was concluded at Ryswick, in the Dutch Republic. Republic]." As we know, in the 17th century the Dutch Republic (espe- France's military preparations were conducted by Minis- cially Amsterdam) also was an outstanding center of art ter of War Louvois. An army of about 120 0003 was built up, (Hals, Hobbema, Rembrandt, Ruisdael, Vermeer, etc.) and including 8000 elite troops. The invasion army was to be science(Huygens, van Leeuwenhoek, Spinoza, etc.; Descartes headed by the King in person, but most of the time the actual also spent many years in Amsterdam). The 17th century was command was in the hands of Louis's able and experienced Amsterdam's Golden Age. generals—de Turenne (1611-73), one of the prominent mil- itary leaders in the Thirty Years' War; Prince de Conde (1621-86); and the Due de Luxembourg (1628-95). The Co- logne and Miinster Prelates-Rulers were to add 30 000 men (Blok, 1970, p. 361) to the invading forces. 3. France France was the most populous country of Europe in the 17th 5.

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