Introduction to History of Netherlands

The delta region at the mouths of the Rhine, Maas, and Schelde rivers was occupied in ancient times by Celts. Gradually they were pushed to the south by Teutonic (Germanic) tribes migrating to the coastal area from the west. The new arrivals called the low coastal plains the netherlands (low lands).

The Romans and Franks

The Romans undertook the conquest of Gaul (modern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and a portion of the Netherlands and Germany) in the first century B.C. They found the coast occupied by the Belgae, a largely Celtic people, to the south of the Rhine. To the north were two Germanic groups—the Batavians southwest of the Zuider Zee, and the Frisians northeast. The Romans established control over the region and occupied it for 400 years.

In the third century A.D. the Franks began pushing into the lower Rhine valley. As the power of the Roman Empire declined, the Franks expanded their control over all the Netherlands, the Frisians submitting last, in 719. In 754 Saint Boniface, called the Apostle of Germany, was killed by Frisians he was trying to convert.

Medieval Development

The Frankish ruler Charlemagne died in 814, and his empire was gradually divided among his various heirs. None of them exercised any authority over the farther provinces. In the Netherlands the feudal states became independent domains, only nominally a part of the emerging nations of France and Germany between which they were divided. The entire delta region and all territory east of the Schelde fell within the Kingdom of Germany of the Holy Roman Empire. The Low German dialect of the area was called Dutch, and the people of the German Netherlands came to be known as the Dutch.

The state occupying the coastal area between the delta region and the Zuider Zee was Holland. It ruled the other coastal states of the German Netherlands. The coastal area was in constant danger of being engulfed by the sea, and had to be protected by dikes. The Dutch became expert at draining and reclaiming flooded land.

In the 9th and 10th centuries Flanders, in the French Netherlands, became the major cloth-producing country in Europe, weaving wool bought from England. The seafaring Dutch traded North Sea herring with peoples of the Baltic area, who supplied them with lumber and beer, and sailed to the Bay of Biscay for wine and salt. During the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), fought between France and England, France controlled Flanders and the English sold their wool to the Dutch instead of to the Flemish. Middelburg, Dordrecht, Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and later Antwerp became established as mercantile cities, with a large, prosperous middle class.

Burgundian and Spanish Rule

In the 14th and 15th centuries the duchy of Burgundy, in eastern France, by marriage and conquest gained control of a great part of the Netherlands. In 1463 the duke of Burgundy established a parliament for the Netherlands called the States-General. It was the first time the area had been treated as a single country. The Burgundian lands passed by marriage to the Spanish Hapsburgs and in 1506 were inherited by the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He brought what are now Belgium and Luxembourg under his control and made the Netherlands part of the Hapsburg inheritance, which passed to his son, Philip II of Spain, in 1556.

During the reign of Charles V, the Netherlands had been swept by the Protestant Reformation. The northern provinces had become largely Protestant—Lutheran, Anabaptist, and Calvinist Philip II, a devout Roman Catholic, attempted to stamp out Protestantism in the Netherlands, as well as to exact absolute obedience from the independent-minded Dutch and Flemish. Revolts broke out in 1566, and the next year the Duke of Alva arrived with an army from Spain and put down the rebellion.

Founding of the Dutch Republic

The Dutch began their battle for independence in 1568. They were led by William, or Willem, of Orange (called the Silent), stadholder (viceroy) of Holland and Zeeland. From the beginning the religious differences between the Protestant north and Catholic south made unified action difficult. In 1576, in a treaty known as the Pacification of Ghent, all the provinces agreed to put aside their differences until the Spanish were driven out. In 1578 Philip II of Spain made Alessandro Farnese governor general of the Netherlands with orders to crush the revolt. Farnese subdued the southern provinces with a combination of military force and promises of political freedoms.

The seven northern provinces—Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Groningen, Friesland, and Overijssel—in 1579 signed the Union of Utrecht, a pact to stand together against Spain. Two years later they declared their independence and formed a republic, called the United Provinces. It was a loose federation headed by William of Orange as military leader. When William was murdered in 1584 at the instigation of Philip II, leadership passed to his son Maurice.

The United Provinces received aid from England in their war of liberation, and in 1609 the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain was signed. Fighting was resumed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), in which the Hapsburgs were defeated by an alliance of Protestant nations. By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 Spain finally recognized the Dutch republic's independence, and ceded some additional territory to it. The southern provinces continued under Hapsburg rule as the Spanish (later Austrian) Netherlands until ceded to France in 1797.

Golden Age of the Netherlands

During the long struggle for independence, the Dutch republic became the leading nation in colonial trade. By 1600 the Dutch had begun to compete for the lucrative East Indies commerce held by Portugal. The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602, the Dutch West India Company in 1621. Trade settlements were established in Indonesia in 1619, South America in 1623, North America in 1625, the West Indies in 1634, and South Africa in 1652. By the middle of the 17th century Holland (as the Dutch republic was commonly known) was the greatest maritime power of the world, and Amsterdam was Europe's financial center.

A system of government developed slowly in the Dutch republic, with considerable conflict between the States-General and the nobility. The stadholder of the province of Holland, traditionally a member of the House of Orange, came to be recognized as the ruler of the whole country, taking the title of governor. At various times, however, the States-General transferred power to the grand pensionary (prime minister).

Decline of Power

Holland's maritime supremacy soon brought hostilities with England and France, both of which wanted the colonial trade, and with Portugal, which resented Dutch attacks on its colonies in Asia, Africa, and South America. The initial conflict, the First Anglo-Dutch War, 1652–54, was inconclusive. In 1654 Holland lost its foothold in Brazil to the Portuguese in an unrelated conflict. In 1664 the English seized New Netherland, Holland's North American possession. The loss was confirmed, after a second Anglo-Dutch war, 1665–67, in the Treaty of Breda.

In 1672 France allied with England in a new war with the Dutch. Holland was overrun by French troops, who were expelled later the same year under the leadership of Stadholder William II of Orange (who became King William III of England in 1689). England withdrew from the war in 1674. The war was ended in 1678 by the Treaty of Nijmegen. Holland suffered no territorial losses, but by this time both England and France had established colonial empires rivaling Holland's own.

Holland participated in the War of the Grand Alliance (1689–97) against France, and in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). The expense of these wars in money and effort weakened the country and hastened its decline. Throughout the 18th century Dutch trade, industry, and prosperity diminished steadily. Holland was involved in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48), during which the stadholdership of the republic was made hereditary in the House of Orange.

In 1780–84 Holland was at war again with England, and lost possessions in the East and West Indies. In 1793 Revolutionary France declared war on Holland, overran the country, and in 1795 set up the Batavian Republic. Under Napoleon Holland became a kingdom, 1806–10, with Louis Bonaparte as monarch. It was annexed to France in 1810.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Following Napoleon's defeat it was decided by the Great Powers to combine the former Dutch republic and the Austrian Netherlands (which had come to be known as Belgium) in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and to grant South Africa to Great Britian. William (Willem) I, first king of the Netherlands (reigned 1815–40), was the son of the last stadholder. He failed to bring about a harmonious union of Holland and Belgium, and in 1830 Belgium was permitted by the Great Powers to become an independent kingdom. William refused to accept this, and the Dutch were expelled from Belgium by force in 1832.

During the 19th century Holland rebuilt its domestic economy, traditionally based on agriculture, fishing, and commerce, by the development of manufacturing. In 1890 Queen Wilhelmina, great-granddaughter of William I, began her 58-year reign. The nation took no part in World War I. In 1920, because of problems with flooding and the need for more farmland, a project was begun to drain 1,400 square miles (3,600 km2) of the Zuider Zee of salt water and reclaim much of the area for farming, using the remainder for a freshwater lake. A 19-mile (31-km) dam separating the Zuider Zee from the North Sea was completed in 1932, and the freshwater IJsselmeer was created. Much of the land left exposed when the dam was built was later converted into farmland.

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.