Dutch_Republic

context: The Dutch Republic, also known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden), Republic of the United Netherlands or Republic of the Seven United Provinces (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Provinciën), was a republic in Europe existing from 1581, when part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule, until 1795. It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces (Verenigde Provinciën), Federated Dutch Provinces (Foederatae Belgii Provinciae), and Dutch Federation (Belgica Foederata).
qas: answers: text: the United Provinces (Verenigde Provinciën), Federated Dutch Provinces (Foederatae Belgii Provinciae), and Dutch Federation (Belgica Foederata)
question: What are some other names the Dutch Republic is known by?

answers: text: from 1581, when part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule, until 1795
question: The Dutch Republic was a republic of Europe during what time?

answers: text: Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands
question: What republics did the Dutch Republic come before?

context: Until the 16th century, the Low Countries – corresponding roughly to the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg – consisted of a number of duchies, counties, and Prince-bishoprics, almost all of which were under the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire, with the exception of the county of Flanders, which was under the Kingdom of France.
qas: answers: text: Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
question: The Low Countries were made up of which present day countries?

answers: text: Flanders
question: Which counties in the Low Countries were not ruled by the Holy Roman Empire?

context: Most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, which further unified the Seventeen Provinces under his rule. Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. In 1568 the Netherlands, led by William I of Orange, revolted against Philip II because of high taxes, persecution of Protestants by the government, and Philip's efforts to modernize and centralize the devolved-medieval government structures of the provinces. This was the start of the Eighty Years' War.
qas: answers: text: the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg
question: The majority of the Low Countries were ruled by which houses?

answers: text: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
question: Who issued the Pragmatic Sanction?

answers: text: 1568
question: In what year did the Netherlands rise up against Philip II?

answers: text: high taxes, persecution of Protestants by the government, and Philip's efforts to modernize and centralize the devolved-medieval government structures of the provinces
question: Why did the people of the Netherlands rise up against Philip II?

context: In 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II.
qas: answers: text: 1579
question: In what year was the Union of Utrecht signed?

answers: text: a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries
question: Who signed the Union of Utrecht?

answers: text: the Act of Abjuration
question: What was the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II called?

answers: text: 1581
question: In what year was the Act of Abjuration signed?

answers: text: to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army
question: What was the purpose of the Union of Utrecht?

context: In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them; but after a failed attempt to take Antwerp in 1583, the duke left the Netherlands again. After the assassination of William of Orange (10 July 1584), both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty. However, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England (Treaty of Nonsuch, 1585), and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy. The Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
qas: answers: text: 1582
question: In what year did the United Provinces invite Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them?

answers: text: 1583
question: In what year did Francis, Duke of Anjou leave the Netherlands?

answers: text: 10 July 1584
question: When was William of Orange assassinated?

answers: text: Elizabeth I
question: Who agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England?

answers: text: 1588
question: In what year did the United Provinces become a confederacy?

context: The Republic of the United Provinces lasted until a series of republican revolutions in 1783–1795 created the Batavian Republic. During this period, republican forces took several major cities of the Netherlands. After initially fleeing, the monarchist forces came back with British, Austrian, and Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands. The republican forces fled to France, but then successfully re-invaded alongside the army of the French republic. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland.
qas: answers: text: a series of republican revolutions in 1783–1795
question: What events created the Batavian Republic?

answers: text: France
question: The republican forces fled to which country?

answers: text: the Batavian Republic
question: The Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland replaced which republic?

context: The Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names "United Provinces of the Netherlands" and "United Netherlands" were used. In 1815 it was rejoined with the Austrian Netherlands, Luxembourg and Liège (the "Southern provinces") to become the Kingdom of the Netherlands, informally known as the Kingdom of the United Netherlands, to create a strong buffer state north of France. After Belgium and Luxembourg became independent, the state became unequivocally known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as it remains today.
qas: answers: text: 1813
question: In what year did the Netherlands gain independence from France?

answers: text: "United Provinces of the Netherlands" and "United Netherlands"
question: What names were used in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814?

answers: text: Austrian Netherlands, Luxembourg and Liège
question: The Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed by which countries?

context: During the Dutch Golden Age in the late 16th century onward, the Dutch Republic dominated world trade in the 17th century, conquering a vast colonial empire and operating the largest fleet of merchantmen of any nation. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world.
qas: answers: text: the Dutch Golden Age
question: The Dutch Republic dominated world trade during what time?

answers: text: The County of Holland
question: What was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world during the 17th century?

context: The free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company. While Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the world's first stock exchange – that of the Dutch East-India Company – went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a single city, so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles. While the banking system evolved in the Low Countries, it was quickly incorporated by the well-connected English, stimulating English economic output.
qas: answers: text: 1602
question: When was the stock exchange founded in the Netherlands?

answers: text: Rotterdam
question: Which city in the Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange?

answers: text: six
question: The Dutch East-India Company inhabited how many cities?

answers: text: Amsterdam
question: Which city did the Dutch East-India Company decide to reside in after a court decided they could legally only operate in one city?

context: Between 1590–1712 the Dutch also possessed one of the strongest and fastest navies in the world, allowing for their varied conquests including breaking the Portuguese sphere of influence on the Indian Ocean and in the Orient, as well as a lucrative slave trade from Africa and the Pacific.
qas: answers: text: 1590–1712
question: The Dutch had one of the strongest and fastest navies in the world during what time?

answers: text: Africa and the Pacific
question: The Dutch operated a slave trade from which locations?

answers: text: breaking the Portuguese sphere of influence on the Indian Ocean and in the Orient
question: What was one of the conquests of the Dutch Navy?

context: The republic was a confederation of seven provinces, which had their own governments and were very independent, and a number of so-called Generality Lands. The latter were governed directly by the States General (Staten-Generaal in Dutch), the federal government. The States General were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces. The provinces of the republic were, in official feudal order:
qas: answers: text: seven
question: The Dutch Republic consisted of how many provinces?

answers: text: the States General (Staten-Generaal in Dutch), the federal government
question: Who were the Generality Lands governed by?

answers: text: representatives of each of the seven provinces
question: The States General was made up of what?

context: In fact, there was an eighth province, the County of Drenthe, but this area was so poor it was exempt from paying federal taxes and as a consequence was denied representation in the States General. Each province was governed by the Provincial States, the main executive official (though not the official head of state) was a raadspensionaris. In times of war, the stadtholder, who commanded the army, would have more power than the raadspensionaris.
qas: answers: text: the County of Drenthe
question: What was the 8th province of the Dutch Republic?

answers: text: this area was so poor it was exempt from paying federal taxes
question: Why was the County of Drenthe denied representation by the States General?

answers: text: raadspensionaris
question: The main executive official of the Provincial States was called what?

answers: text: the stadtholder
question: Who had more power during times of war than the raadspensionaris?

answers: text: the stadtholder
question: Who commanded the army?

context: In theory, the stadtholders were freely appointed by and subordinate to the states of each province. However, in practice the princes of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau, beginning with William the Silent, were always chosen as stadtholders of most of the provinces. Zeeland and usually Utrecht had the same stadtholder as Holland.
qas: answers: text: the states of each province
question: Who appointed the stadtholders?

answers: text: the princes of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau, beginning with William the Silent
question: Who were always chosen as stadtholders of most of the provinces?

answers: text: Zeeland and usually Utrecht
question: Which states had the same stadtholder as Holland?

context: There was a constant power struggle between the Orangists, who supported the stadtholders and specifically the princes of Orange, and the Republicans, who supported the States General and hoped to replace the semi-hereditary nature of the stadtholdership with a true republican structure.
qas: answers: text: Orangists
question: What group of people supported the stadtholders, particularly the princes of Orange?

answers: text: Republicans
question: Who wanted to replace the stadtholders with a republican structure?

context: After the Peace of Westphalia, several border territories were assigned to the United Provinces. They were federally-governed Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden). They were Staats-Brabant (present North Brabant), Staats-Vlaanderen (present Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), Staats-Limburg (around Maastricht) and Staats-Oppergelre (around Venlo, after 1715).
qas: answers: text: the Peace of Westphalia
question: Several border territories were designated to the United Provinces after what?

answers: text: federally-governed Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden)
question: The border territories assigned to the United Provinces were known as what?

answers: text: Staats-Brabant (present North Brabant), Staats-Vlaanderen (present Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), Staats-Limburg (around Maastricht) and Staats-Oppergelre (around Venlo, after 1715)
question: What were the names of the border territories assigned to the United Provinces?

context: The States General of the United Provinces were in control of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC), but some shipping expeditions were initiated by some of the provinces, mostly Holland and/or Zeeland.
qas: answers: text: The States General of the United Provinces
question: Who was in control of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC)?

answers: text: Holland and/or Zeeland
question: Some shipping expeditions were mostly initiated by which provinces?

context: The framers of the US Constitution were influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces, as Federalist No. 20, by James Madison, shows. Such influence appears, however, to have been of a negative nature, as Madison describes the Dutch confederacy as exhibiting "Imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities; a precarious existence in peace, and peculiar calamities from war." Apart from this, the American Declaration of Independence is similar to the Act of Abjuration, essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces, but concrete evidence that the former directly influenced the latter is absent.
qas: answers: text: The framers of the US Constitution
question: Who was influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces?

answers: text: James Madison
question: Who described the Dutch confederacy as exhibiting "Imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities; a precarious existence in peace, and peculiar calamities from war."

answers: text: the Act of Abjuration, essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces
question: The American Declaration of Independence is similar to what?

context: In the Union of Utrecht of 20 January 1579, Holland and Zeeland were granted the right to accept only one religion (in practice, Calvinism). Every other province had the freedom to regulate the religious question as it wished, although the Union stated every person should be free in the choice of personal religion and that no person should be prosecuted based on religious choice. William of Orange had been a strong supporter of public and personal freedom of religion and hoped to unite Protestants and Catholics in the new union, and, for him, the Union was a defeat. In practice, Catholic services in all provinces were quickly forbidden, and the Reformed Church became the "public" or "privileged" church in the Republic.
qas: answers: text: the Union of Utrecht of 20 January 1579
question: What granted Holland and Zeeland the right to accept only one religion?

answers: text: personal religion
question: What did the Union state that every person should be free to choose?

answers: text: William of Orange
question: Who was a strong supporter of freedom of religion and wanted to unite Protestants and Catholics in the new union?

answers: text: Catholic services
question: What was forbidden in all provinces?

context: During the Republic, any person who wished to hold public office had to conform to the Reformed Church and take an oath to this effect. The extent to which different religions or denominations were persecuted depended much on the time period and regional or city leaders. In the beginning, this was especially focused on Roman Catholics, being the religion of the enemy. In 17th-century Leiden, for instance, people opening their homes to services could be fined 200 guilders (a year's wage for a skilled tradesman) and banned from the city. Throughout this, however, personal freedom of religion existed and was one factor – along with economic reasons – in causing large immigration of religious refugees from other parts of Europe.
qas: answers: text: the Reformed Church
question: What did any person who wanted to hold public office need to conform to during the Republic?

answers: text: the time period and regional or city leaders
question: The degree to which different religions were persecuted depended on what?

answers: text: fined 200 guilders (a year's wage for a skilled tradesman) and banned from the city
question: What was the punishment for people who opened their homes to Catholic services during 17th-century Leiden?

answers: text: personal freedom of religion
question: What was one reason for the large amounts of immigration of religious refugees from other parts of Europe?

context: In the first years of the Republic, controversy arose within the Reformed Church, mainly around the subject of predestination. This has become known as the struggle between Arminianism and Gomarism, or between Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants. In 1618 the Synod of Dort tackled this issue, which led to the banning of the Remonstrant faith.
qas: answers: text: predestination
question: What was the main subject of controversy that arose within the Reformed Church during the beginning of the Republic?

answers: text: the struggle between Arminianism and Gomarism, or between Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants
question: The controversy surrounding the subject of predestination is known as what?

answers: text: the Synod of Dort
question: What led to the banning of the Remonstrant faith in 1618?

context: Beginning in the 18th century, the situation changed from more or less active persecution of religious services to a state of restricted toleration of other religions, as long as their services took place secretly in private churches.
qas: answers: text: in the 18th century
question: When did the active persecution of religious services become more of a restricted tolerance?

answers: text: as long as their services took place secretly in private churches
question: Religious services for other religions were tolerated as long as they adhered to what rule?