Will you marry me?
That's what Cromwell asked the Dutch. A proposal! Just out of the blue. What did the Dutch think? Then they sent Blake to ask again, more forcefully, less romantically, this time.
We look at the decision of the English to emulate (totally copy) the Dutch. And the Dutch are monopolizing large parts of world trade. But you can't have two monopolists. Conflict. Rivalry.
The Navigation Act. The Plantation Act. It leads to the First Anglo-Dutch War. The English have prepared properly, but can they defeat the world's greatest naval power?