For most of history, the Dutch have been an almost all-powerful force to be reckoned with. They were the forerunners for a lot of the world's exploration, and for a long time dominated the seas and trade routes through the stranglehold of the Dutch East India Company.

In the preceding century, they were still under Spanish rule, with 2 of their kings, Charles the Fifth and his Son Phillip II, simultaneously ruling as the kings of Spain and the so-called Low Countries of The Netherlands.

But the Dutch weren’t having any of this for long and at the first sign of mismanagement, made their feelings known.

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.historydefined.net/when-the-dutch-murdered-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister/
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt
  
• https://dutchreview.com/culture/dutch-history-crowds-ate-prime-minister/
  
• https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/is-it-true-that-an-angry-mob-of-dutchmen-killed-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister-in-1672/
  
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/johan-de-witt