The VOC: Trading Company or Imperial War Machine? An Inquiry into the Grand Strategy of the VOC 1701-1705

Abstract

The subject of this thesis is the VOC during the first years of the War of the Spanish Succession. My research question was: "Was the VOC a territorial imperialist". With this question I wanted to challenge the conventional view of the VOC as a commercial empire, that did not have wider territorial and political aspirations. The first chapter is a short outline of what happened to the VOC during the War of the Spanish Succesion in the Far-East in the period of 1701-1705. The second chapter gives an outline of the history of the enemies of the Dutch during the war, the French and the Spanish. In the third chapter the document Speculatien over de Philippinse Eijlanden is researched. This document is a secret invasion plan of the Philippines. In the last chapter the millitary feasibility of the conquest of the capital of the Philippines, Manila, is discussed.