When Charles regained the English throne in 1660, his Orangist links meant Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt opposed negotiations for an Anglo-Dutch alliance; after these broke down, he agreed a treaty of assistance with Louis XIV in 1662.

The 1648 Peace of Münster permanently closed the Scheldt estuary, benefiting De Witt's power base of Amsterdam by eliminating their closest rival, Antwerp, and keeping it shut was a vital objective.

[3] In 1665, an attack by the Duke of York on the West-Indische Compagnie led to the Second Anglo-Dutch War; in the first 18 months, the Dutch suffered a serious naval defeat at Lowestoft, an invasion by Münster and an attempted Orangist coup, both financed by England.

Sensing an opportunity, Charles proposed an alliance to Louis, who was unwilling to pay the subsidies demanded; however, De Witt welcomed English envoys to The Hague, seeing it as a way to put pressure on France.

[9] This meant breaking up the Triple Alliance; since the subsidies promised by the Dutch remained unpaid, it was easy to detach Sweden by offering money, making England his next target.

[11] The treaty was signed in December 1670, but omitted secret clauses not revealed until 1677; Louis agreed to pay Charles £230,000 per year for the brigade, £1 million for the navy and £200,000 for his public conversion to Catholicism, the timing of which was left up to him.

[12] Aware Louis was negotiating with De Witt over dividing the Spanish Netherlands, Charles demanded Walcheren, Cadzand and Sluys, whose possession would give him control of Dutch sea routes.

[14] Most Dutch and English politicians considered the Triple Alliance an essential protection against French expansion; in early 1671, Parliament allocated money to ensure the Royal Navy could fulfil its obligations under the treaty.

[16] Since Dutch defences were concentrated along their southern border with the Spanish Netherlands, Louis agreed an alliance with Electoral Cologne, allowing his army to advance through the Principality of Liège for an attack from the east (see Map).

[22] In the battles of 1666, the Dutch had been hampered by lack of familiarity with their new, much heavier, warships, the complex federal command system and conflict between Michiel de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp.

[28] In late March, two weeks before a formal declaration of war, he ordered an attack on a Dutch Levant Company convoy in the Channel, which was beaten off by its escort under Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest.

The royal yacht Merlin was ordered to sail through the Dutch fleet, who duly struck their flag in salute, but failed to fire white smoke, an honour afforded only to warships.

Although outnumbered, on 7 June De Ruyter attacked the combined Anglo-French fleet at the Battle of Solebay; both sides lost one ship each, but it ended significant naval operations for the year.

On 7 May, a French army of around 80,000 entered Liège; accompanied by Louis, they bypassed the Dutch stronghold of Maastricht, crossed the Meuse and besieged the Dutch-held Rhine fortress towns of Rheinberg, Orsoy, Buderich and Wesel.

[40] On 5 July, Overijssel surrendered to Bernhard von Galen, Prince-Bishop of Münster, who occupied Drenthe; he reached Groningen, but flooding prevented a proper siege and his troops were soon starving.

Although ship losses were roughly equal, Solebay ensured the Dutch retained control of their coastal waters, secured their trade routes and ended hopes of an Anglo-French landing in Zeeland.

[49] On 14 June, the States of Holland opened negotiations, offering Louis the right to occupy key fortresses in the south, plus an indemnity of ten million guilders.

Both sides were using talks as a delaying tactic, assuming their position would improve; Louis knew the envoys were not authorised to negotiate on religion or the territorial integrity of the provinces and would have to request further instructions.

[52] France and Münster were to retain their conquests and William would be appointed Sovereign Prince of Holland, in return for which he would pay England ten million guilders, £10,000 per annum for North Sea herring rights, and allow English garrisons to occupy Brill, Sluys and Vlissingen.

[55] Leopold's envoy in the Hague, François-Paul de Lisola, gave the States-General assurances of Imperial support and arranged for Spanish troops to hold the Dutch fortress cities of 's-Hertogenbosch and Breda, releasing their garrisons for the field army.

The Münster army disintegrated due to lack of supplies and on 27 August, von Galen abandoned the siege of Groningen; the besiegers lost over 11,000 men, including 6,000 deserters, many of whom joined the Dutch.

In February 1674, the Second Peace of Westminster ended the war; it was greeted with popular enthusiasm in both countries, not least by commercial interests in Amsterdam and London, and the treaty was ratified with exceptional speed.

[68] In the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the priority was to minimise losses, and it was common for fleets to engage using the "line-ahead" formation, an essentially defensive approach; despite inflicting considerable damage, neither side lost any ships at the Texel.

[72] With an eastern approach impractical, the Royal Navy was ordered to blockade the coast in co-operation with a French squadron; if possible, they were to land an invasion force, although how this would be accomplished was unclear.

[74] Hoping to unnerve the Dutch, Prince Rupert leaked information claiming his fleet was accompanied by ships carrying an invasion force; in reality, it remained in Great Yarmouth, and was in any case insufficient for the task.

[77] Their defection threatened to cut off the Allied rear under Sir Edward Spragge; he took his own squadron to attack Tromp, who was also being engaged by Rupert, but fear of running aground meant this was not done with any conviction.

[86] For De Ruyter, the successful campaign, by repelling attacks by much superior fleets to save his homeland, had been the highlight of his career, as the English readily acknowledged: the Duke of York concluded that among admirals, "he was the greatest that ever to that time was in the world".

In February 1673, Parliament refused to approve further taxes unless Charles withdrew his proposed Indulgence and accepted a Test Act barring Catholics from public office.

As a result, the Cabal Ministry joined those advocating peace with the Dutch; shocked by the revelation of Charles' agreement with Louis, Lord Shaftesbury began to consider removing the House of Stuart entirely.

[99] He told the Dutch via the Spanish consul in London, the Marquess del Fresno,[99] that, his main war aim to install his noble nephew as stadtholder having been attained, he no longer objected to concluding a lasting peace between the two Protestant brother nations, if only some minor "indemnities" could be paid.