History of the Netherlands

The Dutch Wars, Wealth, Navy, Trade, and Culture

De: Kelly Mass

Narrado por: Chris Newman

Duración: 5 h y 21 m

Resumen del Editor

This is a great package of several titles in one book. The topics are all related to the history of the Netherlands. Let’s take a look at the topics.

Early Dutch History: The Netherlands has a history that dates far back, even before Roman times. Let’s take a look at what happened during the times of the Romans. I remember visiting the Netherlands and visiting the city of Utrecht, a major hub in the central part of the country.

The Batavians: In this book, we will shed more light on the Batavians, a people in history with much bravery, innovation, and determination to form a republic with freedom for its citizens. The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was followed by the Batavian Republic.

The Dutch Empire: The Dutch were all over the world. They "owned" and colonized a big portion of what was then the known world. They were among the first settlers, had the biggest haven, and the biggest fleet for some time.

The Eighty Years' War: The war between the Protestant Netherlands, mostly led by William of Orange, and Catholic Spain was one of the marks in Dutch history. This war had determined the beliefs of many people who now lived along the three rivers that went through the country: Most of the people north of the rivers were Protestant, and most of the believers below them (even throughout Belgium as well) were Catholic.

The Golden Age: The Dutch Golden Era was a time in Dutch history varying from circa 1588 (the start of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the "Catastrophe Year"), throughout which Dutch trade, science, and art, and the Dutch armed forces were among the world's best.

©2022 Kelly Mass (P)2022 Kelly Mass

Hard to listen to

The text appears to be straight from Wikipedia, but translated into some other language than English, and then translated back into English. The result is odd wording switches from what would normally be expected. Thus the book speaks of the “Second Union” against France, rather than the usual “Second Coalition” which was definitely not a union.
The narrator is someone whose native language is definitely not English. There are some odd pronunciations, such as I-RON for iron,

Not recommended at all

I was very excited to listen to the entire history of the Netherlands but sadly this book isn’t it. Audio quality is poor and boring and the actual story is not engaging at all. I’ve listened to over 50 audiobooks and have never not finished one - this is the first. Sadly I paid rather than use a credit so I can’t get a refund. Not recommended!