I've been slowly reading a library discard, "Ten Crises in Civilization" by Stanton A. Coblentz. It really should be "... in Western Civilization" because Asia had many crises such as Mongol invasions.
Currently I am finishing the chapter on the Dutch revolt against King Philip of Spain in the 1500s. King Philip was almost single-handedly promoting the Inquisition against any hint of Protestantism or any other signs of independence in the Netherlands. His forces were killing machines, executing people by the dozens or annihilating large portions of towns - men, women, and children.
I was reading this in bed and I couldn't relax when I turned the lights out. The enormity of it kept rolling around in my head.
I drew two interesting conclusions from it when I was more lucid.
Many would say that the suppression was religiously inspired. Wasn't it more a brutal exercise of power? King Philip may have accepted visits from Dutch authorities asking him to honor ancient privileges, but he would turn around and tax more heavily or issue a more restrictive decree.
The other conclusion was the irony of the Dutch gaining freedom from a foreign empire. In the next centuries, they created their own empire: New Amsterdam, South America, South Africa, India, Indonesia, and more.
