Johan de Witt
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Caspar_Netscher_-_Johan_de_Witt.jpg)
As a leading republican of the Dutch States Party, De Witt opposed the House of Orange-Nassau and the Orangists and preferred a shift of power from the central government to the ''regenten''. However, his neglect of the Dutch States Army (as the regents focused mainly on the navy, thinking they could avoid land wars) proved disastrous when the Dutch Republic suffered numerous early defeats in the . In the hysteria that followed the effortless invasion by an alliance of England, France, and some German states, he and his brother Cornelis de Witt were blamed and lynched in The Hague, with their corpses at least partially eaten by the rioters. These cannibals were never prosecuted, and some historians claim William of Orange may have incited them. Provided by Wikipedia
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Published: 1670