"The Dutch, who produced so much in their golden age of the seventeenth century, from Rembrandt to microscopes, also were innovators in war. Maurice of Nassau, who became their head of state in 1585, freed the northern Dutch provinces from Spanish rule in part because he built such an effective fighting force. He organised his forces on the battlefield in ranks, up to ten of them, and pioneered an elaborate form of battlefield movement where, as the first rank fired, it wheeled to the back, allowing the next ones to fire and wheel in sequence. The rate of fire was much greater if, and it was a major if, the troops could stand firm when ordered and move in unison on command. Without discipline, often savage discipline, and repeated drills so that movement and following orders became second nature even in battle, soldiers could not have used the new weapons effectively. The old-style armies, where the ruler hired mercenaries or got their local magnates to raise forces which then tended to disperse at the end of a campaign, were not the right sort of material for the new training and tactics. It was a strong incentive for governments to have their own armies, and, of course, in time that increased their power."