RamscoopRaider
Donor
Please read my earlier post, I mentioned all the ships the Netherlands possessed in 1914. This is less than Germany or Italy, for that matter it is barely better than the Ottoman Empire
Thank you for the complement, you are welcomeAhh yes, thank you ram
I'd say the naval rating would go like this:
UK
Germany
USA
Japan
France
Italy
Russia
Austro-hungary
Argentina (2 dreadnoughs in service as well as older vessels)
Brazil (2 Dreadnoughts in service as well)
Spain
Chile
Sweden
Holland
Norway
Also the 'mighty' Dutch navy was scattered over its wide spread holdings. Its 'premeir' ships, armed with 2 x 11 inch guns (most ships of their age had 4 x 12 inch guns) were in the Far East and the museium peices at home had 9.4 inch guns and a handful of 5.9 inch guns, less firepower than a British or French armoured cruiser as well as slower, less well armoured and much older with inferior armour.
Forgot about the Roma's and the Armored Cruisers, oops sorry my badThe italians had a considerable force of Dreadnoughts either built or building in 1914, as well as the 5 modern Roma class Semi-dreadnought battlecruisers and their 4 BIG armoured cruisers and a force of pre-dreadnoughts. The Russians were comissioning the Ganguts and the Black sea Dreadnoughts but had been virtually wiped out in terms of battleships and cruisers. That's why I put the Italians above them![]()
I dont know, avoid the Belgian-Netherlands split and the Netherlands suddenly an industrial backcountry in Wallonia. For that you need a couple of POD around the early 19th century (willem I being a bit smater would help a lot).A different birth won't do bugger all without a MASSIVE industrial build up, something that did not happen in Holland until after WW2, you'd have to change the country so much to turn it back into a european power that in reality would be near impossible.
I dont know, avoid the Belgian-Netherlands split and the Netherlands suddenly an industrial backcountry in Wallonia. For that you need a couple of POD around the early 19th century (willem I being a bit smater would help a lot).
Stadholder/king William III having a child is an interesting POD, but would cause so much differences that World War I (and probably even Germany) as we know it would be butterflied away.
True, this Netherlands would never be a major power. It would probably the biggest of the smaller countries in Europe. Strong enough to matter; something the Netherlands did not in th 19th and early 20th century (I like to think in the late 20th century and the early 21th century it does again).Avoiding the Belgian secession would certainly help a lot, and would give the "Great Netherlands" a serious industrial basis. It would not be enough to turn them into a major power, though. In terms of population they would still be outnumbered by both France and Germany, and their land border would be very hard to defend (not to mention that they would lack strategical depth): it is the same problem that the United Provinces had to face since the rebellion against the Spanish, and a problem that they were never really able to solve in a satisfactory way.