🌊 Ripple · counterfactual
What if the Dutch Revolt had gone differently?
1568 · low-countries
The northern Low Countries fight free of Habsburg Spain over eighty years.
If it had gone differently: The Low Countries stay Spanish; there is no Dutch Republic to pioneer the joint-stock company, the free press and the central bank.
What it set up
- 1618The Thirty Years' War, Central Europe is spared its worst depopulation; the Holy Roman patchwork holds together longer.
- 1620The Dutch Golden Age, The century's workshop of new institutions and instruments never opens; those inventions arrive slower and elsewhere.
- 1688The Glorious Revolution, The English crown keeps its arbitrary power over taxes and courts; property and lending stay risky.
Want to actually pull the lever? Play today's Ripple →