World War II and After

In May, 1940, the Netherlands was overrun by German armies, and the center of Rotterdam was destroyed by bombing. Queen Wilhelmina and the government went into exile. Within hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Dutch government-in-exile declared war on Japan. The Dutch East Indies fell in 1942.

In 1945, after the war in Europe, the government returned and the laborious process of rebuilding was begun. The Netherlands received more than $100,000,000 in aid under the European Recovery Program. The Netherlands was a charter member of the United Nations. It joined with Belgium and Luxembourg to form Benelux, a customs union that went into effect in 1948. Also, it became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, and in 1958 became a charter member of what is now the European Union.

Queen Wilhelmina abdicated in 1948 in favor of her daughter, Juliana. In 1949, Indonesia was granted independence. In 1953, the Netherlands suffered its worst flood in more than 500 years when a violent storm caused seawater to breach many of the country's dikes. Floodwaters covered about 1,500 square miles (4,000 km2) and nearly 2,000 people perished.

Following a military conflict with Indonesia over West New Guinea (Irian Jaya), the Dutch relinquished the territory in 1962. An economic boom followed the postwar rebuilding phase, and under various socialist governments a highly developed social-welfare system was established.

In 1980, Queen Juliana ended a 31-year reign by abdicating in favor of her daughter Beatrix. In elections in 1994, the Labor party won a plurality of seats in the Second Chamber and Wim Kok became the first Labor prime minister since 1977.

The Netherlands signed the treaty that established the European Union and its currency, the euro, in 1992. The euro replaced the Dutch currency in 2002.

In 1995, severe flooding of the Waal and Maas rivers necessitated the evacuation of about 250,000 people, mainly in Limburg, Zeeland, and Gelderland provinces. In 2000, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia. In 2001, parliament passed legislation that allowed same-sex couples to marry and to adopt children.

Disagreements over immigration policy and the economy led to the collapse of the government in the Netherlands in 2006. A three-part coalition government, with Jan Peter Balkenende as its leader, was in place as of February, 2007. A temporary government headed by Balkenende had governed in the interim.