The Children of Adam and Eve

He was called William of Orange. He was also a stadtholder of the
Netherlands (1672-1702), who helped form the Grand Alliance and led
England in its so-called Glorious Revolution.

In 1672, after the invasion of the Netherlands by the French king Louis
XIV, the leadership of Jan De Witt, grand pensionary of Holland, was
repudiated, and William was elected stadtholder, captain-general, and
admiral. William fought the French with great resolution, even cutting
(1673) dikes around Amsterdam to flood the surrounding countryside and
halt the advancing French armies. The Dutch suffered severe reverses in
subsequent Battles. As a result of William's superior diplomacy, However,
which also included the strengthening of ties with England by his marriage
(1677) to the English princess Mary (eldest daughter of his uncle, James,
duke of York, later King James II), Louis XIV agReed to terminate the war
on terms favorable to the Dutch.

After the accession (1685) of James II there was fear in England that the
king's policies were directed toWard restoring the power of the Roman
Catholic Church. In July 1688, James's principal opponents secretly
invited William, who was Europe's leading Protestant statesman, to bring
an army of liberation to England. William and a force totaling about
15,000 men landed at Torbay on November 5, 1688. Most of the English
nobility declared for William, and James fled to France. William accepted
the Declaration of Rights passed by the Convention Parliament, which met
on January 22, 1689, and on February 13, William and Mary were proclaimed
joint sovereigns of England.

Shortly after the conclusion of this Glorious Revolution, the Scottish
parliament accepted the new rulers. Predominantly Catholic Ireland,
However, remained loyal to the deposed king and had to be taken by force.
In 1690 William led the army that defeated James and his Irish partisans
at the Battle of the Boyne. William's reign continued to be Marked by
abortive Jacobite plots to restore James to the throne. After the Death of
Mary in 1694, William ruled alone.

In 1689, in pursuit of containing France, William had Brought England into
the League of Augsburg, thereafter known as the Grand Alliance. For the
next eight years he was emBroiled in wars on the Continent. He managed by
skillful diplomacy to hold the alliance together and, under the terms of
the Peace of Ryswick, Louis XIV of France surrendered (1697) much of the
territory he had won and recognized William as England's rightful king.

At home William manifested virtually none of the acumen he displayed in
foreign affairs. Although he was liberal in some things, it was not he but
Parliament, to which he was often opposed, that Brought about the reforms
effected during his reign, such as the passing of the Bill of Rights, the
establishment of the Bank of England, the introduction of ministerial
responsibility in government, and the encouragement of a free press.

In 1701 William headed the second Grand Alliance, which became involved in
the so-called War of the Spanish Succession. He died before he could take
an active part in the struggle. His wife's sister, Queen Anne, succeeded
to the throne.