List of Main Events
| 1548 | Unification of the Seventeen Low Countries into the Burgundian Circle, within the Holy Roman Empire, under Emperor Charles V |
| 1568–1648 | Dutch Revolt or Eighty Years’ War |
| 1572 | First independent meeting of the States of Holland; William the Silent (or William I of Orange) becomes Stadholder of Holland and Zeeland |
| 1576 | Mutiny of Spanish troops; Pacification of Ghent |
| 1576–1577 | Friesland joins the Dutch Revolt |
| 1578 | Amsterdam joins the rest of the rebellious province of Holland (the Alteration of Amsterdam) |
| 1579 | Union of Arras; Union of Utrecht |
| 1580 | Rennenberg’s defection (Stadholder of the northern provinces, George of Lailang, count of Rennenberg, returning to the Spanish side) |
| 1584 | Death of William the Silent |
| 1585 | Fall of Antwerp |
| 1594 | Treaty of Reduction (of Groningen), joining City and Hinterlands of Groningen into one province |
| 1602 | Founding of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) |
| 1609–1621 | Twelve Years Truce |
| 1616 | Fixation of the distribution key of the contribution to the common expenses of the Dutch Republic |
| 1617–1619 | Conflict between Maurice of Nassau and the States of Holland; ends with the execution of Holland Pensionary Van Oldebarnevelt |
| 1621 | Founding of the First Dutch West India Company (WIC) |
| 1648 | Peace of Münster; end of the Eighty Years’ War; formal recognition of the Dutch Republic as an independent state |
| 1650 | Attack on Amsterdam, by Stadholders William II and William Frederick; death of William II |
| 1651 | (First) Great Assembly; Start of the First Stadholderless Period in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelderland |
| 1652–1654 | First Anglo-Dutch War |
| 1665–1667 | Second Anglo-Dutch War; First War with Münster; Dutch support Denmark during the Second Northern War |
| 1672–1713 | Forty Years’ War with France: cluster of wars with France |
| 1672 | Year of Disaster; death of Johan and Cornelis de Witt; First restoration of the Stadholderate: William III become Stadholder |
| 1672–1674 | Third Anglo-Dutch War; Second War with Münster and war with Cologne |
| 1672–1678 | War with France of Franco-Dutch War |
| 1678 | Treaties of Nijmegen or Peace of Nijmegen |
| 1688 | Glorious Revolution; Dutch invasion in Britain; Stadholder William III and Mary become king and queen of Britain, Scotland and Ireland; start of a Dutch-British alliance |
| 1688–1697 | Nine Years’ War |
| 1697 | Peace of Ryswick, or Peace of Rijswijk, ending the Nine Years’ War |
| 1702–1713 | War of the Spanish Succession |
| 1702 | Death of Stadholder-King William III: Start of the Second Stadholderless Period in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelderland |
| 1711 | Death of Frisian Stadholder Johan Willem Friso (1687–1711): Start of the Second Stadholderless Period in all provinces |
| 1713 | Peace of Utrecht, ending the War of the Spanish Succession |
| 1715 | First default by the States General |
| 1716–1717 | Second Great Assembly |
| 1718–1720 | War of the Quadruple Alliance |
| 1720 | Treaty of The Hague, ends the War of the Quadruple Alliance; bursting of financial bubbles in France (Mississippi bubble) and Britain (South Sea bubble) |
| 1726–1732 | Alliance of Hanover (or Herrenhausen); start in 1725, Dutch joined 1726 |
| 1732 | Treaty of Vienna |
| 1740–1748 | War of the Austrian Succession |
| 1747 | Fall of Bergen op Zoom; second restoration of the Stadholderate; William IV becomes hereditary Stadholder |
| 1748 | Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ending the War of the Austrian Succession; the civil militia movement (doelistenbeweging) called for democratic reforms; Reform Statute (Reglement Reformatior) in Friesland |
| 1749 | Reform Statute (Reglement Reformatior) in Groningen |
| 1751 | Death of Stadholder William IV |
| 1754 | Second default by the States General |
| 1756–1763 | Seven Years’ War; Dutch Republic remains neutral |
| 1763 | Financial crisis in the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War |
| 1766 | Coming of age of William V (1748–1806) |
| 1773 | Financial crisis related to Caribbean plantation loans |
| 1780–1784 | Fourth Anglo-Dutch War |
| 1785–1787 | Patriot Revolution / Patriot movement |
| 1787 | Prussian invasion suppressed the Patriot Revolution and restored William V as Stadholder |
| 1792–1797 | War of the First Coalition against in Revolutionary France |
| 1792 | Revision of the 1616 distribution key of the contribution to the common expenses of the Dutch Republic |
| 1795 | French invasion; end of the Dutch Republic; start of the Batavian Republic |
| 1797 | Merger of public debts into one national debt |