Part 80: Q&A - February 15

Empire Total War: The Second 80 Years War quick online Q&A

Q: Why was America so unprofitable for the British compared to India for the Dutch?

A: Britain, and then the Dutch faced a myriad of problems in earning money from the American theater. First off, the low population meant factories were not sustainable. No one wanted products manufactured in America, and no one in America wanted to work in a factory. Second, the culture was dramatically different. Second, much of the North American people were fairly independent. What few peoples there preferred locally produced goods where they could get them so as to avoid British then Dutch taxation wherever they could. This sense of independence also forced the British and then the Dutch to heavily police the populace to keep them in line and loyal to European interests. Lastly, the Americas didn't have the same kind of structured government that India did. In India, the Dutch took over a population that was well adjusted to a top regulated government with a strong state funded military keeping them in line, whether they liked it or not. This made it easy to recruit men into the local army, whereas in the Americas, colonists resented the "iron fist" that the European army had over them, and so they were mostly policed by European infantry that had to be brought in by the V.O.C. at great expense.

Lastly, by the 1740s, the United Provinces were no longer at war with any power in the Indian Sub-continent, which meant their army upkeep costs had plummeted. In America, as the war was persisting, the army cost was continuing higher and higher.