On this day, 323 years ago, on March 8, 1702 (February 10, 1702 in the lunar calendar), King William III of England passed away. William III of England (November 14, 1650-March 8, 1702), William II of Scotland and Prince William III of Orange, served as Prince of Orange, the ruler of the Netherlands (1673-1702), and King of England (1689-1702). William was the son of William II, the ruling Dutch, and Princess Mary, daughter of King Charles I of England. His wife was William's co-ruler, Queen Mary II of England. Any overstepping power to stop laws or stop their implementation under the authority of the king without the consent of Parliament is illegal power; Petitioning to the King is the sole benefit of his subjects, and all convictions or accusations against such petitions are illegal-Bill of Rights You can imagine how I feel at this moment. I love her until my death. You will understand the full meaning of having a good wife-William III remembers his deceased wife. There were not many people in history who, as a king, could contribute to democratic constitutionalism, and William III was one of them, even though he did not willingly. He was born in the glorious Orangye family in the Netherlands and was the great-grandson of Prince Orangye, the father of the country. But his growth was not smooth. He lost his father eight days before his birth. He grew up amidst the noise of his mother and grandmother. He was taciturn and suffered from tuberculosis and asthma. As a child, he was also in danger of losing his ancestral qualifications as a Dutch politician. The situation at that time was like this: Since the Netherlands and Spain signed the Treaty of Munster in 1648, after 80 years of war, the independence of the Netherlands finally gained international recognition. However, the Dutch, who were united during the war, split after independence, forming a centralized faction led by the Orangye family and their supporters who advocated maintaining a strong army, and a local autonomy faction represented by the commercial oligarchs of the local councils. His father, William II, forcibly sent troops to arrest six opposition lawmakers for this reason. In 1650, Wilhelm II, who was only 24 years old, died of a horrific childhood smallpox. After his death, the local self-government party was overjoyed and immediately convened a parliamentary assembly to announce that the Republic would no longer have a unified army and that the provinces would be responsible for their own defense. At the same time, five provinces announced the abolition of their ruling posts. In this way, the Netherlands entered the "first period of non-governance"(1650- 1672). When William III arrived belatedly eight days after his father's death, he faced the grim faces of provincial council officials. The 17th century was the golden age when the Dutch gave full play to their role as "sea carriage drivers", but the Dutch maritime hegemony also attracted envy and hatred. When William III was 22 years old, in 1672, the Netherlands was attacked by two strong neighbors, Britain and France. Britain was operating at sea, while King Louis XIV sent 120,000 troops to the border. In the face of national crisis, the Dutch people remembered the bravery of their predecessors of the Orangye family. Therefore, the young William III was appointed commander of the Army and Navy. His outstanding achievements proved that he was worthy of being a descendant of the Orangye family. Of course, the war was very difficult. In order to protect Amsterdam, William III was forced to use the method of flooding the city. At the end of 1673, all French troops were driven out of the country. The prestige of the young William III reached its peak and was awarded the title of "Hero Defending the Country". With his abilities, he became the Dutch ruler recognized by all provinces. William III saved both the Orange family and the Netherlands, maintaining the stability of the Dutch maritime colonial empire. William III married Mary, the daughter of King James II of England. The marriage did not seem to be happy. The two did not leave any descendants. Moreover, William had always been very indifferent to Mary during her lifetime, and only remembered her after her death. The benefits were extremely sad. But the marriage gave William a country bigger and stronger than the Netherlands. In 1688, Britain was facing a crisis. At that time, King James II ignored the fact that most of his people were Protestants and attempted to re-establish Catholicism as the state religion, forcibly suppressed the opposition, dissolved Parliament, and was already on the verge of betrayal. William III seized the opportunity and accepted the invitation of the British Parliament. He personally led more than 10,000 troops to land in Britain. The British switched sides one after another, allowing him to easily capture London and drive his father-in-law to France. William III, along with his wife Mary, was accepted as King of England on condition that he accepted the Bill of Rights passed by Parliament. Its main contents include: the king cannot suspend the effect of any law, collect taxes, and recruit or maintain a standing army in peacetime without the consent of the parliament; subjects have the right to petition the king, and the king must not impose excessive penalties on his subjects; The election of members of parliament must be free, speech and debate in the parliament must be free, and the parliament must be convened from time to time. For Britain, this incident meant the end of the painful period caused by the revolution since the Revolution of 1640 and the beginning of the world's first long-term stable constitutional monarchy. This was what historians praised as the "Glorious Revolution." William III became "King of England and Ruling of the Netherlands", the only time in history that Britain and the Netherlands were assigned to the same person. In 1701, William accepted the Succession Act passed by the British Parliament. In addition to stipulating that his sister-in-law Anne was the heir, it also stipulated that no Catholic could inherit the British throne in the future, and no British king could marry a Roman Catholic. William III devoted his life to fighting the most powerful figure in Europe at that time-the "Sun King" King Louis XIV. In addition to the above-mentioned incident in 1672, the "Eight Years 'War" from 1689 to 1697 was also very large. He made the two countries under his name the main force of the Anti-French Alliance. In 1701, before his death, he became one of the main initiators of the War on the Spanish Throne (1701-1713) to prevent the annexation of France and Spain. However, he had a conflict with the Earl of Marlborough, the commander in chief of the British army at that time, which caused political turmoil in the UK. Later, a reconciliation was finally reached. The Earl of Marlborough later became Louis XIV's nemesis in the War of the Spanish Succession. The throne of William III was shared with his wife Mary II, who had always been willing to stay behind the scenes. William was actually the only king. Only when William went to war did Mary come out to govern. William III was a religious tolerant and actually had no prejudice against Catholicism and Protestantism. In his time, this type of king was relatively easy to get things right. At the same age as his father William II, William III also suffered from the same terrible disease as his father-childhood smallpox. But this time God had mercy on the Orangye family, and William III miraculously defeated the disease. That was how he achieved a series of brilliant achievements later. In 1702, William III died of illness and had no heirs. The British throne was inherited by Mary II's sister Anne, while the Netherlands entered the second non-ruling period in history (1702-1747). William III was included in the ranks of the most influential emperors in the world mainly because of two reasons. First, he enabled the Netherlands to survive the difficult years of being attacked by Britain and France, maintaining the independence and prosperity of the "sea carriage drivers"; second, he accepted the Bill of Rights, which enabled Britain to enter a stable constitutional monarchy. The latter is even more important to world history. William III ranks 47th in this ranking. Comments: William III can be said to be the savior of democratic constitutionalism. He first defended the constitutional republic of the Netherlands from the ravages of autocratic France, and then promoted the "Glorious Revolution" in Britain at a critical moment. But William III did not personally show a passion for democratic constitutional values in his life. In fact, he was an enlightened monarch used by parliamentary democrats to fight against stubborn autocratic monarchy.