The Origins of Dutch Nationhood

Most people put the origin of the modern Dutch state back to 1579 when the Union of Utrecht, saw the Northern half of the seventeen provinces of Spain promise to support each other in their war against the Spanish army. Two years later they declared themselves fully independent with the Oath of Abjuration, which officially disposed Phillip II as King. However, the war continued up until 1648, when Spain under King Philip IV formally recognised Dutch independence in the Treaty of Münster, bringing to a close the Eighty Years War.

Dutch Republic 1581-1795

The Dutch Republic was formed from the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Groningen, Friesland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelre, which were all governed autonomously with a confederate government based in The Hague, which included representatives from each of the seven provinces. The new state grew in importance and power and was one of the main seafaring nations in the seventeenth century. Colonies and trading posts sprung up all over the world during this so called Dutch Golden Age. Indeed the wealth gleamed from Africa and Asia made the country very strong economically and became the first capitalist country in the world. It had Amsterdam, which was the wealthiest treading city in the world, the first full time stock exchange, and displayed soon to be commonplace capitalist practices such as bear trading and phenomena such as asset-inflation bubbles and the boom-bust cycle. However despite the growth in wealth there were tensions in the country between the Staatsgezinden (Republicans) and the Prinsgezinden (Royalists or Orangists) and England began to seriously challenge the Dutch supremacy economically and colonially.

Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of Holland

The Prinsgezindens won the internal battle for supremacy and forced William of Orange to flee to England. Thus the republic was set up and the Netherlands was one unified country. This period of rule lasted eleven years until Napoleon swept through the country and set up a puppet king to govern the area more effectively. However Napoleon soon became upset at the King, his brother, who he saw as serving Dutch interests and just a few days after his abdication invaded the country and made it part of the French Empire. Napoleon’s defeat allowed the Kingdom to become free again and the son of William who had fled to England returned and proclaimed himself William I of Holland. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands lost territory, to Belgian independence and some to German states, but continued as an independent country right up until German Nazi occupation in World War Two.

World War II to Modern Times

The Netherlands wanted to remain neutral during the conflict, as it had done during the fist war, but it was invaded in 1940 by Nazi Germany and its army was quickly overrun. Over 100,000 Dutch Jews were rounded up and killed during the Holocaust and the Dutch population in general was subjected to harsh conditions as the countryside was looted to serve German interests and workers were conscripted for labour in German factories. Things became especially hard during the Winter Hunger of 1944-1945 were shortages led to much maturation and starvation. After the war the Netherlands put itself at the centre of Europe and international affairs. It was one of the founding members of the ECC which was later to become the European Union as well as one of the founding members of NATO. It developed close ties with Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and transformed its society into one of the most open and liberal countries in the world.