0:00:06 > 0:00:09Bonjour, and welcome to Inside Versailles.
0:00:09 > 0:00:10Pretty gripping episode.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13We're seeing Louis coming face-to-face
0:00:13 > 0:00:15with his deadly rival, William of Orange.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18And so we're joined by Professor Guy Rowlands.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Why bother with Holland?
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Holland is the Pocket Hercules of the international system
0:00:24 > 0:00:26in the 17th century.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29So Holland has banking, it has insurance,
0:00:29 > 0:00:30it has tremendous trade links,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33not only inside Europe, but outside Europe.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36What is the Netherlands, in terms of its political structure?
0:00:36 > 0:00:38You could almost call it a monster.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41I mean, it is seven provinces joined together,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43plus other territories on the fringes
0:00:43 > 0:00:45that the seven provinces also control.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47It is a republic,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50but one which accords special status to the House of Orange.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52- So, they don't have kings... - They don't have kings.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56..but they do have princes who have a sort of long-established power.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57- Yes.- And we see in the drama
0:00:57 > 0:00:59William is trying to get back into power,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02but there are people in the way - the de Witt brothers.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Jan de Witt - he is what's called the Grand Pensionary of Holland.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09He is effectively the Prime Minister of the province of Holland,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14and he is determined to not only keep the House of Orange down,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17but to kick it while it's down as much as he can,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20until it gets to the mid-1660s,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24when he knows that, ultimately, one day, William is going to rise,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28so it's better to control William than to continue to kick him.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32- Which then brings us to the way that William comes to power.- Mm.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34- The de Witts are brutally murdered. - Yes.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37- Has William got anything to do with that?- It's all very shady.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40What we certainly know is that William was genuinely disgusted
0:01:40 > 0:01:42by the butchering of the de Witts,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46but it's fairly certain that members of William's entourage
0:01:46 > 0:01:50were using their links with the mob of The Hague
0:01:50 > 0:01:53in order to basically exact vengeance
0:01:53 > 0:01:56against the de Witts, to pay them back,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59when they - the de Witts - are at their most vulnerable.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03So, Louis, we see him say that William is his great enemy.
0:02:03 > 0:02:04- Mm-hm.- Is that true?
0:02:04 > 0:02:09They were certainly great political enemies from about 1670.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14- Then, slowly, it becomes personal... - GREG CHUCKLES
0:02:14 > 0:02:17..not least because Louis would actually like to put William in
0:02:17 > 0:02:20as a king in the inner core of the Dutch Republic
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and then strip it of the rest of its territories.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25So Louis really sees him, potentially,
0:02:25 > 0:02:26as a puppet at this point.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30And the Netherlands, being a small geographical landmass,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32how do they cope with a big army coming at them?
0:02:32 > 0:02:34They have a ring of fortresses.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37They have a tremendous navy that they can put to sea
0:02:37 > 0:02:39pretty much at the drop of a hat.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41So when the French come at them,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43well, everybody thinks they'll be able to cope with it
0:02:43 > 0:02:45but, in fact, very quickly, they collapse.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48- Yeah, it's called the disaster year, isn't it, in Dutch history?- It is.
0:02:48 > 0:02:521672. Which suggests that it hasn't gone well for them.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55When Louis effectively kicks the front door in of the Dutch Republic,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58the whole house is then at risk of falling down.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00And the Dutch haven't even got enough men
0:03:00 > 0:03:03inside their fortifications to defend those.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07So they do rush enough troops in to the right fortifications
0:03:07 > 0:03:09in the inner defensive ring
0:03:09 > 0:03:12but, even so, the French get very, very close to Amsterdam
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and in order to stop them, then you do actually have to flood
0:03:16 > 0:03:18this sort of lowland area of the Netherlands.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21- Which we see in the drama and it's a fairly dramatic moment.- Yes.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23And the flooding stops just, what, cavalry, infantry?
0:03:23 > 0:03:25They can't cross it? What does it do?
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- Well, initially, at first, it's merely just soggy ground...- OK.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31..but then the waters start to rise and it gets to the point
0:03:31 > 0:03:34where you'll simply be unable to put artillery through.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36You might be able to get marching men through.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39You might even be able to get horses through certain parts of it.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40The real risk, though, is, of course,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43when you get to the winter of 1672-73
0:03:43 > 0:03:46when the polders freeze,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48the French then could actually drive forward,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50finally ending in Amsterdam, by coming over the ice.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Fortunately, just in the nick of time,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56the ice melts before the French can get their troops
0:03:56 > 0:03:58sufficiently concentrated to move on Amsterdam.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00So it's called the disaster year, but, actually,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02it's more of a sort of lucky break year.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05- The Dutch kind of get away with it. - Yes, they do, but at the same time,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07the French are also overextended
0:04:07 > 0:04:10and they have to start withdrawing out of the Dutch Republic,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12having achieved very, very little,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16except to show to the world that they do have such tremendous power
0:04:16 > 0:04:19that the rest of the world really ought to stand up against them.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22We've got William, great enemy of Louis,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26but we would know him in Britain much better as King William III -
0:04:26 > 0:04:30William II of Scotland - who ruled with Mary as joint monarchs.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32And one of the reasons why William III
0:04:32 > 0:04:35decides to become King of Great Britain and Ireland
0:04:35 > 0:04:39is so that he can bring the British Isles into the war effort.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41And once he's got Britain into that war effort,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43he realises he has to remodel
0:04:43 > 0:04:45the British political and financial system
0:04:45 > 0:04:48by promoting the establishment of the Bank of England
0:04:48 > 0:04:50and the Bank of Scotland.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52So, the Bank of England is born from war?
0:04:52 > 0:04:54The Bank of England is exactly born from war
0:04:54 > 0:04:57as a way of propping up the British government's finances.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00- So he can go and fight his old enemy...- Louis XIV.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01..who, of course, likes to spend
0:05:01 > 0:05:03- an awful lot of money on war, as well.- Indeed.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06- Thank you so much.- Thank you.- And thank you for joining us at home.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09I hope you'll join us next week for more interesting insights
0:05:09 > 0:05:11into Louis XIV's court.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14- Until then, bonsoir.- Bonsoir!