History of the Netherlands

Portrait painting thrived in the Netherlands in the 17th century. One of the most prominent examples being Rembrandts famous The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, better known as the Night Watch (1642).

The Netherlands is a country located in Western Europe, with a population of about 16 million people. The history of this small country starts with its first inhabitants, hunters that lived during the last ice age thousands of years ago. Notable remains of that period include the monumental Hunebeds in the province Drenthe. In the 1st century BC, the Romans inhabited the southern part of the Netherlands where they built the first cities. The Völkerwanderung caused the Roman Empire to fall and split the Netherlands into three parts, the Frisians living by the coast, the Saxons in the east, and the Franks in the south.

In the 17th century the Dutch struggled for independence from Spain, leading to the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), the large-scale overseas trade industry resulted in the creation of many colonies, the economy blossomed during this golden age. Several great wars were fought with the English during this period.

In the 20th century, the Netherlands remained a neutral country during World War I. At the outbreak of World War II it declared its neutrality again, but the poorly-equipped Dutch army was overran by Nazi Germany and the royal family fled to England. During the occupation Anne Frank wrote her world-famous diary, she died shortly before the liberation on May 5, 1945.

Pre-history era

The Netherlands have been inhabited since the last ice age, the oldest remnants have been found are 100ka old. During the last ice age, the Netherlands had a tundra-climate with very scarse vegetation. After the end of the ice age, various paleolithic nomadic groups lived in the Netherlands. Agriculture arrived in the Netherlands in about 5000 B.C., but was only practised on the loess-plateau in the very south (Zuid-Limburg). The most famous remnants from the early age in the Netherlands are the hunebedden (Dutch for dolmens), large stone grave monuments from the neolithic, which can be found in Drenthe.

Roman era

In the first century BC, the Romans came to the southern Netherlands, which formed most of the Roman province of Germania Inferior. For the majority of the Roman occupation, the boundary of the Roman Empire lay along the Rhine. Romans built the first cities in the Netherlands, most importantly Utrecht, Nijmegen, and Maastricht. The northern part of the Netherlands, outside the Roman Empire, where the Frisians lived (and still do), was also heavily influenced by its strong southern neighbour. The Romans also introduced the script.

Holy Roman empire

After the fall of the Roman Empire and the subsequent period of turmoil, the Netherlands was divided in three parts, the Frisians living by the coast, the Saxons in the east, and the Franks in the south. The Franks managed to overcome their neighbours. Under Charlemagne, a Frankish empire was built, having its heartland in the future Belgium and northern France, and spanning France, Germany, northern Italy, and several other regions. The Frankish empire divided and re-united several times, in the end giving rise to two major powers, France and the Holy Roman Empire in Germany. The Netherlands formed part of the latter.

The Holy Roman Empire, however, did not retain political unity. Local vassals made their countships and duchies into private kingdoms and felt not much obliged to the emperor, who over large parts of the nation governed only in name. 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, but Friesland and Groningen in the north kept their independence, being governed by the lower nobility. Most of what is now the Netherlands and Belgium was united by the duke of Burgundy.

Struggle for independence and the Golden Age

Through inheritance, the area became a possession of the Habsburg dynasty under Charles V in the late 15th century. In the Netherlands, part of the population, influenced by the Reformation, became Protestants. This was not liked by Charles's son and successor Philip II of Spain, who also was very distant in attitude (never visiting the Low Countries himself), whereas his father had been raised in Ghent (Belgium) and had become lord of the Netherlands before he became king of Spain. Philip's attempts to enforce religious persecution of the Protestants and his endeavours to centralise government, justice and taxes led to a revolt, starting when the seven Dutch 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, a nobleman, took the lead in what is called the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). On January 30, 1648, the Peace of Westphalia confirmed the independence of the United Provinces from Spain.

During the Eighty Years' War the Dutch also started large-scale overseas trade — they hunted whales near Svalbard, traded spices with India and Indonesia, started colonies in Brazil and New Amsterdam (now New York), South Africa, the West Indies. The wealth accumulated from all this trade led to the 17th century being called the golden age (de gouden eeuw) of the Netherlands. As the Netherlands were a republic they were governed by regents, an aristocracy of city-merchants, rather than by a king or by nobility. In principle every city and province had its own government and laws. There was much independence of the various cities and districts, although some of the lands belonging to the republic had provincial official status, such as Brabant and the cities Venlo and Maastricht, now in present-day Limburg (Netherlands).

With the independence of the Netherlands, a decline of the wealth of the Dutch set in. In 1650, the stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange died, leaving the nation without a powerful ruler. The following year, England imposed the 1651 Navigation Act, which severely hurt Dutch trade interests. A fight over the Act resulted in the First Anglo-Dutch War, which lasted from 1652 to 1654, ending in the Peace of Westminster, by which the Navigation Act remained in effect.

Michiel de Ruyter, a famous Dutch admiral, destroyed a large part of the English fleet in 1667, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. This led to the Peace of Breda.

The Second Anglo-Dutch War began in 1665 when the English declared war — they had already attacked Dutch settlements in the New Netherlands. While the Dutch were also troubled by French invasions in the Spanish Netherlands — present-day Belgium — the English and Dutch signed a peace treaty: the 1667 Peace of Breda, after Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter destroyed a large part of the English fleet on the Thames. It was agreed that the English would keep the Dutch possesions in North America (the area around current New York City), while they give control of Suriname to the Dutch. Also, the Navigation Act was loosened.

1672 is known in the Netherlands as the Rampjaar (disaster year). 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 could only just be prevented. In the meantime, a new stadtholder, William III, was appointed. Later, two important politicians during the stadtholderless era, Johan and Cornelis de Witt were brutally murdered in The Hague. With the aid of other German nations, the Dutch succeed in fighting back, leading to a peace with Cologne and Münster in 1674, after England also agreed to peace, in the Second Peace of Westminster.

In 1678, peace was made with France, though the Spanish and German allies felt betrayed by the treaty signed in Nijmegen. When the English king James II of England was dethroned by him, William III was asked to become king of England in 1688.

French rule

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

At the end of the 18th century, unrest was growing in the Netherlands. Fights were starting between the Orangists, wanting stadtholder William V of Orange to obtain more power, and the patriots, who under influence of the American and French Revolutions wanted a more democratic government. Holland was the first country to salute the American flag, and Britain declared war before the country could join a group of neutral countries sworn to mutual assistance. This Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784) proved a disaster for the Netherlands, particularly economically. In 1785 there was a democratic ('patriotic') revolt, but the House of Orange called upon their Prussian relatives to put it down. Many patriots fled the country to France.

After the French Revolution, French republican armies invaded the Netherlands and settled the internal strife in favour of the Patriots, who created the short-lived Batavian Republic. French influence was strong, and Napoleon turned the Netherlands (including a small part of Germany) into the Kingdom of Holland, with his brother Louis (Lodewijk) Bonaparte as king. This also did not last very long, because when Napoleon noticed that his brother put the Dutch interests before the French, he made the Netherlands part of the French empire.

On May 18 1803, the United Kingdom declared war on France after France refused to withdraw from Dutch territory. The House of Orange in the meantime signed a treaty with the UK in which they gave to that country the Dutch colonies in 'safekeeping' and ordered the colonial governors to surrender to the English. This put an end to most of the Dutch colonial empire. Guyana and Ceylon never returned to Dutch rule. The Cape colony was briefly returned to the Batavian Republic but became definitively British after 1806. Other colonies, including Indonesia, were returned following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 (there was also an 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 Britain at the Congress of Vienna, whereby only Indonesia was returned, but the North and South of the Netherlands reunited. The country became a monarchy, with the son of the last stadtholder William V, the prince of Orange as king William I. His United Kingdom of the Netherlands originally consisted of what is now the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, 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 Catholic South versus the mostly Protestant North), economic (the South was industrialising, 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. In the Netherlands, little unrest happened, but the effects were large. The liberal Johan Rudolf Thorbecke was asked by the king to create a new constitution, which basically turned the Netherlands into a democracy. The new document was proclaimed valid on November 3 of that year.

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

20th century

World War I

In World War I, the Netherlands remained a neutral country, but the army mobilised when war broke out in August 1914. The German invasion of Belgium that same year led to a large flow of refugees from that country (about 1 million). A little known fact is that the German Imperial Army did violate Dutch neutrality at the invasion of Belgium. They entered from Germany and left into Belgium, effectively taking a small "short-cut" over Dutch lands.

The country being surrounded by states at war, and with the North Sea unsafe for civilian ships to sail on, food became scarce; food was now distributed using coupons. An error in food distribution caused the so-called Aardappeloproer (Potato-rebellion) in Amsterdam in 1917, when civilians plundered a food transport intended for soldiers. In November 1918 the leader of the Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij (SDAP, Social-Democratic Labour Party), Jelles Troelstra, called for a socialist revolution among the workers, but his plan failed.

World War II

Anne Frank's diary has been translated into some 60 languages since its publication.

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. On May 14, only a small number of battlefields remained, among others at Rotterdam. On 14 May, at 10:35, Nazi Germany demanded in an ill-formatted ultimatum (it was not signed and did not contain the qualities of the sender: just "the commanding officer of the troops at Rotterdam") that the Netherlands surrender the city within two hours, to which the commander, general Winkelman, replied through the garrison commander at 12:15 that only a correctly signed ultimatum was to be considered. Around 13:30 a new ultimatum was handed out to the Dutch captain Bakker, to which the reply was expected before 16:30. However, at the same time the bombardment of Rotterdam began, killing about 800 people and destroying large parts of the city, leaving 78,000 homeless. Following the bombardment and German threats to the same for Utrecht, general Winkelman capitulated. However, this capitulation only affected the Dutch Army — not the Navy, nor the Air Force nor the Royal Dutch Indian Army. in this way, the Netherlands did not cease to exist, which proved of vital importance for the governing of the overseas territories and for keeping the Navy active against Germany. The royal family had already fled to England. Nazi Germany's civil administration of the Netherlands was headed by Arthur Seyss-Inquart.

Persecution of the Jews, of which about 140,000 lived in the Netherlands at the start of the war, including some 20,000 refugees, started immediately after the invasion. In 1942, a transport camp was erected near Westerbork. Concentration camps were built near Vught and Amersfoort. At the end of the war, only about 20,000 of the 140,000 Dutch Jews remained alive. Among those who died was Anne Frank, who later gained world-wide fame when her diary, written in the Achterhuis, while hiding from the Nazis, was found and published.

After the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, they proceeded quickly towards the Dutch border. On September 5 most of the Dutch thought the liberation would be very soon; the day is known as Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday). On September 17 a daring operation, Operation Market Garden, was staged to make a quick incursion into the southern Netherlands and capture bridges across the three main rivers. The bridge at Arnhem, across the Rhine, could however not be captured. The part south of the rivers was liberated in the period September November 1944. However, for most of the country people would have to wait until May 1945.

The winter 1944–1945 was very harsh, and many Dutch starved, giving the winter the name Hongerwinter (Hunger winter). On May 5, 1945, following Allied victories in Nazi Germany, Nazi Germany finally surrendered, signing the surrender to the Dutch at Wageningen.

After World War II

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

Immediately after the liberation of the Dutch East Indies from Japan, on August 17, 1945, the colony 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, or "police actions". Increasing international pressure from the United Nations, and the United States (which threatened to stop Marshall Plan aid), and Indonesian determination led the Netherlands to accept the new situation. Indonesia formally gained independence on December 27, 1949. Only the western half of New Guinea remained Dutch (until 1961). Although it was originally expected that the loss of the Indies would lead to an economic downfall, the reverse proved to be true, and in the 1950s the Netherlands quickly increased its wealth. In 1952 the Netherlands were among the founders of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (together with France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg). The ECSC would over time evolve into the European Union.

A modern, industrialised nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EC, and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. In recent years the Dutch have often been a driving force behind the unification of European countries in the European Union.

Same-sex marriage (homohuwelijk, or gay marriage) became permitted on 1 April 2001. At that time the Netherlands were the only country where gay marriages were not only allowed, but also considered fully equivalent to heterosexual ones.

For a long time Dutch politics were dominated by the Christian Democrat parties, which from the 1910s on governed, sometimes in coalition with the liberal party, sometimes with the social democrat one. This changed in 1994, when social-democrats and liberals formed the so-called "Purple Cabinet", which governed till 2002. Currently, the government consists of a centrist coalition of Christian Democrats, Liberals, and a small centre-left party called Democrats 66. On 6 May 2002, the murder of Pim Fortuyn, a populist and in some ways right-wing politician, brought a shock through the country. As had already been foreseen before his murder, his party became a major political force after the elections, significantly changing the political landscape. However, infighting within the party itself caused them to lose much of their following in elections the next year.