Plot

When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France, and Germany, and the country is on the brink of civil war, only one man can lead the country's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet: Michiel de Ruyter.

When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by the great Kingdom of England, France, and Germany, and the country is on the brink of civil war, only one man can lead the country's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet: Michiel de Ruyter.—Anonymous

With the seventeenth century The Netherlands under attack from England and its allies, and the country on the brink of civil war, humble Naval commander Michiel de Ruyter is called upon to lead the Dutch fleet in a battle for freedom and unity.—Anonymous

The Dutch Republic of Seven United Provinces is politically divided between supporters of the Estates-General (federal parliament)'s new pensioner (de facto chief minister) Cornelis de Witt and supporters of the juvenile Prince Willem III of Orange , but must pull together to to the war with maritime rival England. When legendary Admiral Maarten Tromp (Rutger Hauer) is killed in action, his haughty son Cornelis expects to succeed, but de Witt insists on Michiel de Ruyter, a low-born but brilliant Captain from Zeeland. He modernizes the Dutch fleet, signal system and tactics and defeats English King Charles II Stuart's squadrons every time, despite sabotage from Tromp and fanatical Orange supporters, even pulls off a surprise attack up the Thames. The Dutch neglected their land army, naively believing Willem, installed as Stadholder, got a true peace and third party guarantors, but Charles conspires with the French to divide The Netherlands. The mob believes Orange's propaganda and turns on de Witt, even de Ruyter's family isn't safe as alleged "cahoots".—KGF Vissers

The movie, as the original title suggests, is about 17th century seafarer Michiel de Ruyter, a central figure in the newly founded Dutch Republic's fight against Great Britain. Although the French were also part of Britains's alliance, Germany however was NOT - first of all because Germany didn't even exist yet (founded in 1848!), so the existing description is quite faulty on that part, though it is true that the diocese of Münster which is part of modern day Germany was also an ally of the British which made minor contributions to the English effort (but certainly not sending a fleet of their own since it was and is a landlocked place which back in the period in question shared a common border with the Netherlands which is why they are referred to as the Duitsers - Dutch for Germans - in the course of the movie) The story opens with one of the last sea battles of the First Dutch-English Naval War (1652-1654) and follows de Ruyter through the further course of his personal as well as Dutch history in the struggle of maintaining independence while at the same time trying to prevent the Republic from turning back into a Monarchy and establishing an empire of overseas colonies and trade routes. After the end of the first Naval War we see de Ruyter in charge of upgrading the Dutch Navy, i.e. helping build new and better ships and weaponry, and also modernising it by way of new tactics and a superior system of communication (signalling) which was developed by the brother of reigning prime minister de Witt. After a sequence of shipbuilding and training the story shifts to the second naval war with England, depicting the outnumbered Dutch taking on a more sizeable British fleet in an epic battle, testing their new communications and tactics rather successfully.