Lssonlinemart
Eight days before William was born at The Hague on Nov. 4, 1650, his father, William II, Prince of Orange and Stadholder of the United Netherlands, died, bequeathing a divided Netherlands to his son. William's mother was Mary, the oldest daughter of Charles I of England. The De Witt brothers, Jan and Cornelius, heads of an urban and commercial coalition, assumed power and pursued a policy of autonomy for the seven provinces of the Netherlands. The house of Orange, aristocratic leader of the landed interests, had stood for unity as the only means of protection against foreign interests. Despite the De Witts' control over his education, William nurtured plans to restore the stadholdership. In the meantime, the young prince prepared himself, mastering four languages, studying politics and war, and exercising the Spartan self-control and taciturnity for which he became famous.
In 1667 the prince's popularity rose dramatically when Louis XIV of France made the first of his many attempts to conquer the Dutch. Public exasperation greeted the De Witts' inactivity while Louis's armies occupied neighboring Flanders. When the southern Dutch provinces were invaded in 1672, William was advanced quickly from captain-general in February to stadholder in July. In August a panicked mob murdered the De Witts, and a year later William's office was made hereditary.
During the War of the League of Augsburg, William brought to the alliance the overwhelming support of England in 1689. James II's precipitate illegalities in favor of his Roman Catholic subjects after he became king in 1685 alienated most English leaders, who in turn sought the alternative earlier suggested by William. William invaded England in November 1688 with a force of 15,000. Met by many of England's important men, he proceeded under such careful circumstances that not one shot was fired. James's flight to France in December cleared the path for William and Mary to assume the vacated throne. Their reign became the only jointly held monarchy in English history. In May 1689 England declared war on France.
dimamuzhetsky
It was the time when dukes made the politics of the entire world and decided to wage war simply to enrich their own pocket by robbing the neighbours!William was strong in his native French province Normandy and used obvious weakness of the English king to increase his own power and riches.Nowadays UNO would demand his immediate departure home,but that time was way too different!
Ludwig
He was invited to do so by parliament.
Anonymous
William III, byname William of Orange, also called William Henry, prince of Orange, Dutch Willem Hendrik, prins van Oranje, (born November 14 [November 4, Old Style], 1650, The Hague, Netherlands—died March 19 [March 8], 1702, London, England), stadholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands as William III (1672–1702) and king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689–1702), reigning jointly with Queen Mary II (until her death in 1694).
Anonymous
He did not invade England. He was invited by the mainly Protestant parliamentarians and nobility of England in order to help England avoid becoming Catholic again under James II and becoming victim of religious suppression, religious civil war and the Spanish Inquisition. Beside that James II was unpopular, corrupt and not being known as merciful and honest.
When James - as Duke of York- once said to his brother, the merry king Charles II: "Why do you walked around without any accompanying guards?", Charles said "Why should anybody kill me? To make YOU king?"