In 1672, England formally declared war on its commercial archrival, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, marking the beginning of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. In response, the Evertsen Expedition, under the command of Evertsen the Youngest of the Admiralty of Zeeland, launched a surprise attack against the English East India Company fleet, to be followed by raids on major English and French colonial establishments in the Western Hemisphere. "The battle against England had marked Holland's zenith as a world maritime power. The Dutch warriors who had followed the flag to sea had miraculously held the overwhelming forces of both England and France at bay in home waters and had subdued, through force of arms and pure bravado, a vast colonial frontier empire in America." Dutch and English records, journals, secret minutes and narratives are used to reconstruct Evertsen's campaign that included the naval invasion of the Chesapeake Bay, the capture or destruction of hundreds of English and French vessels, and the re-conquest of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Ironically, their victory marked the end of the golden age of the Dutch Republic, as they could not sustain "such an empire." Donald Shomette is director of Cultural Resource Management, a historical consultant for the U.S. Navy and the National Geographic Society, and a former staff member for the Library of Congress. Robert Haslach has published several works on Netherlands history, and was responsible for translating and writing the chapters based on the original seventeenth century Dutch logbooks for this work.
