Natural Disasters at the Closing of the Dutch Golden Age: Floods, Worms, and Cattle Plague, by Adam Sundberg

Adam Sundberg’s book can be placed within the growing field of historical studies focusing on the complex interplay between nature and society during the period known as the Little Ice Age (c.1300–1850). The title suggests the opposite of Dagomar Degroot’s The Frigid Golden Age: Climate Change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560–1720 (2018), also published in the excellent ‘Studies in Environment and History’ series by Cambridge University Press. Degroot focused primarily on the challenges faced by the Dutch Republic from the late sixteenth to the seventeenth century, well known as its ‘Golden Age’ period, when the Republic thrived even as it managed to overcome many challenges posed by the cooling climate, due to a mixture of ingenuity and successful adaptation. Sundberg, instead, focuses on the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, generally regarded as a period of decline in Dutch history. This period, Sundberg argues, ‘presented no shortage of dramatic disasters’ (p. 21), referring to the three major incidents that hit the Dutch Republic throughout the first half of the eighteenth century: heavy coastal and river floods, a shipworm epidemic, and two severe outbursts of cattle plague.

The main thesis of the book revolves around the impact of these natural disasters and how they were experienced by contemporaries. Sundberg argues that these events are vital to understanding the various narratives of decline as well as the important transformations in the social and physical environment of the eighteenth-century Republic. Embedded in recent developments within the fields of disaster and environmental history, the book emphasises the importance of perceiving natural disasters as socio-natural hybrids, which can only be captured when taking into account the natural events themselves as well as the societal factors that influence the course of events and their interpretation. As such, Sundberg addresses four important elements: the interconnectedness of natural disasters with broader ideas of societal decline, the idea that disasters are both events and cumulative processes that require a long-term approach, the importance of regional difference and spatial diversity in the impact and experience of disasters, and how the past was used by contemporaries as a critical tool for disaster interpretation and response. These form the basis of the six chapters, which, save the first and last, focus on what Sundberg regards as the key disasters from the first half of the eighteenth century. The first chapter focuses on the ‘disaster year’ 1672, which, according to many contemporaries and present-day historians, signalled the end of the Dutch ‘Golden Age’ and the starting point of many contemporary narratives about the country’s decline as a maritime and commercial superpower. The events of 1672 and subsequent years are reinterpreted from a perspective that merges the political and military malaise following the ‘disaster year’ with natural forces.

Sundberg shows that the social and political upheaval of the following decades and the first half of the eighteenth century was characterised by specific natural disasters, which challenged the moral, economic and political standing of the Republic. However, besides narratives of decline, the disasters that struck Dutch society during this period also provided opportunities for adaptation, innovation and growth. The following four chapters focus on specific periods of disaster: two prominent episodes of cattle plague between 1713 and 1720, and again between 1744 and 1764; the Christmas Flood of 1717; and the shipworm epidemic that lasted from 1730 to 1735. Each chapter describes the events in detail, following reports from eyewitnesses as well as the moralistic writings that connected the course of the disasters to the Republic’s ongoing decline. Sundberg does well in addressing the regional difference in terms of disaster impact, while also emphasising how local events, such as the 1717 Christmas Flood that mostly affected the northern province of Groningen, could be framed in a national context of decline. These narratives of suffering and pessimism are compared to those that perceived the disasters as a valuable opportunity for improvements, such as the strengthening of dikes, reorganising river management, and testing new medical theories and methods to combat cattle plague.

Overall, Sundberg succeeds in his aim of combining environmental and disaster history to show how natural disasters stirred narratives of decline as well as progress and careful optimism. He provides a well-written addition to both fields, with a nuanced approach that eloquently expresses the severity of the natural disasters on parts of Dutch society, but with a critical view of contemporary narratives. He carefully deconstructs the mixture of cultural, political, socio-economic and natural factors central to the disasters of the eighteenth-century Republic, and, in contrast to earlier studies, also delves deeper into the widespread experiences of contemporaries instead of providing a mere socio-economic analysis. As such, Sundberg provides not only a valuable contribution to the history of the eighteenth-century Republic, but also further studies concerning the impact of natural disasters on society, which remains a relevant topic for the past as well as the present. The main point of criticism, namely the exclusive focus on the Dutch Republic and the lack of comparison with neighbouring countries or regions, is forgivable, as Sundberg’s work should inspire other historians to adopt a similar approach or provide a comparative analysis. A minor aspect of criticism, however, remains the focus on three primary disasters: floods, worms and cattle plague. Despite being rightly considered influential, the central focus on these events might disavow the significance of other notable disasters that were not always driven by natural events, for instance, urban conflagrations. Nevertheless, the book remains a good read for those interested in environmental or disaster history, whether in the Dutch Republic or not.