"There Won’t Be Blood – Holland’s 335-Year Phony War" Topic

"…The obscure conflict, which began on March 30, 1651, was a by-product of the 10-year civil war between English Parliament and Royalist forces. The Dutch, long-time allies of England, had chosen to support the stronger Parliamentarians side in the conflict. The Royalists considered Holland's decision a betrayal and used the King's ships to punish their former friends by raiding Dutch shipping.

By 1651, the war with Parliament was going poorly for the Royalists. In fact, the King's forces had been all but chased from England. Among their last remaining strongholds was the Isles of Scilly, a tiny group of islands about 45 kms off the western tip of Cornwall. And "tiny" is by no means an exaggeration: the largest of the Scilly Isles is only 4 square miles. Hoping to recoup some of their losses at the hands of the raiders, the Netherlands dispatched a fleet of warships to bully the remaining Royalists on the islands into paying reparations for the damage done to Holland's trade. The Dutch commander, Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, supposedly had orders to declare war on the Scilly Isles if the Royalists failed to cough up the money. The king's supporters refused and according to the story, Tromp declared war. But with so few Royalist forces remaining on the islands and very little in the way of spoils to be had anyway, Tromp withdrew his fleet without firing a shot and sailed for home. By June, the Royalists fleet had formally surrendered to Parliament and the English Civil War sputtered out. So did Holland's interest in following up on their war declaration. The Dutch soon forgot they ever issued it…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand