Johan de Witt: That Time the Dutch Ate Their Prime Minister
1672 was not a good year for the Netherlands. Known ever after as the Rampjaar or the “Disaster Year”, it saw the Dutch invaded by an alliance of surrounding states: the French, Munster and Cologne.
At the same time the English navy blockaded the Republic from the sea, preventing any hope of rescue from that quarter. The French invasion nearly saw the end of the Netherlands, with French forces threatening to overrun her altogether.
The Dutch response was radical, and in some places perhaps not entirely rational. For example, did they really need to eat their former Prime Minister?
