   #copyright

History of the Netherlands

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

   The Conspiracy of Julius Civilis, completed in 1661 by Rembrandt, the
   best-known painter of the Dutch Golden Age. It depicts a Batavian oath
   to Gaius Julius Civilis, the head of the Batavian rebellion against the
   Romans in 69. It was to be hung in the city hall of Amsterdam, as a
   display of heroism analogous to that of the recent Eighty Years' War,
   that had led to independence from Spain. However, it was rejected
   because Rembrandt did not paint the figures as idealisations, but as
   real people.
   Enlarge
   The Conspiracy of Julius Civilis, completed in 1661 by Rembrandt, the
   best-known painter of the Dutch Golden Age. It depicts a Batavian oath
   to Gaius Julius Civilis, the head of the Batavian rebellion against the
   Romans in 69. It was to be hung in the city hall of Amsterdam, as a
   display of heroism analogous to that of the recent Eighty Years' War,
   that had led to independence from Spain. However, it was rejected
   because Rembrandt did not paint the figures as idealisations, but as
   real people.

          The history of the Netherlands is closely related to that of the
          Low Countries; it was not until the 16th century that an
          independent state roughly corresponding to the present-day
          country was established. As a consequence, the geographical
          scope of this article sometimes extends to the southern parts of
          the Low Countries. Conversely, a large part of what is now the
          Netherlands was sea or swamp well into the Middle Ages.

   If one took the oldest signs of human activity as a starting point for
   the history of the Netherlands, then such a history would span at least
   two hundred fifty thousand years. It was, however, not until the
   arrival of the Romans, who annexed the southern part of the present-day
   country, that written sources on its inhabitants became abundant.

   The southern part of the current country was occupied by the Romans,
   and became part of Gallia Belgica, and later of the Roman province
   Germania Inferior. In this time the country was inhabited by various
   Germanic tribes, and the south was inhabited by Celts, who merged with
   newcomers from other Germanic tribes during the Völkerwanderung
   following the fall of the Roman empire.

   In the medieval period, the Low Countries (roughly present-day Belgium
   and the Netherlands) consisted of various countships, duchies and
   dioceses belonging to the Holy Roman Empire. These were united into one
   state under Habsburg rule in the 16th century. The Counter-Reformation
   following the success of Calvinism in the Netherlands, and the attempts
   to centralise government and suppress religious diversity led to a
   revolt against Philip II of Spain. On 26 July 1581, independence was
   declared, and finally recognised after the Eighty Years' War
   (1568–1648). The years of the war also marked the beginning of the
   Dutch Golden Age, a period of great commercial and cultural prosperity
   roughly spanning the 17th century.

   After the French occupation at the beginning of the 19th century, the
   Netherlands started out as a monarchy, governed by the House of Orange.
   However, after a conservative period, strong liberal sentiments could
   no longer be ignored, and the country became a parliamentary democracy
   with a constitutional monarch in 1848. It has remained so to this day,
   with a brief interruption during the occupation by Nazi Germany.
       History of the Netherlands
   Ancient times
   Germanic tribes
   Roman Era
   Migration Period
   The Medieval Low Countries
   Frankish Realm / The Franks
   Holy Roman Empire
   Burgundian Netherlands
   Seventeen Provinces
   Spanish Netherlands
   Rise and Fall of the Dutch Republic
   Eighty Years' War
   United Provinces
   The Golden Age
   The Batavian revolution
   From Republic to Monarchy
   Batavian Republic
   Kingdom of Holland
   First French Empire
   United Kingdom of the Netherlands
   The Netherlands in Modern Times
   Modern History of the Netherlands
   Netherlands in World War II
   Luctor et Emergo
   The Dutch Fight against Water
   The Miscellaneous Netherlands
   Military history of the Netherlands
   History of the Dutch language
   Dutch literature
   Dutch influence on military terms
   Dutch inventions and discoveries

   The Netherlands is now a modern, industrialised nation and a large
   exporter of agricultural products. International trade (literally
   'overseas') has always been a central aspect of the Dutch economy (also
   influencing the culture) and was also an important reason for the
   struggle for independence and cause of the ensuing wealth.

Pre-history era

   The Netherlands have been inhabited since the last ice age; the oldest
   remnants that have been found are a hundred thousand years old. During
   the last ice age, the Netherlands had a tundra climate with scarce
   vegetation. The first inhabitants survived as hunter-gatherers. After
   the end of the ice age, the area was inhabited by various palaeolithic
   groups. One group made canoes (Pesse, around 6500 BC) around 8000 BC, a
   mesolithic tribe resided near Bergumermeer ( Friesland).

   Balls with iron have been found at the Veluwe, as well as in the South
   (red iron ore near the rivers in Brabant). The smiths could thus travel
   from small settlement to settlement with bronze and iron, fabricating
   tools such as axes, knives, pins, arrowheads, and swords. There is
   evidence of the use of "damast-forging", an advanced way to forge metal
   (swords) with the advantage of flexible iron with the strength of
   steel.

   The wealth of the Netherlands in the Iron Age is seen at the "King's
   grave in Oss" (about 500 BC), where a king was buried with some
   extraordinary objects, including an iron sword with an inlay of gold
   and coral. He was buried in the largest grave mound of Western Europe,
   which was 52 m wide.

   At the time of the Roman arrival, the Netherlands were inhabited by
   Germanic tribes, such as the Tubanti, the Canninefates, and the
   Frisians, who had settled there around 600 BC. Celtic tribes settled
   the South, among them the Eburones and the Menapii. Several Germanians
   settled south of the Rhine at the beginning of the Roman settlement,
   and formed the Germanic tribe of the Batavians and the Toxandri. The
   Batavians were regarded as good soldiers and fought in many important
   wars, for instance the conquest of Dacia (Romania) by the emperor
   Trajan. In later nationalistic views, the Batavians were regarded as
   the "true" forefathers of the Dutch, as reflected in the name of the
   later Batavian Republic.

Holy Roman Empire

   The newcomers merged with the original inhabitants to create three
   peoples in the Low Countries: the Frisians along the coast, the Saxons
   in the east and the Franks in the south. The Franks became Christians
   after their king Clovis I converted in 496. Christianity was introduced
   in the north after the conquest of Friesland by the Franks. Anglo-Saxon
   missionaries such as Willibrord, Wulfram and Boniface were active in
   converting these nations to Christianity. Boniface was martyred by the
   Frisians in Dokkum (754). The Saxons in the east were converted before
   the conquest of Saxony, and became Frankish allies.

   The southern part of the Netherlands belonged to the Frankish empire of
   Charlemagne, with its heartland in what is today Belgium and northern
   France, and spanning France, Germany, northern Italy and much of
   Western Europe. In the north the Netherlands were a part of Frisia
   until 734. In 843, the Frankish empire was divided into three parts,
   giving rise to France in the west, Germany in the east and a middle
   empire that lay between the two. Most of the Netherlands was part of
   the middle empire. Later this middle empire was split: most of the
   contemporary Dutch-speaking lands became a part of Germany; Flanders
   became part of France.

   From 800 AD to 1000 AD, the Low Countries suffered considerably from
   Viking raids (one of which destroyed the wealthy city of Dorestad).
   Most of the Netherlands was occupied by the Vikings from 850 to 920.
   This was about the same time that France and Germany were fighting for
   supremacy over the middle empire. Resistance to the Vikings, if any,
   came from local nobles, who gained in stature as a result. Viking
   supremacy ended in 920 when King Henry of Germany liberated Utrecht.

   The German kings and emperors dominated the Netherlands in the 10th and
   11th century. Germany was called the Holy Roman Empire after the
   coronation of King Otto the Great as emperor. The Dutch city of
   Nijmegen used to be the spot of an important domain of the German
   emperors. Several German emperors were born and died there. (Byzantine
   empress Theophanu died in Nijmegen for instance.) Utrecht was also an
   important city and trading port at the time. German officials closely
   watched the count of Westfriesland (Holland) in the Rhine delta. The
   count rebelled in 1018. The county was destined to become a part of
   Utrecht after 1018, but the difficulties between the pope and the
   emperor saved the county.

   Much of the western Netherlands was barely inhabited between the end of
   the Roman period and around 1100. Around 1000, farmers from Flanders
   and Utrecht began purchasing the swampy land, draining it and
   cultivating it. This process happened quickly and the uninhabited
   territory was settled in only a few generations. They built independent
   farms that were not part of villages, something unique in Europe at the
   time. Before this happened the language and culture of most of the
   people who lived in the area that is now Holland were Frisian. The area
   was known as "West Friesland" (Westfriesland). As settlement
   progressed, the area quickly became Low Franconian. This area became
   known as ' Holland' in the 12th century. (The part of North Holland
   situated north of the 'IJ' is still colloquially known as West
   Friesland).

   Around 1000 AD there were several agricultural developments (described
   sometimes as an agricultural revolution) that resulted in an increase
   in production, especially food production. The economy started to
   develop at a fast pace, and the higher productivity allowed workers to
   farm more land or to become tradesmen. Guilds were established and
   markets developed as production exceeded local needs. Also, the
   introduction of currency made trading a much easier affair than it had
   been before. Existing towns grew and new towns sprang into existence
   around monasteries and castles, and a mercantile middle class began to
   develop in these urban areas. Commerce and town development increased
   as the population grew.

   The crusades were popular in the Low Countries and drew many to fight
   in the Holy Land. At home, there was relative peace in Europe. Viking,
   Hungarian and Muslim pillaging had stopped. Both the Crusades and the
   relative peace at home contributed to trade and the growth in commerce.

   Cities arose and flourished, especially in Flanders and Brabant. As the
   cities grew in wealth and power, they started to buy certain privileges
   for themselves from the sovereign, including city rights, the right to
   self-government and the right to pass laws. In practice, this meant
   that the wealthiest cities became quasi-independent republics in their
   own right. Two of the most important cities were Brugge and Antwerp
   which would later develop into some of the most important cities and
   ports in Europe.

   The Holy Roman Empire was not able to maintain political unity. In
   addition to the growing independence of the towns, local rulers turned
   their counties and duchies into private kingdoms and felt little sense
   of obligation to the emperor who governed over large parts of the
   nation in name only. Large parts of what now comprise the Netherlands
   were governed by the Count of Holland, the Duke of Gelre, the Duke of
   Brabant and the Bishop of Utrecht. Friesland and Groningen in the north
   maintained their independence and were governed by the lower nobility.

   The various feudal states were in a state of almost continual war.
   Gelre and Holland fought for control of Utrecht. Utrecht, whose bishop
   had in 1000 ruled over half of what is today the Netherlands, was
   marginalised as it experienced continuing difficulty in electing new
   bishops. At the same time, the dynasties of neighbouring states were
   more stable. Groningen, Drenthe and most of Gelre, which used to be
   part of Utrecht, became independent. Brabant tried to conquer its
   neighbours, but was not successful. Holland also tried to assert itself
   in Zeeland and Friesland, but its attempts failed.

   Friesland in the north continued to maintain its independence during
   this time. It had its own institutions (collectively called the
   "Frisian Freedom") and resented the imposition of the feudal system and
   the patriciate found in other European towns. They regarded themselves
   as allies of Switzerland. The Frisian battle cry was "better dead than
   a slave". They later lost their independence when they were defeated in
   1498 by the German Landsknecht mercenaries of Duke Albrecht of
   Saxony-Meissen.

                                              History of the Low Countries
                                                       Bishopric of Liège
                                                               985– 1790
                                                    Burgundian Netherlands
                                                       Duchy of Luxembourg
                                                           integrated 1441

                                                        1384/ 1473– 1482
                                                      Habsburg Netherlands
                                                              1482– 1556
                                                       Spanish Netherlands
                                                        United Netherlands
                                                 1581– 1795 1581– 1713
                                         Austrian Netherlands 1713– 1790
                                             United States of Belgium 1790
                                                       Bishopric of Liège
                            1790– 1795 Austrian Netherlands 1790– 1794
                                         French Republic Batavian Republic
                                                 1795– 1806 1795– 1804
                                          French Empire Kingdom of Holland
                                                 1806– 1810 1804– 1815
                                         United Kingdom of the Netherlands
                                                              1815– 1830
                                                 Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
                                                        Kingdom of Belgium
                                     since 1830 Kingdom of the Netherlands
            since 1830 (in personal union with the Netherlands until 1890)
                                                                      Edit

Burgundian period

   Most of what is now the Netherlands and Belgium was eventually united
   by the Duke of Burgundy in 1433. Before the Burgundian union, the Dutch
   identified themselves by the town where they lived, their local duchy
   or county or as subjects of the Holy Roman Empire. The Burgundian
   period is when the Dutch began the road to nationhood.

   The conquest of the county of Holland by the Duke Philip the Good of
   Burgundy was an odd affair. Leading noblemen in Holland in fact invited
   the duke to conquer Holland, even though he had no historical claim to
   it. Some historians say that the ruling class in Holland wanted Holland
   to integrate with the Flemish economic system and adopt Flemish legal
   institutions. Europe had been wracked by many civil wars in the 14th
   and 15th centuries, while Flanders had grown rich and enjoyed peace.

   After a few years of conflict, the countess of Holland was deposed in
   favour of the Burgundian dukes. Holland's trade developed rapidly,
   especially in the area of shipping and transport. The new rulers
   defended Dutch trading interests. The fleets of Holland defeated the
   fleets of the Hanseatic League several times. Amsterdam grew and in the
   15th century became the primary trading port in Europe for grain from
   the Baltic region. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of
   Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital to the
   people of Holland, because Holland could no longer produce enough grain
   to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former
   wetlands to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be
   maintained.

   Gelre resented Burgundian rule. It tried to build up its own state in
   northeast Netherlands and northwest Germany. Lacking funds in the 16th
   century, Gelre had its soldiers provide for themselves by pillaging
   enemy terrain. These soldiers were a great menace to the Burgundian
   Netherlands. One notorious event was the pillaging of The Hague. Gelre
   was allied with France, England and Denmark, who wanted to put an end
   to the wealth of Flanders and Antwerp and Burgundian rule over the Low
   Countries.

Struggle for independence and the Golden Age

Eighty Years' War

   Flag of the Low Countries revolt — orange, white, blue.
   Enlarge
   Flag of the Low Countries revolt — orange, white, blue.

   Through inheritance and conquest, all of the Low Countries became
   possessions of the Habsburg dynasty under Charles V in the 16th
   century, who united them into one state. The east of the Netherlands
   was occupied only a few decades before the Dutch struggle for
   independence. However, in 1548, eight years before his abdication from
   the throne, Emperor Charles V granted the Seventeen Provinces of the
   Netherlands status as an entity separate from both the Empire and from
   France. This Pragmatic Sanction of 1548 was not full independence, but
   it allowed significant autonomy.

   Charles was succeeded by his son Philip II of Spain. Unlike his father,
   who had been raised in Ghent (Belgium), Philip had little personal
   attachment to the Low Countries (where he had only stayed for four
   years), and thus was perceived as detached by the local nobility. A
   devout Catholic, Philip was appalled by the success of the Reformation
   in the Low Countries, which had led to an increasing number of
   Calvinists. "On February 16, 1568 a sentence of the Holy Office
   condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics.
   From this universal doom only a few persons, especially named, were
   acquitted. A proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed
   this decree of the Inquisition and ordered it to be carried out into
   instant execution without regard to age and sex. This is the most
   concise death warrant that had ever been framed. Three million
   people—men, women and children—were sentenced to the scaffold." (The
   Rise of the Dutch Republic , by John Lathrop Motley, Volume 1, Part 2,
   Chapter 2, par. 12, p. 2.) His attempts to enforce religious
   persecution of the Protestants and his endeavours to centralise
   government, justice and taxes made him unpopular and led to a revolt.
   The Dutch fought for independence from Spain, leading to the Eighty
   Years' War (1568-1648). Seven rebellious provinces united in the Union
   of Utrecht in 1579 and formed the Republic of the Seven United
   Netherlands (also known as the "United Provinces").

   William of Orange, the nobleman from whom every Dutch monarch is
   descended (including the present Queen), led the Dutch during the first
   part of the war. The very first years were a success for the Spanish
   troops. However, subsequent sieges in Holland were countered by the
   Dutch. The Spanish king lost control of the Netherlands after the sack
   of Antwerp by mutinous Spanish soldiers killing 10,000 inhabitants. The
   conservative Catholics in the south and east supported the Spanish. The
   Spanish recaptured Antwerp and other Flemish and Dutch cities. It
   recaptured most of the territory in the Netherlands (but not in
   Flanders, leading to the historical split between The Netherlands and
   Flanders). Flanders was the most radical anti-Spanish territory. Many
   Flemish fled to Holland, among them half of the population of Antwerp,
   3/4 of Brugge and Ghent and the entire population of Nieuwpoort,
   Dunkerque and countryside. The war dragged on for another 60 years, but
   the main fighting was over. The Peace of Westphalia, signed on January
   30, 1648, confirmed the independence of the United Provinces from Spain
   and Germany. The Dutch didn't regard themselves as Germans any more
   since the 15th century, but they officially remained a part of Germany
   until 1648. National identity was mainly formed by the province people
   came from. Holland was the most important province by far. The republic
   of the Seven Provinces came to be known as Holland in foreign
   countries.

   These events formed part of a wider turmoil. See Spanish Armada for a
   view of some of the history from further west.

Golden Age

   During the Eighty Years' War the Dutch became the most important
   trading centre of Northern Europe, instead of Flanders; they hunted
   whales near Svalbard, traded spices with India and Indonesia (via the
   Dutch East India Company, the first company to issue shares) and
   started colonies in Brazil, New Amsterdam (now New York), South Africa
   and the West Indies. This new nation flourished culturally and
   economically, creating what historian Simon Schama has called an
   "embarrassment of riches". Speculation in the tulip trade led to a
   first stockmarket crash in 1637, but the economic crisis was soon
   overcome. Due to these developments the 17th century is often called
   the Golden Age (de gouden eeuw) of the Netherlands. As the Netherlands
   was a republic, it was largely governed by an aristocracy of
   city-merchants called the regents (regenten), rather than by a king.
   Every city and province had its own government and laws, and a large
   degree of autonomy. After attempts to find a competent sovereign proved
   unsuccessful, it was decided that sovereignty would be vested in the
   various provincial Estates (Staten), the governing bodies of the
   provinces. The Estates-General (Staten-Generaal), with its
   representatives from all the provinces, would decide on matters
   important to the Republic as a whole. However, at the head of each
   province was the stadtholder (Stadhouder) of that province, a position
   held by a descendant of the House of Orange. Usually the
   stadtholdership of several provinces was held by a single man.

   Following the recognition of the independence of the Netherlands, a
   decline in the wealth of the Dutch set in. In 1650, the stadtholder
   William II, Prince of Orange died, leaving the nation without a
   powerful ruler. Since the conception of the Republic, there had been an
   ongoing struggle for power between the regents and the House of Orange,
   whose supporters, Orangists, were mainly to be found among the common
   people. For now, the dispute was decided in favour of the regents:
   there would be no new stadtholder (in Holland) for 22 years to come. In
   the year 1651, England imposed the 1651 Navigation Act, which severely
   hurt Dutch trade interests. An incident at sea concerning the Act
   resulted in the First Anglo-Dutch War, which lasted from 1652 to 1654,
   ending in the Treaty of Westminster (1654), by which the Navigation Act
   remained in effect.

   Part of the wealth of the Dutch came through slavery. In 1619 The
   Netherlands began the slave trade between Africa and America, by 1650
   becoming the pre-eminent slave trading country in Europe, a position
   overtaken by Britain around 1700. The port city of Amsterdam was the
   European capital of slavery, helping to manage the slave trade also of
   neighbouring nations and with up to 10,000 slaving vessels associated
   with the port.

   1672 is known in the Netherlands as the "Disastrous Year" (Rampjaar).
   England declared war on the Republic, (the Third Anglo-Dutch War),
   followed by France, Münster and Cologne, which had all signed alliances
   against the Republic. France, Cologne and Münster invaded the Republic,
   while an English attempt to land on the Dutch shore could only just be
   prevented. In the meantime, a new stadtholder, William III, was
   appointed. With the aid of friendly German nations, the Dutch succeeded
   in fighting back Cologne and Münster, after which the peace was signed
   with both of them, and England as well, in 1674 (Second Treaty of
   Westminster (1674)). In 1678, peace was made with France, although the
   Spanish and German allies felt betrayed by the treaty signed in
   Nijmegen.

   In the course of the Glorious Revolution, William III, landed in
   England at the request of notable English citizens, and dethroned James
   II of England.

   Many immigrants went to the cities in the county of Holland in the 17th
   and 18th century. They came especially from Protestant Germany. The
   amount of first generation immigrants from outside the Netherlands in
   Amsterdam was nearly 50% in the 17th and 18th century. If you add
   immigrants from the second and third generation and immigrants from the
   Dutch countryside, then the city was mainly inhabited by immigrants.
   People in most parts of Europe were very poor, and there was a lot of
   unemployment. But in Amsterdam there was always work. Tolerance was
   important, because a continuous influx of immigrants was necessary for
   the economy. Travellers were surprised that the police didn't control
   them in Amsterdam. The Netherlands also sheltered many famous refugees,
   including Flemish Protestants; Portuguese and German Jews; French
   Protestants (Huguenots); the founder of modern philosophy, Descartes;
   and the Pilgrim Fathers, who were symbols for the US tradition of
   republicanism.

   The Dutch economy stagnated from the end of the 17th century until the
   end of the 18th century. The Netherlands slowly lost its position as
   trading centre of Northern Europe. Amsterdam was a central financial
   market and bookmarket in Europe but lost this position to London.

   In foreign affairs, the Netherlands tried to contain France, but it
   changed its foreign policy in the 18th century. The Netherlands was
   still regarded as a major state, when actual power was over. In the
   18th century, the Netherlands tried to maintain its independence and
   kept a policy of neutrality. French invasions in 1672, 1701 and 1748
   led to an overthrow of government. The prince of Orange became the most
   important ruler in 1672 and 1748. The Netherlands was a true republic
   from 1650–1672 and 1702–1748.

Batavian revolution

   Napoléon turned the Netherlands into the Kingdom of Holland in 1806.
   Enlarge
   Napoléon turned the Netherlands into the Kingdom of Holland in 1806.

   At the end of the 18th century, there was growing unrest in the
   Netherlands. There was conflict between the Orangists, who wanted
   stadtholder William V of Orange to hold more power, and the Patriots,
   who under the influence of the American and French Revolutions wanted a
   more democratic form of government. The opening shot of this abortive
   'Batavian' revolution might be considered the manifesto published by
   Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, the founder of the 'Patriots' in
   1781: Aan het Volk van Nederland (To the people of the Netherlands).
   After the Netherlands became the second nation to recognise US
   independence, the British declared war. This Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
   (1780–1784) proved a disaster for the Netherlands, particularly
   economically. Its peace treaty, according to Fernand Braudel "sounded
   the knell of Dutch greatness." In 1785 there was a rebellion by the
   Patriots, an armed insurrection by local militias determined to defend
   municipal democracies in certain Dutch towns. "Seen as a whole this
   revolution is a string of violent and confused events, accidents,
   speeches, rumours, bitter enmities and armed confrontations." says
   Braudel, who sees it as a forerunner of the French Revolution, with the
   constant slogan "vrijheid". But the House of Orange, backed by British
   policy, called upon their Prussian relatives to suppress it. The
   Orangist reaction was severe: no one dared appear in public without an
   orange cockade and there were lynchings, the old burgomasters were
   replaced and a small unpaid Prussian army was billeted in the
   Netherlands supporting themselves with looting and extortion, Many
   Patriots fled the country to Brabant or France, perhaps 40,000 in all.

Batavian Republic and French rule

   Against this background it is less surprising that, after the French
   Revolution, when the French army invaded and occupied the Netherlands
   in 1795, the French encountered so little united resistance. William V
   of Orange fled to England. The Patriots proclaimed the short-lived
   Batavian Republic, but government was soon returned to stabler and more
   experienced hands. In 1806 Napoleon restyled the Netherlands (along
   with a small part of what is now Germany) into the Kingdom of Holland,
   with his brother Louis (Lodewijk) Bonaparte as king. This too was
   short-lived, however. Napoleon incorporated the Netherlands into the
   French empire after his brother put Dutch interests ahead of those of
   the French. The French occupation of the Netherlands ended in 1813
   after Napoleon was defeated, a defeat in which William VI of Orange
   played a prominent role.

   On November 30 1813, William VI of Orange took ashore in Scheveningen
   and was proclaimed the Souvereign Prince of the United Netherlands
   (Dutch: Vereenigde Nederlanden). This state was superseded by the
   United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, after the unification of the
   northern Netherlands with the Austrian Netherlands under William VI of
   Orange.

   During the Napoleonic occupation, the House of Orange signed a treaty
   with the English in which it gave to that country the Dutch colonies in
   'safekeeping' and ordered the colonial governors to surrender to the
   British. This put an end to much of the Dutch colonial empire. Guyana
   and Ceylon never returned to Dutch rule. The Cape Colony, which had
   changed hands several times, remained British after 1806. Other
   colonies, including what is today Indonesia, were returned to the
   Netherlands under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. Ten years later there
   was another treaty—the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824.

Monarchy

   After the Napoleonic era the Netherlands were put back on the map of
   Europe. The country had always been part of the precarious balance of
   power that had kept France in check. Particularly the Russian tsar
   wanted the Netherlands to resume this role and wanted the colonies to
   be returned. A compromise was struck with the United Kingdom at the
   Congress of Vienna, whereby only Indonesia was returned, but the North
   and South of the Netherlands reunited. In 1815 the country became a
   monarchy, with the son of the last stadtholder, William V, the Prince
   of Orange as king William I. In addition, king William I became
   hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. William's United Kingdom of the
   Netherlands originally consisted of what is now the Netherlands and
   Belgium with two capitals: Amsterdam and Brussels, but the
   French-speaking Belgian ruling minority soon began feeling like
   second-class citizens. The primary factors that contributed to this
   feeling were religious (the predominantly Roman Catholic South versus
   the mostly Protestant North), economic (the South was industrializing,
   the North had always been a merchants' nation) and linguistic (the
   French-speaking South was not just Wallonia, but also extended to the
   French-speaking bourgeoisie in the Flemish cities). In 1830 the
   situation exploded, the Belgians revolted and declared independence
   from the North. King William sent an army in 1831, but it was forced to
   retreat after a few days when the French army was mobilised. The North
   refused to recognise Belgium until 1839.

   In 1848 unrest broke out all over Europe. Although there were no major
   events in the Netherlands, these foreign developments persuaded king
   William II to agree to liberal and democratic reform. That same year
   the liberal Johan Rudolf Thorbecke was asked by the king to rewrite the
   constitution, turning the Netherlands into a constitutional monarchy.
   The new document was proclaimed valid on November 3 of that year. It
   severely limited the king's powers (making the cabinet accountable only
   to an elected parliament), and it protected civil liberties.

   The personal union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg ended in 1890
   when Queen Wilhelmina ascended to the Dutch throne, as ascendancy rules
   in Luxembourg prevented a woman from becoming ruling Grand Duchess.

   By the end of the 19th century, in the New Imperialism wave of
   colonisation, the Netherlands extended their hold on Indonesia. In 1860
   Multatuli wrote Max Havelaar, the most famous book in the history of
   Dutch literature, criticising the exploitation of the country and its
   inhabitants by the Dutch.

20th century

   Although its army mobilised when World War I broke out in August 1914,
   the Netherlands remained a neutral country. The German invasion of
   Belgium that same year led to a large flow of refugees from that
   country (about 1 million). Surrounded by states at war, and with the
   North Sea unsafe for civilian ships to sail on, food became scarce and
   was distributed using coupons. With the end of the war in 1918, the
   situation returned to normalcy.

   Although both houses of the Dutch parliament were elected by the
   people, only men with high incomes were eligible for voting until 1918,
   when pressure from socialist movements resulted in elections in which
   all men were allowed to vote. In 1922 women also got the right to vote.

   The worldwide Great Depression of 1929 and the early 1930s had
   crippling effects on the Dutch economy, which lasted longer than they
   did in most European countries. The depression led to large
   unemployment and poverty, as well as increasing social unrest. The rise
   of Nazism in Germany did not go unnoticed in the Netherlands, and there
   was growing concern over the possibility of armed conflict, but most
   Dutch citizens thought that Germany would again respect Dutch
   neutrality.

World War II

   Two sides of a WWII 'ausweis' or 'persoonsbewijs' (identification)
   Enlarge
   Two sides of a WWII 'ausweis' or 'persoonsbewijs' (identification)

   At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Netherlands declared their
   neutrality again. However, on May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany launched an
   attack on the Netherlands and Belgium and overran most of the country
   quickly, fighting against a poorly-equipped Dutch army. By May 14,
   fighting was only occurring in isolated locations, when the Luftwaffe
   bombed Rotterdam, the second largest city of the Netherlands, killing
   about 800 people, destroying large parts of the city, and leaving
   78,000 homeless. Following the bombardment and German threats of the
   same for Utrecht, the Netherlands capitulated on May 15 (except the
   province of Zeeland). The royal family and some military forces fled to
   the United Kingdom. Some members of the royal family eventually moved
   to Ottawa, Canada until the Netherlands was liberated; Princess
   Margriet was born during this Canadian exile.

   About 140,000 Jews lived in the Netherlands at the beginning of the
   war; persecution of the Jews started shortly after the invasion. At the
   end of the war, only 40,000 Jews were alive. Of the 100,000 Jews that
   didn't hide, only 1000 survived the war. Anne Frank, who later gained
   world-wide fame when her diary, written in the Achterhuis (backhouse)
   while hiding from the Nazis, was found and published, died shortly
   before the liberation of her camp on May 5, 1945.

   Resentment about the German presence grew as the occupation regime
   bacame harsher, prompting many Dutch to join the resistance. However,
   collaboration was not uncommon either; many thousands of young Dutch
   males also volunteered for combat service on the Russian Front with the
   Waffen-SS.

   Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies on January 11, 1942. The
   Dutch surrendered on March 8, after Japanese troops landed on Java.
   Dutch citizens were captured and put to work in labour camps. However,
   many Dutch ships and military personnel managed to reach Australia,
   from where they were able to fight the Japanese.

   In Europe, after the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, progress
   was slow until the Battle of Normandy ended in August 1944. As German
   resistance collapsed in western Europe, the allies advanced quickly
   towards the Dutch border. First Canadian Army and the 2nd British Army
   conducted major operations on Dutch soil beginning in September. On 17
   September a daring operation, Operation Market Garden, was executed
   with the goal of capturing bridges across three major rivers in the
   southern Netherlands. Despite desperate fighting by American, British
   and Polish forces, the bridge at Arnhem, across the Neder Rijn, could
   not be captured. However, areas south of the Neder Rijn were liberated
   in the period September–November 1944, including the province of
   Zeeland which was liberated in the Battle of the Scheldt. However, the
   rest of the country, with a major part of the population, remained
   occupied until the spring of 1945. The winter 1944–1945 was very harsh,
   and many Dutch starved, giving the winter the name Hongerwinter (Hunger
   winter). On May 5, 1945, a beaten Nazi Germany finally capitulated,
   signing the surrender to the Dutch at Wageningen. After the war, Artur
   Seyss-Inquart, the Nazi Commissioner of the Netherlands, was tried at
   Nuremberg.

Post-war years

   Indonesia, the former Dutch East Indies, had been a very valuable
   resource, and the Dutch feared its independence would lead to an
   economic downfall.
   Enlarge
   Indonesia, the former Dutch East Indies, had been a very valuable
   resource, and the Dutch feared its independence would lead to an
   economic downfall.

   Two days after the surrender of Japan, most of the Dutch East Indies
   declared its independence as Indonesia. A confusing phase followed,
   known as the Indonesian National Revolution, with the Netherlands
   recognising the new country on the one hand, while fighting the
   Indonesian nationalists in two wars, named politionele acties ("police
   actions"). Increasing international pressure led the Netherlands to
   eventually withdraw and it formally recognised Indonesian independence
   on December 27, 1949. Part of the former Dutch East Indies, namely the
   western part of New Guinea, remained under Dutch control as Netherlands
   New Guinea until 1961, when the Netherlands transferred sovereignty to
   Indonesia, following Indonesian threats to invade the region.

   Although it was originally expected that the loss of the Indies would
   contribute to an economic downfall, the reverse proved to be true, and
   in the 1950s and 60s, the Dutch economy experienced a near
   unprecedented growth. In fact, the demand for labour was so strong that
   immigration was actively encouraged, first from Italy and Spain; then
   later on, in larger numbers, from Turkey and Morocco. Combined with the
   immigration from (former) colonies like Indonesia, Surinam and
   Netherlands Antilles, the Netherlands was becoming a multicultural
   country.

   In the early post-war years the Netherlands made continued attempts to
   expand its territory by annexing neighbouring German territory. The
   larger annexation plans were continuously rejected by the U.S., but the
   London conference of 1949 permitted the Netherlands to perform a
   smaller scale annexation. Most of the annexed territory was returned to
   Germany on August 1, 1963.

   Operation Black Tulip was a plan in 1945 by Dutch minister of Justice
   Kolfschoten to evict all Germans from the Netherlands. The operation
   lasted from 1946 to 1948 and in the end 3691 Germans (15% of Germans
   resident in the Netherlands) were deported.

   The operation started on 10 September 1946 in Amsterdam, where Germans
   and their families were taken from their homes in the middle of the
   night and given one hour to collect 50 kg of luggage. They were allowed
   to take 100 Guilders. The rest of their possessions went to the state.
   They were taken to concentration camps near the German border, the
   biggest of which was Mariënbosch near Nijmegen.

   The allied forces that occupied western Germany didn't like this
   operation because other countries might follow suit and western Germany
   was in too bad a state to receive all these newcomers. The British
   troops in Germany reacted by evicting 100 000 Dutch citizens in Germany
   to the Netherlands.

   The last major flood in the Netherlands took place in early February
   1953, when a huge storm caused the collapse of several dikes in the
   southwest of the Netherlands. More than 1,800 people drowned in the
   ensuing inundations. The Dutch government subsequently decided on a
   large-scale programme of public works (the " Delta Works") to protect
   the country against future flooding. The project took more than thirty
   years to complete. According to Dutch government engineers, the odds of
   a major inundation anywhere in the Netherlands are now 1 in 10,000 per
   year. Following the disaster with hurricane Katrina in 2005, an
   American congressional delegation visited the Netherlands to inspect
   the Delta Works and Dutch government engineers were invited to a
   hearing of the U.S. Congress to explain the Netherlands' efforts to
   protect low-lying areas.

   The 60s and 70s were a time of great social and cultural change, such
   as rapid ontzuiling (literally: depillarisation), a term that describes
   the decay of the old divisions along class and religious lines. Youths,
   and students in particular, rejected traditional mores, and pushed for
   change in matters like women's rights, sexuality, disarmament (See:
   Hollanditis) and environmental issues. Today, the Netherlands is
   regarded as a liberal country, considering its drugs policy and its
   legalisation of euthanasia. Same-sex marriage has been permitted since
   1 April 2001.

   In 1952, the Netherlands were among the founders of the European Coal
   and Steel Community, which evolved into the European Union. The
   Netherlands is an industrialised nation but also a large exporter of
   agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and
   participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. In recent years
   the Dutch have often been a driving force behind the integration of
   European countries in the European Union.

   On 6 May 2002, the murder on Pim Fortuyn, a right-wing populist calling
   for a very strict policy on immigration, shocked the country. His party
   became a major political force after the elections, significantly
   changing the political landscape. However, infighting within the party
   caused them to lose much of their following in elections the next year.
   Another murder that drew much attention took place on 2 November 2004,
   when film director and publicist Theo van Gogh was assassinated by a
   Dutch-Moroccan youth with radical Islamic beliefs. This sparked debate
   on the existence of radical Islam in the Netherlands, and on
   immigration and integration.

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