History of the Netherlands
Prehistory
The Netherlands have been inhabited since the last Ice Age. The most famous remnants from the early age in the Netherlands are the hunebeds (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 Netherlands. 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.
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 neighbors. Under Charlemagne, a Frankish empire was built, having its heartland in Belgium and northern France, and spanning France, Germany, northern Italy, and several other regions. The Frankish empire was divided and reunited several times, in the end giving rise to two major powers, France and the Holy Roman Empire in Germany. The Netherlands were part of the latter.
The Holy Roman Empire did however not remain a 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 is now 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 of Spain in the late 15th century. In the Netherlands, some part of the population joined with the Reformation and 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. Philips's attempts to enforce religious persecution of the Protestants and his endeavours to centralise government, justice & taxes led to a revolt, starting when the seven Dutch provinces united through the Union of Utrecht in 1579, forming the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (also United Provinces). William of Orange, a nobleman, took the lead in what is called the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648). On May 15, 1648, the Treaty of Munster ensures 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)for the Netherlands. As the Netherlands were a republic they were governed by an aristocracy of city-merchants (Regenten) rather than by a king or 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 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 imposes the 1651 Navigation Act, which severely hurts Dutch trade interests. A fight over the Act results into the First Anglo-Dutch War, which lasted from 1652 to 1654, ending in the Peace of Westminster, where the Navigation Act remained in effect.
A second conflict between England and the Republic began in 1665, when the English declared war. Before, they had already attacked Dutch settlements in the New Netherlands. While the Dutch are also troubled by French invasions in the Spanish Netherlands - present-day Belgium - the English and Dutch sign a peace treaty: the 1667 Peace of Breda, after Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter destroyed a big part of the English fleet on the Thames. It is agreed that the English will keep the Dutch possesions in North America (the area around current New York City), while they give command of Suriname to the Dutch. Also, the Navigation Act is loosened.
1672 is known in the Netherlands as the Rampjaar (disaster year). England declares war on the republic, followed by France, Munster and Cologne, which have all signed alliances against the Republic. France, Cologne and Munster invade the Republic, while an English attempt to land can only just be prevented. In the meanwhile, a new stadtholder, William III, is assigned. Later, two important politicians during the stadtholderless era, Johan and Cornelis de Witt are 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 Munster in 1674, after England also agreed to peace, in the Second Peace of Westminster.
In 1678, peace is made with France, though the Spanish and German allies feel betrayed by the treaty signed in Nijmegen. As the English king James II of England is dethroned, William III is asked to become king of England in 1689.
...
French rule
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 coutry could join a group of neutral countries sworn to mutual assistance. This fourth English war (1780-1784) was 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 Napoleon as king ("Konijn van Olland"). 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.
The House of Orange in the meantime signed a treaty with Britain in which they gave this 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, Ceylon were never returned. The Cape colony was briefly returned to the Batavian Republic but became British after 1806. Indonesia became Dutch again after 1813.
Monarchy
See also: Dutch 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 czar 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 Belgians were soon feeling that they were 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 merchant's nation) and linguistic (the French-speaking South was not just Wallony, 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. After a war of only a few days, King William had to give in, though he 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.
By the end of the 19th century, when internationally countries were claiming colonies, the Netherlands extended their hold of Indonesia. Max Havelaar by Multatuli, the most famous book in the history of Dutch literature, complained about the exploitation by the Dutch of the country and its inhabitants.
20th century
In World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral, but the army was mobilised when war broke out in August of 1914. The German invasion of Belgium that same year led to a large flow of refugees from that country (about 1 million).
The country being enclosed between countries 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 the food distribution caused the so-called Aardappeloproer (Potato-rebellion) in Amsterdam, in 1917, as civilians plundered a food transport for soldiers.
In November 1918, the leader of the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiders Partij (SDAP, Social-Democratic Labour Party), Jelles Troelstra, calls for a socialist revolution among the workers, but his plan fails.
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Netherlands declared their neutrality again. However, on May 10, 1940, Germany launched an attack on the Netherlands and Belgium. The Germans overran most of the country quickly, fighting against a poorly equipped Dutch army. At May 14, an small number of battlefields was left, among others at Rotterdam. The Germans offered the Dutch to surrender the city, to which no reply came in time. The result was a massive bombardment on the city, killing about 800 and destroying large parts of the city leaving 78,000 homeless. Following the bombardment, the Dutch capitulated to the Germans. The royal family had, by then, already fled to England.
Persecution of the Jews, of which about 160,000 lived in the Netherlands at the start of the war, including some 20,000 refugees, starts right after the invasion. In 1942, a transport camp is erected near Westerbork. Concentration camps are built near Vught and Amersfoort. At the end of the war, only about 30,000 of the 140,000 Dutch Jews were still alive. Among those who died was Anne Frank, who later gained world fame when her diary, written while hiding for the Germans, was found and published.
After the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, they proceeded quickly towards the Dutch border. In September of the same year, 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 Dutch, who thought the liberation had already started - the day the operation started is known as Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday) -, would have to wait until 1945, although the part south of the rivers was liberated at that time.
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 Germany, Germany finally surrendered, signing the surrender to the Dutch at Wageningen.
On January 11, 1942, the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies started. The Dutch surrendered on March 1, when the troops landed on Java. Dutch citizens were captured and put to work in labour camps. The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945, after the Americans had dropped two atomic bombs on the country.
After World War II
Immediately after the liberation of the Dutch East Indies, August 17, 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 nationalist in two wars, or "police actions". Increasing international pressure from the United Nations, and the United States, which threatened to stop the Marshall help, and Indonesian determination lead the Netherlands to accept the new situation. Indonesia formally gained independence on December 27, 1949. Only the western half of New Guinea remained Dutch.
Although it was originally expected that the loss of the Indies would lead to an economic downfall, the reverse appeared true, and in the 1950s the Netherlands quickly increased in wealth.
A modern, industrialized 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.
Homosexual marriage (homohuwelijk, or gay marriage) became permitted in 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.
see also Netherlands/2000, Netherlands/2001