Highlights of Dutch History

Roman period
Before the Christian era, the country we now call the Netherlands was inhabited by Germanic and Celtic tribes. Until the early fifth century, the area south of the Rhine was part of the Roman Empire.

Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Netherlands consisted of many separate feudal entities. The most influential monarch of the mediaeval period was Charlemagne, who in the eighth century ruled an area that extended over much of present-day Europe.

These feudal territories were eventually united, under Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), with the rest of the ‘Low Countries’ (present-day Belgium and Luxembourg) as part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Eighty Years War
In 1568, a number of northern Dutch provinces united under Prince William of Orange and revolted against Charles V’s son and heir, Philip II. The uprising – a result of widespread resentment at restrictions on religious freedom and the King’s absolutist aspirations – marked the start of what the Dutch call the Eighty Years’ War.

The war ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia, which recognised the Republic of the United Provinces (the seven sovereign provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Groningen, Overijssel and Gelderland) as an independent state. The republican form of government retained one remnant of feudalism in the powerful position of Stadholder (provincial governor), held in Holland by the descendants of William of Orange.

The Golden Age
During the 17th century, also called the ‘Golden Age’, the Republic became increasingly prosperous, thanks largely to the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The VOC, established in 1602 to coordinate shipping and trade with Southeast Asia, was for a long time the largest commercial enterprise in the world. Around the same time, the Dutch West India Company (WIC) was trading with West Africa and the Americas.

Conflicting trading interests led to several wars with England, but the ties with that country were nonetheless close. Stadholder William II and his son William III both married English princesses and in 1689, William III was asked by the English Parliament to accept the crown.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands
The French Revolution signalled the end of the Republic of the United Provinces. In 1795, the country was invaded and occupied by French revolutionary forces, who turned it into a vassal state named the Batavian Republic. In 1806 Napoleon installed his brother Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as king of what now came to be called the Kingdom of Holland. Four years later, France again annexed the whole of the Netherlands. Louis Napoleon proclaimed Amsterdam as the capital.

In 1813, the French Empire collapsed and the Low Countries regained their independence. In the northern Netherlands, there was a power struggle between monarchists and republicans, which the monarchists won. Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau and the son of the last Stadholder, returned from exile in England. The government moved to The Hague, although Amsterdam remained the official capital. And instead of returning to the old Republic’s system of sovereign provinces, the newly independent state retained the unitary structure introduced by the French. In 1815, the northern and southern Netherlands – today’s Netherlands and Belgium – were combined to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with Willem Frederik as King. This marked the introduction of the Dutch hereditary monarchy.

Constitutional reform
The constitution was radically revised in 1848, making ministers accountable to an elected parliament rather than the King. The new constitution was the basis for a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system.

In 1830, the southern Netherlands seceded from the Kingdom to form the independent state of Belgium, and in doing so gave the Netherlands its present-day borders. The male line of succession ended with the death of Willem III in 1890, as did the personal union with Luxembourg (of which the King had also been Grand Duke). Although Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962) came to the throne that year, her mother, Queen Emma, acted as regent until 1898, when the young Wilhelmina turned 18 and was able to assume the monarch’s duties.

Universal suffrage
During the First World War (1914-1918), the Netherlands remained neutral, but nonetheless suffered greatly from the period’s economic woes. Despite the close proximity of the war, a 1917 amendment to the constitution introduced universal suffrage for men. Women got the vote two years later.

Second World War
The Netherlands continued to pursue a policy of strict neutrality until the Second World War, but it was nevertheless invaded by Germany in May 1940 and occupied for five years. Queen Wilhelmina left the Netherlands and spent the war years in England, playing a vital role as the symbol of resistance against the occupying forces. She abdicated in 1948, after a reign of 50 years, in favour of her daughter Juliana. Queen Juliana abdicated in turn in 1980, to be succeeded by her eldest daughter, the present Queen Beatrix.

Reconstruction
After the war, the Netherlands was able to start rebuilding, thanks to American aid provided under the Marshall Plan. The coalition government of the Catholic People’s Party (KVP) and the Labour Party (PvdA) laid the foundations of the welfare state. In the 1960s, young progressives in the political arena ensured the introduction of social legislation that was unprecedented in its scope and generosity.

Great flood of 1953
In February 1953 the Netherlands was struck by a catastrophe. A spring tide and a hurricane force northwesterly gale combined to cause the flooding of 150,000 hectares of land. More than 1,800 people and many thousands of farm animals were drowned in a single night. The disaster led to the accelerated launch of the Delta Plan, one of the world’s largest post-war hydraulic engineering projects. In 1958, the first moveable storm surge barriers went into operation. The Delta Works were completed in 1997.

Overseas territories
The Netherlands was a major colonial power until the Second World War, but soon after 1945 its colonies became independent. Indonesia severed all its constitutional links with the Netherlands in 1949. Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean became equal partners with the Netherlands in 1954 under the Charter for the Kingdom, which made the Netherlands responsible for foreign affairs and defence on behalf of its former colonies.

On 25 November 1975, Suriname became an independent republic. And on 1 January 1986, Aruba – until then part of the Netherlands Antilles together with Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St Eustatius and St Maarten – acquired separate status within the Kingdom, making it an equal partner in the Kingdom of the Netherlands with the Netherlands Antilles and the Netherlands itself.

‘Purple’ coalition
The 1994 general election changed the face of Dutch politics, with the Christian democrats relegated to the opposition for the first time in half a century. A new coalition was formed between liberals, social democrats and social liberals – the first ever ‘purple’ coalition.

21st century
At the start of the 21st century the Netherlands was rocked by the assassination of professor, writer and politician Pim Fortuyn. He was shot just days before the parliamentary election in which he and his new, populist, right-leaning party were due to take part.

In 2004 the Netherlands assumed the Presidency of the European Union. These were momentous times: the EU had just been enlarged to include ten new member states, the global terrorist threat was keenly felt, and strengthening the European economy was high on the Presidency’s agenda.