It seems to me that France helped Holland a lot in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. And also gave all Dutch colonies back to Holland in the 1783 Treaty of Paris? I was wondering why was that and what benefits the French got from doing that?
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7During that war, France and the Dutch were allied against Britain. Countries who refuse to return land to allies generally won't be allies in the next war.– GiterCommented Jun 8, 2018 at 13:53
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@giter that worked out well for the Allies after WWII - relations with Russia have been splendid ever since...– corsiKaCommented Jun 8, 2018 at 15:46
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7@corsiKa - I'm pretty sure Russia liberated all their territory themselves in WWII. Further, one could argue a lot of the trouble everyone else has had with them since was from exactly that kind of behavior - not restoring the territory of "allied" countries to their pre-war leadership and boundaries, but rather using their military presence to set up their own client states.– T.E.D. ♦Commented Jun 8, 2018 at 16:22
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1@corsiKa You're kind of arguing against your point by mentioning Russia/USSR. As I recall, after WWII, the rest of the Western allies formed alliances primarily against the USSR (NATO, for example). Seems to speak to Giter's point.– HopelessN00bCommented Jun 8, 2018 at 19:12
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1@Giter Maybe I should have asked why did France ally with Holand in the first place! Because to me it seems like Holand was very weak from a military perspective but had VOX for example. My quextion is What did France gain by allying with Holland, fighting the brits and capturing colonies from brits and giving them to Holand!– ladybugCommented Jun 16, 2018 at 17:24
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1 Answer
France was just being a good ally. A number of formerly Dutch holdings had been captured by Britain, and recaptured by France, who turned these islands back to the Dutch.
France had been worried about the Anglo-Dutch alliance since at least the end of the 17th century. This was the first time that the Dutch allied with France against England, rather than vice-versa. France hoped to have the Dutch as allies in any potential future conflict with England.
