Yeah, sounds better.
Oh, and don't forget, when we do the election of 1940, Utah goes Socialist.
TL-191: Filling the Gaps
- Thread starter Craigo
- Start date
Oh, and don't forget, when we do the election of 1940, Utah goes Socialist.
Okay. I reuploaded the map and edited the 1904 election post so that Idaho goes Socialist and Montana goes Democratic.
Thanks for the info on Utah in 1940.
It is really funny that TL-191 made a Socialist Utah plausible. In OTL, we would be "that's so ASB it needs an ASB number of ASBs to ASB."
bguy
Donor
Would the Republicans really do that badly? Aldrich is the proto-typical Eastern money man, so he would have very little voter appeal in Kansas or Nebraska, and per the novels the Socialists generally performed poorly with farmers, so the Republicans should be able to win Kansas and Nebraska. (Especially since they have a Nebraska man as their veep.) Bryan's bimetallism would also play very well in Nevada, so I would expect him to be favored there as well. (Though the Socialists are probably stronger in Nevada than in the farm states, so it is certainly possible they could leech enough votes off Bryan to throw the state to Aldrich.)
Also if the Republicans don't win a single state for the next 7 elections then how likely is it they would even still exist as a meaningful party come 1936? I would think the party would have to win at least some states to stay even remotely relevent by 1936. (Plus Craigo's entry on the 1920 election had the Republicans winning Kansas, Iowa, and Indiana, so at least that year they won some states.)
Good points. I forgot about Cragio's 1920 election post for a sec there. I'll change it to "the Republicans not winning any states or EV's until 1936" to "the Republicans not winning any states or EV's until 1920". The Republicans performing that badly for sixteen years and still existing as a meaningful party makes much more sense as opposed to them performing that badly for thirty-two years and still existing.
The Great War books continue to reference the Republicans. They are even operating in New York City. They even campaign in the Lower East Side, which is probably the strongest Socialist District in the Country. The Great War books and especially the The American Empire Blood and Iron series make it seem the Great War and the post war economic recesssion was the turning point for the Socialists Party.
Saying that, its hard to imagine the Socialists winning Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois in the 1900 Presidential election. They were not even able to win a Senate seat until 1906 (as per bguy). Despite the labor trouble Mahan is a hugely popular President. There are references sprinkled through out the books refering to how great a president he was and how insiteful he was. I kind of imagined him as a TL 191 version of Eisenhower. Ike even won Brooklyn.
Saying that, its hard to imagine the Socialists winning Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois in the 1900 Presidential election. They were not even able to win a Senate seat until 1906 (as per bguy). Despite the labor trouble Mahan is a hugely popular President. There are references sprinkled through out the books refering to how great a president he was and how insiteful he was. I kind of imagined him as a TL 191 version of Eisenhower. Ike even won Brooklyn.
I didn't say the Republican Party disappeared, just that they became a more minor party in comparison the Socialist and Democratic parties. Still, good points.
Good point about 1900. Should I change the map, giving the Democrats 280 EV and the Socialists 43 EV?
bguy
Donor
When senate seats were awarded by state's legislatures was a plurality of the legislature's vote enough to win the seat or did you have to have a majority? If the later than it would probably be much easier for the Socialists to win states in a presidential election than to win senate races, since they would only need a plurality to carry the state while they would need a majority of the legislature to elect a senator. (It also wouldn't surprise me if the Republicans and Democrats conspired to gerrymander state legislative districts to try and freeze out the Socialists, so the Socialists were probably severely underrepresented in most of the state legislatures at least until states started electing Socialist Governors who could fight for more equitable legislative districting.)
Good point. It does seem odd for the very popular Mahan to get shut out of the Mid-West. (Especially since the much less popular Aldrich sweeps that same region 4 years later.)
bguy
Donor
My Aldrich bio had the Socialists win Illinois in the 1908 election. (The Republicans are said to be strong in Illinois, so I figured that with a relatively unpopular Democrat incumbant running for reelection the Republicans would eat into the Democrat's vote enough in the rural part of the state to enable the Socialists, after making a strong showing in Chicago, to carry the state with a narrow plurality.)
Indiana would make sense for the first major state to go Socialist though it is directly stated in The Center Cannot Hold that Indiana voted Democrat in 1908. I suppose the Socialists could have won it in 1904 or 1900, but like you said that seems a little early for the Socialists to be winning the bigger states. Thus I would probably stick with Illinois in 1908 being the first major state to go Socialist. (Illinois also seems kind of fitting as the first big state to go red since it is both Lincoln's home state and the state he was in when he officially joined the Socialists.)
Indiana in OTL is a traditionally conservative state, and in TL-191, it's a state favorable to the Socialists.
We should type something about why it changed. (Not me, I know nothing about Indiana)
We should type something about why it changed. (Not me, I know nothing about Indiana)
Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815-1945)
Part I
The Kingdom of the Netherlands origins begin with the formation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish or Holy Roman Empires until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands was born in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat in 1813. In that year, the Netherlands regained its freedom and the Sovereign Principality of the Netherlands was proclaimed with William Prince of Orange and Nassau as sovereign. Reunification with the Southern Netherlands, (roughly equivalent to what is now Belgium and Luxembourg) was decided in 1814. In March 1815, the Sovereign Prince adopted the style of "King of the Netherlands" and the Kingdom came into being. The King of the Netherlands was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg, a province of the Kingdom that was, at the same time, a Grand Duchy of the German Confederation.
In 1830, Belgium seceded from the Kingdom, a step that was recognized by the Netherlands only in 1839. At that point, Luxembourg became a fully independent country in a personal union with the Netherlands. Luxembourg also lost more than half of its territory to Belgium. To compensate the German Confederation for that loss, the remainder of the Dutch province of Limburg received the same status that Luxembourg had enjoyed before, as a Dutch province that at the same time formed a Duchy of the German Confederation. That status was reversed when the German Confederation ceased to be in 1867; and, at that point, Limburg reverted to its former status as an ordinary Dutch province.
The Netherlands did not industrialize as rapidly as Belgium after 1830, but it was prosperous enough. Like many other European nations the Netherlands began a process of national consolidation. Central to this nationalization program was the abolition of internal tariffs and guilds; creation of a unified coinage system, modern methods of tax collection; standardized weights and measures; and the building of many roads, canals, and railroads. However, compared to Belgium, which was leading in industrialization on the Continent, the Netherlands moved slowly.
As in the rest of Europe, the 19th century saw the gradual transformation of the Netherlands into a modern middle-class industrial society. The number of people employed in agriculture decreased, while the country made a strong effort to revive its stake in the highly competitive shipping and trade business. The Netherlands lagged behind Belgium until the late 19th century in industrialization, and caught up around 1900. Major industries included textiles and (later) the great Philips industrial conglomerate. Rotterdam became a major shipping and manufacturing center. Poverty slowly declined as begging largely disappeared along with steadily improving working conditions for the population.
In 1840 William I abdicated in favor of his son, William II, who attempted to carry on the policies of his father in the face of a powerful liberal movement. In 1848 unrest broke out all over Europe. Although there were no major events in the Netherlands, these foreign developments persuaded King William II to agree to liberal and democratic reform. That same year Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, a prominent liberal, was asked by the king to draft a constitution that would turn the Netherlands into a constitutional monarchy. The new constitution was proclaimed on 3 November 1848. It severely limited the king's powers (making the government accountable only to an elected parliament), and it protected civil liberties. The new liberal constitution, which put the government under the control of the States General, was accepted by the legislature in 1848. The relationship between monarch, government and parliament has remained essentially unchanged ever since.
William II was succeeded by William III in 1849. The new king reluctantly chose Thorbecke to head the new government, which introduced several liberal measures, notably the extension of suffrage. However, Thorbecke's government soon fell, when Protestants rioted against the Vatican's reestablishment of the Catholic episcopate, in abeyance since the 16th century. A conservative government was formed, but it did not undo the liberal measures, and the Catholics were finally given equality after two centuries of subordination. Dutch political history from the middle of the 19th century until the Great War was fundamentally one of the extension of liberal reforms in government, the reorganization and modernization of the Dutch economy, and the rise of trade unionism and socialism as working-class movements independent of traditional liberalism. The growth in prosperity was enormous, as its real per capita GNP made it one of the richest nations in Europe.
The Dutch Empire
After losing its African possessions to the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars, The Netherlands was the only colonial power that did not expand into Africa, during the 19th century. Instead the Dutch empire focused on maintaining its Caribbean possessions and expanding in what is now Indonesia. By the Great War its colonies comprised the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), as well as Surinam in South America and some minor possessions. The empire was run from Batavia (in Java), where the governor and his technical experts had almost complete authority with little oversight from the Hague. Successive governors improved their bureaucratic and military controls, and allowed very little voice to the locals until the 1920s
The colony brought economic opportunity to the mother country and there was little concern at the time about it. The military forces in the Dutch East Indies were controlled by the governor and were not part of the regular Dutch army. As the map shows, the Dutch slowly expanded their holdings from their base in Java to include all of modern Indonesia by 1920. Most islands were not a problem but there was a long, costly campaign against the Aceh state in northern Sumatra.
Foreign Relations
Dutch-British Relations
The British strongly supported the Dutch war of independence from Spain: 1568-1648. Both countries had huge interests in the East and were competitors in the world trade of spices during the 16th, 17th and 18th century. Although these wars were a standing fact, the nations never actually fought any land-war amongst each other in the same periods. On the contrary, during the four maritime wars nationals could freely travel to and from each others country and were not harmed or harassed in any way. Both countries saw these wars as "strictly business". It was even so that when the situation emerged that both nations joined forces, against the Spanish or French.
British Dutch relations improved in 1815. When the two nations fought shoulder to shoulder at Waterloo and Quatre-Bras. Great-Britain even returned most of the Dutch colonies after the Dutch had lost control over most of them during the almost twenty years of French occupation. Ceylon and South-Africa would remain British though.
This mutual respect and business-like attitude did however fundamentally change with the Boer-wars in South Africa 1880-1881 and 1899-1902. Especially the last and most well-known conflict between the Boers, lead by Paul Kruger and British pioneers in 1899-1902. This dramatically reset the Anglo-Dutch relations. It was not only the fight for better rights under Cecil Rhodes, but especially the Boers ambition to connect with German West-Africa that provoked all out British army support for their citizens in South-Africa.
Dutch-German Relations
For more than a millennium the territory of the Untied Kingdoms of the Netherlands was apart of the Holy Roman Empire, the governing body of Germany. This ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. When the German Nation of Prussia reincorporated most of the German states into the Second Reich, the first being the Holy Roman Empire. Many feared a powerful Germany would choose to reincorporate the entire Reich. However the new German nation under Bismarck pursued the Klein-Deutschland option, which meant not seeking to incorporate the other former nations of the Holy Roman Empire. German- Dutch relations remained cordial with significant cross border trade. Despite fears of German militarization Germany was conspicuously respectful of German Dutch relations. Relations grew even closer over their united protest against the Second and Final Boer Wars.
Dutch-US Relations
The U.S. partnership with the Netherlands is one of its oldest continuous relationships and dates back to the American Revolution. Starting in the late 16th century, the Dutch and other Europeans began to colonize the eastern coast of North America. The Dutch named their territory New Netherlands, which became a province of the Dutch Republic in 1624. The Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam later became New York City. The In 1899 the flag of New York City was based on the flag of Republic of the United Netherlands.
The Netherlands was the first foreign country to salute the American Flag on November 16, 1776 and therefore the first foreign nation to recognize the United States as an independent nation. On 19 April 1782 John Adams was received by the States General in The Hague and recognized as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America.
The Netherlands remained neutral in the War of Secession. However Confederate smugglers did often use Dutch in the Caribbean like Curacao, Suriname and Paramaribo as ports to smuggle CSA cotton. After the War of Secession the US maintained friendly relations with the Netherlands as it was one of the last European nations to recognize the CSA. After the outbreak of the Boer the US Dutch relations grew closer. both heavily protested the British invasion of the Boer Republics.
The Great War and Dutch Neutrality
The Netherlands had not fought a major military campaign since the 1760s, and the strength of its armed forces had gradually dwindled. The Dutch decided not to ally themselves with anyone, during the 19th century. When The Great War began The Netherlands was lead by the Pieter Cort van der Linden chose neutrality. A member of the Liberal Party whose party never held a majority successfully kept the Netherlands neutral, like so many other minor European powers.
The main objective of the German Schlieffen Plan of 1905 was an invasion Belgium on the way to Paris, but not the Netherlands. Both nations needed the Netherlands to remain neutral as a result the British allowed a trickle of food to enter into the country. There were other factors that made it expedient for both the Allies and the Central Powers for the Netherlands to remain neutral. The Netherlands controlled the mouths of the Scheldt, the Rhine and the Meuse Rivers. Germany had an interest in the Rhine since it ran through the industrial areas of the Ruhr and connected it with the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Britain had an interest in the Scheldt River and the Meuse flowed from France. All countries had an interest in keeping the others out of the Netherlands so that no one's interests could be taken away or be changed. If one country were to have invaded the Netherlands, another would certainly have counterattacked to defend their own interest in the rivers. It was too big a risk for any of the belligerent nations and none wanted to risk fighting on another front.
Blockade and U-Boat Campaign
After the Schlieffen Plan the Netherlands found itself surrounded by the Germans on all sides. Before the war Germany was a major trading partner. The Netherlands supplied Germany with essential raw materials such as rubber, tin, quinine, oil and food. By 1915 the Netherlands was included in the Royal Navy Blockade, which severely affected the Dutch economy. When British ships began blockading Dutch waters and openly raided Dutch shipping, the fragile Anglo-Dutch relation due to the Boer-war collapsed. The Dutch people grew to see the British as a predatory power and Germany as the aggrieved party. Relations worsened when the British accused the Dutch of breaking the trading ban that was laid upon Germany. As a result of the British blockade, the Germans started an all out U-Boat war against all British shipping in European waters.
The U-Boat campaign lasted for the remainder of the war. In the first phase of the campaign the Germans took efforts to inspect ships before sinking them and rescue they’re crew. Again they were scrupulously adherent to the Netherlands neutrality. However as the U-Boat campaign became more lethal Germans were forced to fore go attempts to rescue the crew. Those ships that were flying the Dutch flag were not target but eventually mistakes were made and the Dutch suffered losses.
In March 1917 the British escalated the naval war by seizing the entire Dutch merchant fleet in all the foreign harbors they controlled. This was made on the flimsy excuse that the Dutch had violated the trade ban. However this was internationally perceived as a British sign of weakness. Most neutrals believed it was really because the Germans were winning the war of dueling blockades and sinking ships faster then the British could build them. During the war the Dutch merchant fleet lost about 25% of its overall tonnage. During the desperate final phase of the war belligerents indiscriminately sunk every ship coming in sight, regardless of which flag it sailed under. By 1917 the Dutch were suffering almost as much as the Germans from the international blockade.
This resulted in domestic instability, when in 1917 mutinies broke out in the military. Food shortages were extensive, due to the control the belligerents exercised over the Dutch. As a result of the blockade the price of potatoes rose sharply. Because of the high prices and porous border with the Germans in Belgium and Germany proper smuggling became a major issue. When Germany had conquered Belgium, the Allies saw it as enemy territory and stopped exporting to Belgium. Food became scarce for the Belgian people, when the Germans seized most of its food stocks. This gave struggling Dutch farmers the opportunity to smuggle for quick profits. This caused including inflation and further food shortages. The Allies demanded that the Dutch stop the smuggling threatening punitive actions. The Dutch government took measures to enforce neutrality. The government placed many cities under 'state of siege'. In January of 1916, a 5 zone was no-go zone was declared by the government along the borders. In that zone, goods could not be moved on main roads without a permit. German authorities in Belgium had an electrified fence erected all along the Belgian–Dutch border that caused many refugees from Belgium to lose their lives. The fence was guarded by older German Landsturm (reserve) soldiers.
Dutch Movement to the Quarudple Alliance Camp
Prime Minister van der Linden remained a supporter of Germany and the United States throughout the war. By summer of 1917 the public and a majority of the Dutch Republic Parliament had moved into the US-German camp as well. The continued injustices suffered under British Blockade turned the public against Britain and government troops had to place outside troops outside the British embassy. When the French sued for peace many wanted to declare for the Alliance. Fearing that the British and the Japanese would ue this as an excuse to seize the Dutch East Indies, the government took a more measured response. It instead acknowledged the puppets states carved out of Entente nations by the Quadruple Alliance members. These included Poland, the Ukraine, A Transcaucus State, Quebec, Houston and Republic of Ireland (still in insurrection).
When the war finally ended in the fall of 1917 the Netherlands sent representatives to both the Treaty of Philadelphia and Potsdam. The Dutch were quick to support all US and German claims against the Entente members. Shrewd Dutch negotiators secured the continued existence of their colonies in the East Indies and the Caribbean. Most successfully they negotiated hefty reparations from the British and French for the losses to their merchant marine and economy during the blockade. However these victories all came at a price, Prime Minister van der Linden was forced to acknowledge the reality of post war Europe. In order to continue to keep their former colonies the Netherlands agreed to join a customs union organized by Germany. Though the Netherlands remained neutral throughout the war, by 1918 it found itself effectively in Germany’s economic sphere of influence.
Part I
The Kingdom of the Netherlands origins begin with the formation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish or Holy Roman Empires until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands was born in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat in 1813. In that year, the Netherlands regained its freedom and the Sovereign Principality of the Netherlands was proclaimed with William Prince of Orange and Nassau as sovereign. Reunification with the Southern Netherlands, (roughly equivalent to what is now Belgium and Luxembourg) was decided in 1814. In March 1815, the Sovereign Prince adopted the style of "King of the Netherlands" and the Kingdom came into being. The King of the Netherlands was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg, a province of the Kingdom that was, at the same time, a Grand Duchy of the German Confederation.
In 1830, Belgium seceded from the Kingdom, a step that was recognized by the Netherlands only in 1839. At that point, Luxembourg became a fully independent country in a personal union with the Netherlands. Luxembourg also lost more than half of its territory to Belgium. To compensate the German Confederation for that loss, the remainder of the Dutch province of Limburg received the same status that Luxembourg had enjoyed before, as a Dutch province that at the same time formed a Duchy of the German Confederation. That status was reversed when the German Confederation ceased to be in 1867; and, at that point, Limburg reverted to its former status as an ordinary Dutch province.
The Netherlands did not industrialize as rapidly as Belgium after 1830, but it was prosperous enough. Like many other European nations the Netherlands began a process of national consolidation. Central to this nationalization program was the abolition of internal tariffs and guilds; creation of a unified coinage system, modern methods of tax collection; standardized weights and measures; and the building of many roads, canals, and railroads. However, compared to Belgium, which was leading in industrialization on the Continent, the Netherlands moved slowly.
As in the rest of Europe, the 19th century saw the gradual transformation of the Netherlands into a modern middle-class industrial society. The number of people employed in agriculture decreased, while the country made a strong effort to revive its stake in the highly competitive shipping and trade business. The Netherlands lagged behind Belgium until the late 19th century in industrialization, and caught up around 1900. Major industries included textiles and (later) the great Philips industrial conglomerate. Rotterdam became a major shipping and manufacturing center. Poverty slowly declined as begging largely disappeared along with steadily improving working conditions for the population.
In 1840 William I abdicated in favor of his son, William II, who attempted to carry on the policies of his father in the face of a powerful liberal movement. In 1848 unrest broke out all over Europe. Although there were no major events in the Netherlands, these foreign developments persuaded King William II to agree to liberal and democratic reform. That same year Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, a prominent liberal, was asked by the king to draft a constitution that would turn the Netherlands into a constitutional monarchy. The new constitution was proclaimed on 3 November 1848. It severely limited the king's powers (making the government accountable only to an elected parliament), and it protected civil liberties. The new liberal constitution, which put the government under the control of the States General, was accepted by the legislature in 1848. The relationship between monarch, government and parliament has remained essentially unchanged ever since.
William II was succeeded by William III in 1849. The new king reluctantly chose Thorbecke to head the new government, which introduced several liberal measures, notably the extension of suffrage. However, Thorbecke's government soon fell, when Protestants rioted against the Vatican's reestablishment of the Catholic episcopate, in abeyance since the 16th century. A conservative government was formed, but it did not undo the liberal measures, and the Catholics were finally given equality after two centuries of subordination. Dutch political history from the middle of the 19th century until the Great War was fundamentally one of the extension of liberal reforms in government, the reorganization and modernization of the Dutch economy, and the rise of trade unionism and socialism as working-class movements independent of traditional liberalism. The growth in prosperity was enormous, as its real per capita GNP made it one of the richest nations in Europe.
The Dutch Empire
After losing its African possessions to the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars, The Netherlands was the only colonial power that did not expand into Africa, during the 19th century. Instead the Dutch empire focused on maintaining its Caribbean possessions and expanding in what is now Indonesia. By the Great War its colonies comprised the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), as well as Surinam in South America and some minor possessions. The empire was run from Batavia (in Java), where the governor and his technical experts had almost complete authority with little oversight from the Hague. Successive governors improved their bureaucratic and military controls, and allowed very little voice to the locals until the 1920s
The colony brought economic opportunity to the mother country and there was little concern at the time about it. The military forces in the Dutch East Indies were controlled by the governor and were not part of the regular Dutch army. As the map shows, the Dutch slowly expanded their holdings from their base in Java to include all of modern Indonesia by 1920. Most islands were not a problem but there was a long, costly campaign against the Aceh state in northern Sumatra.
Foreign Relations
Dutch-British Relations
The British strongly supported the Dutch war of independence from Spain: 1568-1648. Both countries had huge interests in the East and were competitors in the world trade of spices during the 16th, 17th and 18th century. Although these wars were a standing fact, the nations never actually fought any land-war amongst each other in the same periods. On the contrary, during the four maritime wars nationals could freely travel to and from each others country and were not harmed or harassed in any way. Both countries saw these wars as "strictly business". It was even so that when the situation emerged that both nations joined forces, against the Spanish or French.
British Dutch relations improved in 1815. When the two nations fought shoulder to shoulder at Waterloo and Quatre-Bras. Great-Britain even returned most of the Dutch colonies after the Dutch had lost control over most of them during the almost twenty years of French occupation. Ceylon and South-Africa would remain British though.
This mutual respect and business-like attitude did however fundamentally change with the Boer-wars in South Africa 1880-1881 and 1899-1902. Especially the last and most well-known conflict between the Boers, lead by Paul Kruger and British pioneers in 1899-1902. This dramatically reset the Anglo-Dutch relations. It was not only the fight for better rights under Cecil Rhodes, but especially the Boers ambition to connect with German West-Africa that provoked all out British army support for their citizens in South-Africa.
Dutch-German Relations
For more than a millennium the territory of the Untied Kingdoms of the Netherlands was apart of the Holy Roman Empire, the governing body of Germany. This ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. When the German Nation of Prussia reincorporated most of the German states into the Second Reich, the first being the Holy Roman Empire. Many feared a powerful Germany would choose to reincorporate the entire Reich. However the new German nation under Bismarck pursued the Klein-Deutschland option, which meant not seeking to incorporate the other former nations of the Holy Roman Empire. German- Dutch relations remained cordial with significant cross border trade. Despite fears of German militarization Germany was conspicuously respectful of German Dutch relations. Relations grew even closer over their united protest against the Second and Final Boer Wars.
Dutch-US Relations
The U.S. partnership with the Netherlands is one of its oldest continuous relationships and dates back to the American Revolution. Starting in the late 16th century, the Dutch and other Europeans began to colonize the eastern coast of North America. The Dutch named their territory New Netherlands, which became a province of the Dutch Republic in 1624. The Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam later became New York City. The In 1899 the flag of New York City was based on the flag of Republic of the United Netherlands.
The Netherlands was the first foreign country to salute the American Flag on November 16, 1776 and therefore the first foreign nation to recognize the United States as an independent nation. On 19 April 1782 John Adams was received by the States General in The Hague and recognized as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America.
The Netherlands remained neutral in the War of Secession. However Confederate smugglers did often use Dutch in the Caribbean like Curacao, Suriname and Paramaribo as ports to smuggle CSA cotton. After the War of Secession the US maintained friendly relations with the Netherlands as it was one of the last European nations to recognize the CSA. After the outbreak of the Boer the US Dutch relations grew closer. both heavily protested the British invasion of the Boer Republics.
The Great War and Dutch Neutrality
The Netherlands had not fought a major military campaign since the 1760s, and the strength of its armed forces had gradually dwindled. The Dutch decided not to ally themselves with anyone, during the 19th century. When The Great War began The Netherlands was lead by the Pieter Cort van der Linden chose neutrality. A member of the Liberal Party whose party never held a majority successfully kept the Netherlands neutral, like so many other minor European powers.
The main objective of the German Schlieffen Plan of 1905 was an invasion Belgium on the way to Paris, but not the Netherlands. Both nations needed the Netherlands to remain neutral as a result the British allowed a trickle of food to enter into the country. There were other factors that made it expedient for both the Allies and the Central Powers for the Netherlands to remain neutral. The Netherlands controlled the mouths of the Scheldt, the Rhine and the Meuse Rivers. Germany had an interest in the Rhine since it ran through the industrial areas of the Ruhr and connected it with the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Britain had an interest in the Scheldt River and the Meuse flowed from France. All countries had an interest in keeping the others out of the Netherlands so that no one's interests could be taken away or be changed. If one country were to have invaded the Netherlands, another would certainly have counterattacked to defend their own interest in the rivers. It was too big a risk for any of the belligerent nations and none wanted to risk fighting on another front.
Blockade and U-Boat Campaign
After the Schlieffen Plan the Netherlands found itself surrounded by the Germans on all sides. Before the war Germany was a major trading partner. The Netherlands supplied Germany with essential raw materials such as rubber, tin, quinine, oil and food. By 1915 the Netherlands was included in the Royal Navy Blockade, which severely affected the Dutch economy. When British ships began blockading Dutch waters and openly raided Dutch shipping, the fragile Anglo-Dutch relation due to the Boer-war collapsed. The Dutch people grew to see the British as a predatory power and Germany as the aggrieved party. Relations worsened when the British accused the Dutch of breaking the trading ban that was laid upon Germany. As a result of the British blockade, the Germans started an all out U-Boat war against all British shipping in European waters.
The U-Boat campaign lasted for the remainder of the war. In the first phase of the campaign the Germans took efforts to inspect ships before sinking them and rescue they’re crew. Again they were scrupulously adherent to the Netherlands neutrality. However as the U-Boat campaign became more lethal Germans were forced to fore go attempts to rescue the crew. Those ships that were flying the Dutch flag were not target but eventually mistakes were made and the Dutch suffered losses.
In March 1917 the British escalated the naval war by seizing the entire Dutch merchant fleet in all the foreign harbors they controlled. This was made on the flimsy excuse that the Dutch had violated the trade ban. However this was internationally perceived as a British sign of weakness. Most neutrals believed it was really because the Germans were winning the war of dueling blockades and sinking ships faster then the British could build them. During the war the Dutch merchant fleet lost about 25% of its overall tonnage. During the desperate final phase of the war belligerents indiscriminately sunk every ship coming in sight, regardless of which flag it sailed under. By 1917 the Dutch were suffering almost as much as the Germans from the international blockade.
This resulted in domestic instability, when in 1917 mutinies broke out in the military. Food shortages were extensive, due to the control the belligerents exercised over the Dutch. As a result of the blockade the price of potatoes rose sharply. Because of the high prices and porous border with the Germans in Belgium and Germany proper smuggling became a major issue. When Germany had conquered Belgium, the Allies saw it as enemy territory and stopped exporting to Belgium. Food became scarce for the Belgian people, when the Germans seized most of its food stocks. This gave struggling Dutch farmers the opportunity to smuggle for quick profits. This caused including inflation and further food shortages. The Allies demanded that the Dutch stop the smuggling threatening punitive actions. The Dutch government took measures to enforce neutrality. The government placed many cities under 'state of siege'. In January of 1916, a 5 zone was no-go zone was declared by the government along the borders. In that zone, goods could not be moved on main roads without a permit. German authorities in Belgium had an electrified fence erected all along the Belgian–Dutch border that caused many refugees from Belgium to lose their lives. The fence was guarded by older German Landsturm (reserve) soldiers.
Dutch Movement to the Quarudple Alliance Camp
Prime Minister van der Linden remained a supporter of Germany and the United States throughout the war. By summer of 1917 the public and a majority of the Dutch Republic Parliament had moved into the US-German camp as well. The continued injustices suffered under British Blockade turned the public against Britain and government troops had to place outside troops outside the British embassy. When the French sued for peace many wanted to declare for the Alliance. Fearing that the British and the Japanese would ue this as an excuse to seize the Dutch East Indies, the government took a more measured response. It instead acknowledged the puppets states carved out of Entente nations by the Quadruple Alliance members. These included Poland, the Ukraine, A Transcaucus State, Quebec, Houston and Republic of Ireland (still in insurrection).
When the war finally ended in the fall of 1917 the Netherlands sent representatives to both the Treaty of Philadelphia and Potsdam. The Dutch were quick to support all US and German claims against the Entente members. Shrewd Dutch negotiators secured the continued existence of their colonies in the East Indies and the Caribbean. Most successfully they negotiated hefty reparations from the British and French for the losses to their merchant marine and economy during the blockade. However these victories all came at a price, Prime Minister van der Linden was forced to acknowledge the reality of post war Europe. In order to continue to keep their former colonies the Netherlands agreed to join a customs union organized by Germany. Though the Netherlands remained neutral throughout the war, by 1918 it found itself effectively in Germany’s economic sphere of influence.
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Okay, guys I re-uploaded the 1900 election map and edited the 1900 election post on the previous page, having Mahan win Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, editing parts of the post's last paragraphs to reflect said changes and getting rid of the two party system thing.
As for the new post on the Kingdom of the Netherlands, I'll make sure to read it soon. I should have my next article (its a bio) up later today or tomorrow.
As for the new post on the Kingdom of the Netherlands, I'll make sure to read it soon. I should have my next article (its a bio) up later today or tomorrow.
I lied here is some stuff that was hanging around my computer.
I updated the last Lodge Bio, it needed something on Liberia.
I updated the last Lodge Bio, it needed something on Liberia.
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I have to say, President Mahan, I really enjoyed our article on the Netherlands. Very well written, and the Netherlands role in GWI made allot of sense. I also liked the Liberia part of your Lodge article.
I made one final change to my 1900 election article. I removed senator Knute Nelson from the list of Republican Presidential hopefuls. Since he was born in Norway, he would be ineligible for the Presidency.
Heres a sneak preview/electoral map of the 1885 CS election article I'm currently working on.
I made one final change to my 1900 election article. I removed senator Knute Nelson from the list of Republican Presidential hopefuls. Since he was born in Norway, he would be ineligible for the Presidency.
Heres a sneak preview/electoral map of the 1885 CS election article I'm currently working on.
Alright. I did post a question about Indiana, could anybody try to answer that?
Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815-1945) Part II
Interwar period
The Dutch successfully navigated the Great War as a neutral power, keeping their empire and even winning reparations from the British for the loss of its merchant marine. Because of the international character of the Dutch economy, the post war drop in international trade severely affected the economy. As a result the Netherlands began the post war period in an economic depression and with widespread food shortages. The deficit was so great even extra food sent from its colonies were not enough.
Luckily for the Dutch people and the rest of Europe the United States was to the rescue. President Roosevelt knew the United States owed much of its success to Germany’s distraction of the British Empire. To show his gratitude the President wanted to help alleviate the food shortages in Germany. The President sent a commission headed by Major General Charles Dawes, the man who oversaw the US wartime food rationing from 1914 to 1916 and from 1916 to 1917 as the Army Chief of Supply Procurement. Because of his success as an administrator, the President tapped him to head the new American Relief Administration. Dawes was sent to Germany to ascertain how much foodstuffs the German people would need. While Germany was not starving, the current food levels was causing chronic malnutrition, illness and contributing to the influenza epidemic. This was due not just to Germany’s reduced production but the reduced production from its normal trading partners on the continent.
The committee quickly ascertained that the problem was continent wide. With war ending the United States had foodstuffs to spare. Plus it now had incorporated millions of new farmers in the former Confederacy and Canada that had continued to grow food but had there usually buyers either in another country or destroyed buy the war, to keep their agricultural industries from collapsing they required economic support. Dawes and the President quickly envisioned a continent wide relief effort. The President presented his plan to Congress and won tri-partisan support of Democrats, Republicans and Socialists. On February 24, 1918 the Congress created the ARA with the budget of 100 million dollars. With the help of Dawes banking connections the budget was boosted by private donations, which resulted in another 100 million dollars. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the ARA delivered more than four million tons of relief supplies to 23 war-torn European countries. In a surprising gesture Roosevelt included former enemy nations like France and Britain, but only after the agreed to German demands. Over a five thousand tons of grain was sent to Britain alone in the spring of 1918.
Dawes organized shipments of food for millions of starving people in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. He used a newly formed Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee, to carry out much of the logistical work in Europe. At first the German government demanded that all food supplies to the newly created German dependencies be given to the German government to be handed out. Roosevelt refused. Roosevelt wanted to establish separate relationships with these new states and insisted that US altruism was up to the American people. Germany dependent on the food help reluctantly agreed. This was done intentionally by the Roosevelt administration to build a stronger relationship with minor European powers separate of their German allies. It was also the beginnings of a growing rift between the US and Germany and their visions for the post war international order.
High on the President Roosevelt’s list was the Netherlands for which the President felt a kinship too as a descendant of Dutch New York colonists. The Netherlands along with other neutral countries effected by the blockade like Sweden, Norway, Denmark were included in the program. As a result statutes of President Roosevelt or General Dawes can be found in the major cities of the Netherlands. When he visited the nation after his leaving the Presidency he was awarded Dutch citizenship and the Order of Nassau, the highest decoration given to a Dutch citizen. Luckily these awards did not violate the Fifteenth Amendment, as they were not a title of nobility.
Like many other post war states, the Netherlands took a decided turn to the left. With the hardships the Dutch people suffered there were many post war riots demanding social reform. In 1917 Prime Minister van der Linden introduced universal suffrage in the Netherlands. Although both houses of the Dutch parliament were elected by the people, only men with high incomes were eligible to vote until 1917, when pressure from socialist movements resulted in elections in which all men were allowed to vote. In 1919 women also obtained the right to vote. Because of this, the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the Algemeene Bond van RK-kiesverenigingen, a Catholic party, won the 1918 elections. The Catholic Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck took Cort van der Linden's place as Prime Minister.
The “Zollverein”
By 1920 the Dutch economy still had not recovered. Large scale unemployment and slow export growth continued to cause unemployment over 13%. It was in this situation that the Netherlands found itself when Germany called the Frankfurt Conference. By the Treaty of Potsdam Germany had acquired a substantial colonial empire and economic control over European states. Germany wanted to makes de facto position as head of Central Europe’s economy official, by creating a customs union out of its new possessions. This new Zollverein of the 20th century, was to be an expansion of the North German Zollverein of the 18th century. It was the brainchild of Reich’s Finance Minister Carl Melchoir and Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht Banking commissioner for occupied Belgium. Germany invited Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Finland, Baltic States, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, German concessions in the Caucasus Mountains and the Republic of Ireland to the conference. Central to Germany’s view of the new organization was the adoption of the German Mark as the international currency, an international development bank and the dismantling of all tariff restrictions.
Negotiations were tense. Austria-Hungary was officially there as an observer but some of the more ambitious Germans wanted to make this a continent wide union, eventually including Austria Hungary, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal as well. However in the wake of the Great War Austria- Hungary was the only other victorious power and it zealously guarded its independence. After three months of negotiation the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed. It established a new European customs federation, its members all signed on to use the German Mark as its currency when dealing with international trade, peg their currencies to the Mark, abolish all tariffs between its member and contribute to an internal development bank. In a concession to its allies Germany extended the free trade market to its overseas colonies, but expected all its members to do so as well. This obviously only applied to the Netherlands. Eventually all German dependencies plus the Netherlands signed on to the new Treaty. The few holdouts were the Republic of Ireland and Austria-Hungary. By agreement the Ukraine would join the Zollverein, but was permitted to keep the German Mark and the Austro-Hungarian kroner as its currency.
Bully Twenties
At first the entrance into the Zollverein proved little benefit, but as the German economy recovered so did the Dutch economy. By 1923 the Dutch economy began to show signs of economic growth which characterized in the United States as the “Bully Twenties.” The Netherlands like the other Zollverein states rejoined the Gold Standard. The Netherlands GDP surpassed its position in 1913 that of 24.96 Billion Dollars, in 1926. During this time the Dutch East Indies Colony also flourished as its commodities found new markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Despite the flood of cheaper German goods colonial officials unofficially maintained a Dutch monopoly. It was during this period that the Dutch solidified their control over Western New Guinea.
Despite their economic success, the Dutch were finding it difficult to afford to defend their Asian Empire. At first the Dutch sold coaling stations to the Germans for cash and as insurance from Japanese aggression. The Germans had lost their Pacific empire to Japan and Australia, but they were compensated and left it alone. By the mid 1920’s the Germans gutted the Navy budget. The cost of the war and occupation of its new territory crippled the country. The German Navy abandoned the Pacific and all but conceded everything outside the North Seas, East Atlantic and Central African ports to the British and Americans.
The Netherlands spent significant resources on its navy, however it was never enough to render the East Indies defensible. In 1926 the Japanese successfully negotiated the purchase of Indochina, after France nearly defaulted on a reparations payment to Germany. The sale left France free f its reparations and Japan soon began pressuring the Netherlands for its Asian Empire. The Netherlands relying on the cloak of the Imperial German Navy and the US pacific Navy was not nearly as vulnerable as France. It successfully held off Japan until 1929. When the global stock market crash hit in 1929, Holland found itself particularly vulnerable. Much of the Dutch economy was dependent on foreign trade and especially from the new eastern European states where the market crash was worse felt. With the defenses of the East Indies a drain on the economy and a growing demand for social welfare programs at home, the Dutch government agreed to begin negotiations with the Japanese Empire. The Dutch agreed to sell in December1929, however the Dutch demand special trading status and the right of the Dutch Royal Shell Company to operate in the territories. The Japanese took Joint possession in December of that year, but negotiations continued until 1932. The turning point was the beginning of the Pacific War between the US and the Japanese. Finding itself without allies, the Dutch quickly concluded a treaty which gave up their rights to continue drilling for oil.
Trouble Ahead
At home the depression led to high unemployment and widespread poverty, as well as increasing social unrest. The rise of Action Française in France, the Silver Shirts in Britain and the Freedom Party in the Confederate States did not go unnoticed in the Netherlands. Many disaffected Dutch flocked to similar Right wing groups. Dutch Silvershirts admired Mosley’s Britain First Movement and called for a traditional corporate ideology. The membership was small, elitist and ineffective. The Action Française was immensely unpopular because of its Catholic fundamentalism. The pro-Freedomite movement, however, attempted to build a mass base by 1935. It failed because most Dutch rejected its racial ideology and calls for violence. These groups never constituted more than 10% of the electorate, yet they continued to create political instability.
By 1935 the remilitarization of France and Britain was becoming a concern for the Dutch people. The Dutch people feared another war on the horizon, with more blockades and death. By 1937 the new French Regime began harassing its protestant citizens. When Action Française forces began attacking protestant and Jewish businesses in the eastern and northern divisions of metropolitan France. The Dutch people became alarmed. The government responded by reintroducing conscription and increasing the defense budget. Even with the growing concern at the possibility of armed conflict, most Dutch citizens expected that France and Britain would again respect Dutch neutrality and territorial integrity.
The Dutch were not the only ones who feared the Entente Re-Armament program. From 1937 to 1941 a coalition of the Social Democrats and German Centre Party led by Heinrich Bruning was in power in Berlin. The Centre Party’s primary focus was to decrease military spending, support economic recovery and maintain the peace at all cost. As such Bruning’s plan was to not provoke the former Entente nations, despite their re-armament programs. Many Germans not wanting to suffer through another war agreed. Still their was a small clique of conservative and Centrist who attempted to raise the alarm. This group included Oskar von Hindenburg, Kurt von Schleicher, Franz von Papen, Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Konstantin von Neurath and Manfred von Richtofen. Richtofen was especially vocal in his fears of the growing power of the R.A.F. and its new fleet of four engine bombers. They group attempted to raise awareness of the war like attentions of the former Entente Powers and push to increase the Reichs defenses. Unfortunately these warnings were shouted down as irrational fears and propaganda of militarists by the Social Democrats.
Some Dutch leaders realized that as professed members of the German economic order the Netherlands all be it militarily neutral were perceived as a German allies. Conservative members of Parliament and senior military staff, persuaded the to government to accept a German military mission. Over the next five years German officers helped reform and prepare the Dutch Army for modern warfare. When the Entente nations supported the Spanish Nationalists against the monarchist the Centre Government in Germany took notice. Konstantin von Neurath as Foreign Minister attempted to reorganize the Quadruple Alliance and incoprate many of Europe’s new minor powers, however these attempts failed.
In 1939 the Netherlands was asked to join the Herman line (named after Arminius the German General who defeated the attempt of Roman colonization east of the Rhine). In the 1920’s the Germans built a system of airbases, airtight artillery and anti-tank fortifications running along the western borders of the Reich. These were located in the Imperial provinces of Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and west Belgium. This was to fortify the recent conquests and decrease the number of troops needed to defend the western frontier. While the Dutch were willing to improve their airforce and field army, they were unwilling to spend the money to extend the Herman line into their territory. The Germans asked to Dutch to also build Fortifications in the south to prevent invasion through Belgium, but the Dutch government rejected this.
By 1941 the Dutch Army was larger and stronger then it had been in two hundred years. It had first class armored vehicles having recently purchased the Barrel Mark II.V. from the United States. Its airforce though small was modern and professional. Despite the re-armament program the Netherlands still clung to its neutrality, refusing to declare they were a German Ally.
Part III will be the 2nd Great War and the conclusion
Interwar period
The Dutch successfully navigated the Great War as a neutral power, keeping their empire and even winning reparations from the British for the loss of its merchant marine. Because of the international character of the Dutch economy, the post war drop in international trade severely affected the economy. As a result the Netherlands began the post war period in an economic depression and with widespread food shortages. The deficit was so great even extra food sent from its colonies were not enough.
Luckily for the Dutch people and the rest of Europe the United States was to the rescue. President Roosevelt knew the United States owed much of its success to Germany’s distraction of the British Empire. To show his gratitude the President wanted to help alleviate the food shortages in Germany. The President sent a commission headed by Major General Charles Dawes, the man who oversaw the US wartime food rationing from 1914 to 1916 and from 1916 to 1917 as the Army Chief of Supply Procurement. Because of his success as an administrator, the President tapped him to head the new American Relief Administration. Dawes was sent to Germany to ascertain how much foodstuffs the German people would need. While Germany was not starving, the current food levels was causing chronic malnutrition, illness and contributing to the influenza epidemic. This was due not just to Germany’s reduced production but the reduced production from its normal trading partners on the continent.
The committee quickly ascertained that the problem was continent wide. With war ending the United States had foodstuffs to spare. Plus it now had incorporated millions of new farmers in the former Confederacy and Canada that had continued to grow food but had there usually buyers either in another country or destroyed buy the war, to keep their agricultural industries from collapsing they required economic support. Dawes and the President quickly envisioned a continent wide relief effort. The President presented his plan to Congress and won tri-partisan support of Democrats, Republicans and Socialists. On February 24, 1918 the Congress created the ARA with the budget of 100 million dollars. With the help of Dawes banking connections the budget was boosted by private donations, which resulted in another 100 million dollars. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the ARA delivered more than four million tons of relief supplies to 23 war-torn European countries. In a surprising gesture Roosevelt included former enemy nations like France and Britain, but only after the agreed to German demands. Over a five thousand tons of grain was sent to Britain alone in the spring of 1918.
Dawes organized shipments of food for millions of starving people in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. He used a newly formed Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee, to carry out much of the logistical work in Europe. At first the German government demanded that all food supplies to the newly created German dependencies be given to the German government to be handed out. Roosevelt refused. Roosevelt wanted to establish separate relationships with these new states and insisted that US altruism was up to the American people. Germany dependent on the food help reluctantly agreed. This was done intentionally by the Roosevelt administration to build a stronger relationship with minor European powers separate of their German allies. It was also the beginnings of a growing rift between the US and Germany and their visions for the post war international order.
High on the President Roosevelt’s list was the Netherlands for which the President felt a kinship too as a descendant of Dutch New York colonists. The Netherlands along with other neutral countries effected by the blockade like Sweden, Norway, Denmark were included in the program. As a result statutes of President Roosevelt or General Dawes can be found in the major cities of the Netherlands. When he visited the nation after his leaving the Presidency he was awarded Dutch citizenship and the Order of Nassau, the highest decoration given to a Dutch citizen. Luckily these awards did not violate the Fifteenth Amendment, as they were not a title of nobility.
Like many other post war states, the Netherlands took a decided turn to the left. With the hardships the Dutch people suffered there were many post war riots demanding social reform. In 1917 Prime Minister van der Linden introduced universal suffrage in the Netherlands. Although both houses of the Dutch parliament were elected by the people, only men with high incomes were eligible to vote until 1917, when pressure from socialist movements resulted in elections in which all men were allowed to vote. In 1919 women also obtained the right to vote. Because of this, the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the Algemeene Bond van RK-kiesverenigingen, a Catholic party, won the 1918 elections. The Catholic Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck took Cort van der Linden's place as Prime Minister.
The “Zollverein”
By 1920 the Dutch economy still had not recovered. Large scale unemployment and slow export growth continued to cause unemployment over 13%. It was in this situation that the Netherlands found itself when Germany called the Frankfurt Conference. By the Treaty of Potsdam Germany had acquired a substantial colonial empire and economic control over European states. Germany wanted to makes de facto position as head of Central Europe’s economy official, by creating a customs union out of its new possessions. This new Zollverein of the 20th century, was to be an expansion of the North German Zollverein of the 18th century. It was the brainchild of Reich’s Finance Minister Carl Melchoir and Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht Banking commissioner for occupied Belgium. Germany invited Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Finland, Baltic States, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, German concessions in the Caucasus Mountains and the Republic of Ireland to the conference. Central to Germany’s view of the new organization was the adoption of the German Mark as the international currency, an international development bank and the dismantling of all tariff restrictions.
Negotiations were tense. Austria-Hungary was officially there as an observer but some of the more ambitious Germans wanted to make this a continent wide union, eventually including Austria Hungary, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal as well. However in the wake of the Great War Austria- Hungary was the only other victorious power and it zealously guarded its independence. After three months of negotiation the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed. It established a new European customs federation, its members all signed on to use the German Mark as its currency when dealing with international trade, peg their currencies to the Mark, abolish all tariffs between its member and contribute to an internal development bank. In a concession to its allies Germany extended the free trade market to its overseas colonies, but expected all its members to do so as well. This obviously only applied to the Netherlands. Eventually all German dependencies plus the Netherlands signed on to the new Treaty. The few holdouts were the Republic of Ireland and Austria-Hungary. By agreement the Ukraine would join the Zollverein, but was permitted to keep the German Mark and the Austro-Hungarian kroner as its currency.
Bully Twenties
At first the entrance into the Zollverein proved little benefit, but as the German economy recovered so did the Dutch economy. By 1923 the Dutch economy began to show signs of economic growth which characterized in the United States as the “Bully Twenties.” The Netherlands like the other Zollverein states rejoined the Gold Standard. The Netherlands GDP surpassed its position in 1913 that of 24.96 Billion Dollars, in 1926. During this time the Dutch East Indies Colony also flourished as its commodities found new markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Despite the flood of cheaper German goods colonial officials unofficially maintained a Dutch monopoly. It was during this period that the Dutch solidified their control over Western New Guinea.
Despite their economic success, the Dutch were finding it difficult to afford to defend their Asian Empire. At first the Dutch sold coaling stations to the Germans for cash and as insurance from Japanese aggression. The Germans had lost their Pacific empire to Japan and Australia, but they were compensated and left it alone. By the mid 1920’s the Germans gutted the Navy budget. The cost of the war and occupation of its new territory crippled the country. The German Navy abandoned the Pacific and all but conceded everything outside the North Seas, East Atlantic and Central African ports to the British and Americans.
The Netherlands spent significant resources on its navy, however it was never enough to render the East Indies defensible. In 1926 the Japanese successfully negotiated the purchase of Indochina, after France nearly defaulted on a reparations payment to Germany. The sale left France free f its reparations and Japan soon began pressuring the Netherlands for its Asian Empire. The Netherlands relying on the cloak of the Imperial German Navy and the US pacific Navy was not nearly as vulnerable as France. It successfully held off Japan until 1929. When the global stock market crash hit in 1929, Holland found itself particularly vulnerable. Much of the Dutch economy was dependent on foreign trade and especially from the new eastern European states where the market crash was worse felt. With the defenses of the East Indies a drain on the economy and a growing demand for social welfare programs at home, the Dutch government agreed to begin negotiations with the Japanese Empire. The Dutch agreed to sell in December1929, however the Dutch demand special trading status and the right of the Dutch Royal Shell Company to operate in the territories. The Japanese took Joint possession in December of that year, but negotiations continued until 1932. The turning point was the beginning of the Pacific War between the US and the Japanese. Finding itself without allies, the Dutch quickly concluded a treaty which gave up their rights to continue drilling for oil.
Trouble Ahead
At home the depression led to high unemployment and widespread poverty, as well as increasing social unrest. The rise of Action Française in France, the Silver Shirts in Britain and the Freedom Party in the Confederate States did not go unnoticed in the Netherlands. Many disaffected Dutch flocked to similar Right wing groups. Dutch Silvershirts admired Mosley’s Britain First Movement and called for a traditional corporate ideology. The membership was small, elitist and ineffective. The Action Française was immensely unpopular because of its Catholic fundamentalism. The pro-Freedomite movement, however, attempted to build a mass base by 1935. It failed because most Dutch rejected its racial ideology and calls for violence. These groups never constituted more than 10% of the electorate, yet they continued to create political instability.
By 1935 the remilitarization of France and Britain was becoming a concern for the Dutch people. The Dutch people feared another war on the horizon, with more blockades and death. By 1937 the new French Regime began harassing its protestant citizens. When Action Française forces began attacking protestant and Jewish businesses in the eastern and northern divisions of metropolitan France. The Dutch people became alarmed. The government responded by reintroducing conscription and increasing the defense budget. Even with the growing concern at the possibility of armed conflict, most Dutch citizens expected that France and Britain would again respect Dutch neutrality and territorial integrity.
The Dutch were not the only ones who feared the Entente Re-Armament program. From 1937 to 1941 a coalition of the Social Democrats and German Centre Party led by Heinrich Bruning was in power in Berlin. The Centre Party’s primary focus was to decrease military spending, support economic recovery and maintain the peace at all cost. As such Bruning’s plan was to not provoke the former Entente nations, despite their re-armament programs. Many Germans not wanting to suffer through another war agreed. Still their was a small clique of conservative and Centrist who attempted to raise the alarm. This group included Oskar von Hindenburg, Kurt von Schleicher, Franz von Papen, Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Konstantin von Neurath and Manfred von Richtofen. Richtofen was especially vocal in his fears of the growing power of the R.A.F. and its new fleet of four engine bombers. They group attempted to raise awareness of the war like attentions of the former Entente Powers and push to increase the Reichs defenses. Unfortunately these warnings were shouted down as irrational fears and propaganda of militarists by the Social Democrats.
Some Dutch leaders realized that as professed members of the German economic order the Netherlands all be it militarily neutral were perceived as a German allies. Conservative members of Parliament and senior military staff, persuaded the to government to accept a German military mission. Over the next five years German officers helped reform and prepare the Dutch Army for modern warfare. When the Entente nations supported the Spanish Nationalists against the monarchist the Centre Government in Germany took notice. Konstantin von Neurath as Foreign Minister attempted to reorganize the Quadruple Alliance and incoprate many of Europe’s new minor powers, however these attempts failed.
In 1939 the Netherlands was asked to join the Herman line (named after Arminius the German General who defeated the attempt of Roman colonization east of the Rhine). In the 1920’s the Germans built a system of airbases, airtight artillery and anti-tank fortifications running along the western borders of the Reich. These were located in the Imperial provinces of Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and west Belgium. This was to fortify the recent conquests and decrease the number of troops needed to defend the western frontier. While the Dutch were willing to improve their airforce and field army, they were unwilling to spend the money to extend the Herman line into their territory. The Germans asked to Dutch to also build Fortifications in the south to prevent invasion through Belgium, but the Dutch government rejected this.
By 1941 the Dutch Army was larger and stronger then it had been in two hundred years. It had first class armored vehicles having recently purchased the Barrel Mark II.V. from the United States. Its airforce though small was modern and professional. Despite the re-armament program the Netherlands still clung to its neutrality, refusing to declare they were a German Ally.
Part III will be the 2nd Great War and the conclusion
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