Dutch West Indies campaign

Dutch West Indies campaign
Part of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the Anglo-French War
LocationDutch Antilles, West Indies
Dutch colonies in South America
Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
 Dutch Republic
 France
 Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Comte de Guichen
Comte d'Estaing
Comte de Grasse
Admiral Rodney
Samuel Hood

The Dutch West Indies campaign was a series of minor conflicts in 1781 and 1782, in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the Anglo-French War. Following Great Britain's declaration of war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, British Admiral George Brydges Rodney, the commander of the Royal Navy in the West Indies, was notified by a fast-sailing packet of the declaration. He immediately acted to gain control over as many of the Dutch colonies as possible, seizing Sint Eustatius, a vital entrepot of French and Dutch trade with the Americans, in early February 1781. He also captured Saba and Sint Maarten, and orchestrated the seizure of the Dutch colonial outposts of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo in South America. A planned expedition by Samuel Hood against Curaçao was called off on rumors that a French fleet was approaching. French action later in 1781 and in 1782 recovered the territories taken by the British, although Sint Eustatius never recovered its importance as a trading point.

References

    ASIN B0011HSJG8

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