Belgium
Following the end of the war Belgium was in ruins. The nation had lost a large percentage of its citizens to the German army, allied bombs, starvation and disease. The nation which had confidently proclaimed its prosperity and strength in the face of the Germans in 1940 could only whimper as Anglo-Dutch troops stormed into the nation from the liberated Netherlands. Belgium it seemed had been well and truly destroyed. Its cities had been leveled, industry destroyed and population shrunk to a number a quarter less than it had been in 1940.

Because the Belgian government had failed to successfully flee the country following the capitulation and due to the Germans, and the nations later participation in the war on the side of the same Germans Belgium was not allowed to send representatives to the peace conference. They had no say as France carved some of its territory away and forced them to agree to pay reparations the crippled nation could never hope to pay. They were forced to watch as the Belgian Congo, the nations only colony was granted independence by the British after less than a month of occupying it. And they were forced to pay sums to the USSR that made the reparations to France seem like pocket change.

Faced with several crisis, a starving population and an empty treasury at home. And French and Soviet diplomats asking daily when they would receive their reparations payments things were not going good for the Belgian republic. A republic whose legitimacy was challenged by the former king Alexander II who had fled to Portugal following his trail by the allied war crimes investigations council. Many of the members of government, themselves often German collaborators during the war, supported the return of the monarchy and actively sought to discredit the government. Large parts of the population also supported a return to the monarchy which promised a return to prosperity such had been the norm in the prewar world.

Things came to a head in 1946, just seven months after the official end of the war when monarchists seized the government and announced the return of Alexander. Some crowds appeared and began to celebrate. While others, namely those which had suffered the most during the war, broke into protest and riots at what they saw as the return of a criminal and a monster. The small army Belgium was allowed to retain after the war proved unable to restore order to the situation and soon massive running battles had broken out in the bombed out streets of Brussels and other Belgian cities. The combatants often lacked weapons and instead used makeshift clubs, spears and bricks. Or simply their fists depending on how long they had to prepare to fight.

Belgium was rapidly descending into a civil war, which neighboring France and the Netherlands feared would spread to their people. France contemplated sending troops into the country to calm things down and restore order. However their military was still rebuilding and what active units there were had already been deployed to garrison the parts of Germany France had nabbed for itself in the peace talks. The idea of sending troops into Belgium was dropped quickly and the French began instead to concentrate on keeping Belgian refugees out of the country. This had the effect of causing a fair amount of animosity on the part of the southern parts of Belgium which had entertained hopes of being united with France.

The Dutch were another matter entirely however and in May of 1946 almost twenty thousand troops poured into Belgium. Quickly overrunning the small monarchist garrisons stationed in the border towns and defeating the small republican army in a battle around Brussels. Much of the rest of the country was taken by the army over the following days. The whole invasion lasted from start to finish little more than nine days. Nine days in which the Dutch had suffered less than a hundred casualties and fired less than a thousand rounds. Most of the Belgian population looked at the Dutch as saviors who had put a stop to a potential civil war before it had begun. There was very little violence directed at the Dutch troops and the occupation went very well.

Queen Wilhelmina had been the one who had orchestrated the intervention. Asking for government permission for the operation herself. She had taken a personal part in the invasion. Consulting with her generals and making certain that her troops knew to not fire unless fired upon. The smoothness in which the operation was carried out is often credited to her.

Following the successful occupation of the nation Wilhelmina invited the two sides to meet in Amsterdam to discuss a compromise. The republicans were willing however monarchists refused unless the Netherlands immediately withdrew its forces from Belgian soil. When the Dutch refused ministers of Alexander swore to force them to do so by any means. Over the next several days a number of buildings, buses and trains were bombed in the name of king Alexander. The victims were treated in Dutch hospitals at the personal expense of Queen Wilhelmina who staunchly refused to withdraw her troops.

The attacks had the opposite effect desired by the monarchists. The destroyed any support for the restoration of Alexander amongsts the population. While the Portuguese government reacted to the bombings very poorly. Arresting Alexander and many of his minsters and storming the Belgian embassy where he had been staying. In this way much of the monarchist leadership were caught. And promptly executed by an emergency session of the UN which labeled Alexander a terrorist and criminal who had incited rebellion against a legitimate government. Alexander himself would be spared death but would spend the rest of his life in a Dutch prison quietly rotting away.

Integration
It was soon decided by the UN that Belgium lacked the ability to rebuild itself. The nation had little money in the treasury and had little hopes of getting it. And the population was starving and beyond destitute. It was soon decided that Belgium would become in its entirety a protectorate of one of the nations that neighbored it. France was out of the question. Although they wanted to. However the republic already occupied so much of the former Germany, already stretching its economy and manpower to its limits, that taking on any additional responsibilities was just out of the question.

None of the new German nations could do it. They themselves were already under French occupation and lacked even the ability to feed and clothe their own populace. While Britain could have taken up the job it was nearly bankrupt and already had enough to worry about with their empire rapidly falling apart before their eyes they did not have anything to spare for Belgium. That left the only realistic option. The Netherlands which just so happened to already have troops deployed to the area.

Official control of Belgium was turned over the government of the Netherlands on the 18th of June. The government of the Belgian republic was immediately dissolved and the country was divided into military districts. These districts mostly correlated to the provinces of the previous republic and earlier kingdom. The term military occupational zone is misleading as the area was always placed under the control of a government official and the army had very little control in everyday operations.

The Dutch government immediately put forth a plan to rebuild the country and get it back on its feet. The plan called for a large sum of money, however it was agreed that Belgium would repay the sum once they could. With interest added of course. Work parties were immediately organized and the people put to work clearing the debris of countless bombing raids, artillery barrages and fires. Dutch businesses were then encouraged to established branches in Belgium and use the cheap labor there to manufacture parts and other things. Fokker would lead the pack. Establishing a small facility in Brussels which began to make landing gear for the new J-46 airliner beginning in 1946. Other companies soon followed and soon Belgian industry was back on its feet and the people working once more.

The efforts that the Dutch went to to help Belgium touched many people and its was little difficulty for some politicians to convince Belgium to stay. Holding a referendum about Belgiums integration into the Netherlands in 1950 which saw the yes win with a slim majority of fifty seven percent of the vote in the Netherlands and sixty two percent in Belgium. A plan was immediately drawn up to integrate the Belgian provinces with those of the Netherlands which called for gradual integration over the next decade. In 1960 it was made official and Belgium ceased to exist.

Some immediately began to call for the independence of the country once more. However things within the Netherlands were to good to make leaving a likely possibility. A referendum held in 1975 showed that only twenty percent of the country wished for independence and since then that number has likely shrunk even further as an entire generation has been born as citizens of the Netherlands rather than citizens of the former kingdom of Belgium. The inclusion of Belgium had made the Netherlands one of the most powerful nations in Europe. Second only to France in the European Trade Union and third place in the Entente between Britain, France, the Netherlands and others.
 
Debts.
Following the end of the war Britain and France were heavily in the debt of the United States. They each owed billions of dollars to repay for the massive loans they had been granted. In the case of Britain the money had been spent to fund the war against Germany. While the bulk of French loans went towards rebuilding the country after the massive beating it had taken from allied and German bombs and guns. Both nations would be busily repaying their debts well into the 1970s before they had been fully repaid.

The Netherlands, like many postwar European nations owed the United States massive sums of money. Nowhere near the amount owed by Britain or France but a still significant amount of money. It had been hoped that the oil money from the DEI wells would enable the country to repay the US quickly and move on. However with the wave of independence movements sweeping the Indies that was no longer an option and other ways of paying would need to be found if the Netherlands was to escape the title of debtor nation. A title that had not applied to the country since the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1813.

Eventually it was decided to create a special tax of just one percent on all imports to pay for the loan. This was in addition to the normal five percent tax already in place on imported goods and was not a serious increase in cost. All of this new special tax went directly to the United States treasury. Given the amount of goods entering the country at the time the debt was repaid by the middle of the 1960s and the tax discontinued. By this time the Netherlands had grown to become one of the biggest creditor nations in the world. Granting vast sums to the developing world and investing heavily in a number of national and international ventures. France and Britain would struggle to pay of their debts by the 70s. Britain did so in 74 while it took France until 77 before the last of their world war two debt had been fully repaid.

Arms Race.
Following the end of the war the world quickly solidified into two power blocks. One one side was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and their various client Soviet Socialist Republics which had all signed the Warsaw pact. And on the other side was the United States of America and a collection of nations which together had formed the global Joint Defense and Trade Association. Or JD/TA. These two organizations struggled with one another for dominance over the world. Both the USSR and USA developed Atomic weapons in the 1950s, and a deadly arms race quickly ensued as each country attempted to build more bombs and missiles than the other. And to make those bombs and missiles longer ranged and carry a bigger payload than their opponent.

Each side had an unofficial agreement with the other that these Atomic weapons would only be used if the other used them first. In this way the small brush wars and shadow conflicts the Soviets and Americans took part in remained clean. Neither side was willing to use their Atomic arsenals for fear of reprisal from the other. And so the various small wars and interventions became only hellholes and not hell itself. Places where men died daily for very little gain. Where guerrilla tactics and napalm were more valuable than tanks or massed infantry. And places where you rarely saw your enemy before he killed you.

Cooperation.
Britain, France and the Netherlands were in a difficult position as the arms race developed between the USSR and USA. All three nations were opposed on a fundamental level. However unlike the United States all three nations were much closer to the Soviets. And if war broke out they would likely be facing the might of the massive Soviet Red Army. For this reason all three nations did their best to avoid any entanglements with the Soviets. They did not send out troops to fight in the proxy wars, nor did they purchase large amounts of American military equipment. Choosing instead to build much of their own tanks, planes, ships, guns and missiles.

Because development of these vehicles and systems were so expensive France and the Netherlands agreed to jointly develop a new class of destroyer in 1960. What emerged at the end of the decade was a very capable ship. Known as the Dyke class in the Netherlands and the De Gausse class in France. Both ships had been named after famous commanders during the war. At the time of their commissioning they were the best ships in the world for their size. Possessing some of the most advanced propulsion, missile systems, Radar and Sonar in the world. France built twelve of the ships while the Netherlands contented themselves with a mere eight. Four ships were also sold to the Italian Republic while Hanover and Denmark would each order two ships of the class during the early 70s.

Following the success of the Dyke/De Gausse class France, Britain and the Netherlands agreed in 1968 to codevelop a missile system. While at the time only Britain possessed a nuclear capacity France was in the process of developing a warhead and the Netherlands was considering it. The missile, dubbed Mars by the British ministry of defense, was intended for use aboard submarines. With the potential for use in missile silos if either the French or Dutch wished to establish a land based missile network.

The Mars project led to all three nations participating in a close capacity. With many of the separate members of government coming to have a very close relationship. When the project closed the channels of communication remained in place and the three began to toy with the idea of a closer relationship in the future. Where each nation would work together for the military and economic gain of all. What emerged eventually were two organizations. The European Trade Union came first in 1974. While the Entente would follow in 1980. By which time all three nations possessed a strong nuclear capacity and the ability to use it.

European Trade Union
Originally brought forth following the end of the second world war in the form of the European Bank which acted as a fund for nations to rebuild and an organization to regulate trade. The bank had been funded by donations from government and private individuals. As a result it was starved of funds and accomplished little on the banking front. However the bank did manage to establish strong economic ties between many of the future members of the ETU when it was formed.

The Union was the first thing to result from the close cooperation established by the Mars project. It comprised upon its formations eight nations. France, the Netherlands, Italian Republic and Kingdom of Naples. Hanover, Bavaria Nassau and Denmark. Britain declined to join due to their existing economic commitments with the Commonwealth and USA. This left the organization effectively under the control of France and the Netherlands. The other German and Italian nations simply lacked the economy and population of the larger nations.

However that did not make the ETU a single sided organization as all nations within the union had an equal say in the policies the organization took. Although that mostly amounted to negotiating free trade agreements and closer economic ties. The organization managed to establish itself as a major force. Having a combined GDP nearly equal to that of the USA by 2000. Although France and the Netherlands accounted for nearly sixty percent of the total. France being the junior partner at the time with the Netherlands having a higher GDP by around fifteen percent.

Entente
This organization was much smaller and closer than the ETU. Composed of only Britain, France and the Netherlands the Entente was an official military organization which operated within the confines of the JD/TA. Although following the end of the cold war in the 90s it began to move away from the USA and concentrate on its own affairs.

The organization established a joint military command between the three nations and their colonies. Including the Commonwealth. Effectively forming a military with almost ten million active personnel. The nations cooperated to jointly develop common military technologies and tactics. Notably the Typhoon and Torrent fighter jets and Medusa missile defense system. In other fields the nations developed technologies that were included in different vehicles. Such as the BFN V-10 engine which went into an entire generation of tanks. From the French Char 77, British Crusader, and Dutch Panster 80 MBTs. Or the Athena weapons system that went into most warships operated by Entente naval forces until 2004 when it was replaced with the newer Apollo system.

New Age
The creation of the ETU and Entente marked the beginning of the end for European participation in the cold war. Recognizing the threat posed by the triple alliance of Britain France and the Netherlands the Soviets began a new policy of establishing greater diplomatic ties with their western neighbors rather than maintaining a hostile military showdown in the middle of the continent between their armies and airforces. This allowed the USSR to cut back on its massive military spending by around ten percent and instead create new infrastructure and welfare packages which led to a sizable increase in the basic standard of living for a citizen of the Union. The opening of Europe to Soviet goods and vice versa in the mid 1990s led to a massive cooling of relations and is often credited with bringing the Soviet economy out of the severe depression it had been in since the early years of the decade.

For the USA the creation of the Entente marked the beginning of the end for its presence in Europe. Which had been at its height over a quarter of a million men strong dispersed around a total of fifty seven bases. American politicians had labeled the Entente as a threat to American hegemony when it had first been created. However isolationists within the government argue successfully that the USA should allow the Europeans to remove themselves from needing American troops to defend them from the USSR. If American troops were not needed in Europe then they could be better deployed to fight in other areas. Such as to Alaska or Japan. Both areas where American forces planned to launch invasions of Communist countries in the event of a war.
 
Atomic Deliberations
Following the end of the second world war US and Soviet scientists were quickly given the order from their prospective governments to begin development and testing of captured German weapons and technology. Among the items tested and eventually brought into service were jet propelled aircraft, streamlined submarines, ballistic missiles and guided bombs. Often the German scientists which had been developing the various weapons were brought along by the allies and made a part of the team developing the weapons for their own military. Such as rocket scientist Werner Von Braun, who was sent directly from Germany to secret USA testing and development facilities.

Overshadowing all the German technology perhaps was the revelation that Hitler had been developing a Atomic device. American, Soviet, British and even Dutch scientists had been theorizing that such a weapon could be developed. But they had never been able to develop a stable reaction. The Americans had gotten the closest with a 1943 test of a small weapon in Nevada. However this weapon required power from generators in the base to successfully detonate and weighted far more than the largest bombs that could be carried by either a B-17 or B-29. The weapon also had a pathetic yield that was equal to most large bombs already in the US arsenal.

German researchers in the other hand had gotten much farther along in their research. Having successfully detonated a bomb in very late 1944 near the Polish city of Poznan. This weapon suffered from all the short comings of the American detonation. But the German researchers were quick to learn from the test and by the time Germany surrendered the team was very far along in developing a functional atomic device. Although a proper bomb was still may years away from being operationally deployed German research was far in advance of anything the rest of the world had come up with.

The USA had been quick to take as much of the German technology and development team as they could following the capture of the new German testing site in Czechoslovakia. Where the project had been moved after the Red Army had captured the site at Poznan. Practically obliterating it in a massive artillery bombardment. This act ensured that the Soviets began the atomic race well behind the US. Most of the development notes, testing equipment and archives having been destroyed when the buildings were destroyed by the artillery.

Neither the USA or USSR admitted to the outside world that they were developing nuclear weapons. Choosing instead to carry on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. This changed suddenly though when the USA managed, after several accidents, to detonate an Atomic device in the deserts of Nevada on the second of June 1949. The weapon had a yield of eleven kilotons. Or the equivalent of eleven thousand tons of TnT going off at once. The weapon was then revealed to be small enough to fit aboard the B-29 heavy bomber. Several of which were based within striking distance of Soviet territory on airbases in the Germanies and France.

The soviet Union accelerated their own program and rushed to detonate their own bomb in 1952. Quickly developing a new series of heavy bombers to carry the weapon across the vast distances necessary to reach American cities. The two nations engaged in a frenzied arms race. Rushing to build more and bigger bombs than their rival. When effective rockets were developed in the late 1950s and early 60s the two nations quickly built up impressive arsenals of InterContinental Ballistic Missiles. Or ICBM for short. With these weapons targets anywhere in the world could quickly be reached. With no need for bombers to fly over enemy airspace to drop their weapons.

As the USA/USSR arms race heated up in the 1960s the Netherlands watched with interest to see which side would ultimately triumph. Dutch research into atomic weapons had been stopped by the war and had never been resumed. Now though some within the Staaten Generaal began to call for the country to develop a bomb of its own. To protect the nation and ensure that it would be able to retaliate should the Soviets ever storm through Prussia and into western Europe. While the debate was still raging Britain would detonate their first atomic bomb in 1965. France followed in 1969. This was enough to convince the Dutch government and in 1969 the Netherlands began to develop its own nuclear device.

Dubbed Laatste Oordeel, or judgement day by the government the Zwaar gewicht (heavy weight) bomb was mounted to the Mars missile and detonated over the waters of the south Pacific just off of New Zealand on the 14th of April 1972. Afterwards it was announced that the Netherlands had plans to build up an arsenal of one hundred and fifty nuclear tipped missiles to be mounted aboard submarines and in silos in the Netherlands proper and the colonies. Furthermore the country planned to detonate a test bomb every two years to develop heavier yield weapons and ensure that the weapons actually worked.

Atomic Non-Proliferation.
By 1975 there were eight nations possessing nuclear weapons. The United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, French Republic, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kingdom of Sweden, Republic of China and Chinese Socialist Republic. Both Chinas had been given their nuclear capacity by the superpowers in an effort to bring the intermittent warfare between them to a stop. The USA had done this first in 1974 when they delivered six warheads and the materials needed to build more to the government of the Republic of China. The hope was that the Soviets would then back off if the southern Chinese nation had nuclear capacity. Instead the USSR responded by granting their puppet state the CSR nuclear devices of its own. Creating in the process a dangerous stalemate between the two nations that has continued to this day and led to countless minor skirmishes and quick border intrusions.

Following what happened with Asia five of the nuclear powers. Britain, France, the Netherlands and the USSR and Sweden sat down with one another in the Swiss town of Zurich to discuss the possibility of a treaty to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of any nation that had a conflict with one of the superpowers. Before the negotiations could begin in earnest the United States demanded the right to participate. The whole negotiation had been started at the invitation of the Soviets and it hurt American pride that they had not even been invited. And that the Soviets had managed to appear as the good guys. To make up for this the Americans went out of there way to stonewall the negotiations.

Anything that the Soviets either supported or presented they made a fuss about. Stalling any potential progress that could have been made in the treaty. Eventually things got so bad in the negotiations that Britain and Sweden threatened to kick the USA out of the negotiations if they did not begin to take them seriously. Not wanting to appear warlike the US agreed and negotiations were quickly back on track. By the end of 1976 the Zurich treaty had been officially ratified by the five nations.. It stated that all nuclear tests were not to be made without forewarning on the part of the one testing. No new nuclear weapons were to be built without an announcement. And the numbers of weapons each of the signatories possessed was to be made public.

Furthermore the sale of technology, experience or materials necessary in the creation of nuclear technology to any nation was prohibited. As was the sale of nuclear weapons themselves. And the signatories agreed that should any other nations begin to develop nuclear weapons that said nation was to be made the recipient of massive tariffs and embargoes to convince them to drop their programs. It was also agreed that a number of missile silos around the world would be immediately shut down to lighten tensions between the nations.

The treaty led to a complete halt to the nuclear programs of Japan, Brazil and Turkey. Nations which had received varying amounts of American support in their programs. While the Soviets had never done things that way, allowing their allies to develop nukes they had stationed missile delivery systems in their borders. To balance out the American withdrawal of their support to their allies the USSR was forced to deactivate their silos in Poland, Prussia, Romania and several of the central Asian silos were similarly deactivated.

While not perfect the Zurich treaty prevented the proliferation of nuclear weapons and acted as a sort of legal code for the potential destruction of mankind. Ensuring who would kill who and from what areas an attack would be launched from. It effectively instilled a sense of order to the madness that was the cold war and many historians today point to the Zurich treaty as the beginning of the end for the cold war. Soon afterwards the Soviet economy began to suffer as the eighties dawned. Culminating in the utter collapse of the Soviet economy and the cold war ended for good. Leading to a new age on the world stage.
 
1945.png

A not quite complete map of the world about 1950-55. It shows that many colonies were in the process of breaking away at the point. A map of Europe should follow soon that will be far more complete and detailed.
 
Soviet Collapse.
For years the economy of the Soviet Union had been tightly controlled by the central government. A central government which had very limited interest or knowledge of economics. As a result the Soviet economy struggled in the mid seventies and early eighties. With the government responding by emptying the treasury into it in a poorly thought out attempt to fix the problem. For obvious reasons this failed and beginning in the late eighties the economy took a very alarming downward spiral which resulted in the ruble losing eighty percent of its value in three years. By 1990 the ruble was valued at only four percent its 1980 value.

Aside from the Rubles lowered value the entire economy was in a very bad way. The government had run out of funds to channel into it to continue the appearance of prosperity. Meaning that things quickly spiraled in a cascading effect as one sector of the economy after the other collapsed partially or completely. By 1990 things had gotten dire and the Soviet leadership belatedly realized that reform was needed if the nation was not to collapse.

What reforms eventually passed were halfhearted at best and did little to prevent the collapse of the Soviet economy. Which officially happened in 1991 after Poland and Prussia jointly withdrew from the Warsaw pact. Most of eastern Europe followed over the next months as the USSR seemed in the midst of its death throws. Massive riots gripped the nation in the winter of 91-92 as millions went without heating oil for their furnaces or food for their tables. The protests in Moscow during the month of October grew so bad that the government left the city. Fueling further protest and anger against them in their wake.

In the virtual power vacuum they left Alexander Pushkin, under secretary for the chairman for the supreme Soviet of the Communist party of the Soviet Union seized power. Pushkin was a Ukrainian who had grown up during the turbulent war years and later Stalin era. He had seen firsthand the way in which the practices of the government affected the lives or ordinary citizens, seen the conditions that the people lived and worked in. Saw the hunger and unhappiness in many of their faces. As a result when he joined politics after a distinguished career as an officer in the Red Army Airforce he became a vocal opponent of many of the governments practices. labelling them ill advised and ultimately more harmful than they were good. Freedom of speech, religion and the press he was an especial supporter of. Although he also wished to see the government reform its economy and social service system.

He had educated himself to the best of his ability on many subjects. Often reading banned literature from the west to gain greater knowledge on economics, government theory and society. When he took power he quickly arrested the government and convicted them of treason against the peoples of the Soviet Union. Charges that pleased many ordinary men and women. Pushkin then appointed young similarly minded men, and women, to power. People who he knew shared his views that the Soviet economy needed to be reformed massively and that many of the more intolerant of the nations practices needed to be done away with.

Pushkins reforms did not have an immediate impact on the Soviet Union and it would not be until 1996 that the economy would finally begin to come back to stable levels. By which time many of the Caucasian and Baltic SSRs had broken off and declared independence. However by opening up the USSR to global trade and lifting the harsher restrictions and regulations from the people the nation was able to survive and prosper into the 2000s. Achieving new levels of power and strength never before dreamt of. Even if some of their former allies had left them for dead.
 
Following the signing of the Zurich treaty and later creation of the Entente with Britain and France the Netherlands began to take a more active role in global affairs. The prosperity of the eighties fueled a major modernization and expansion of the kingdoms military. With special attention paid to the nations navy and airforce. Which had become outdated due to the major technological advances of the last twenty years. For years the Soviet threat had meant that most of the countries military bills had put the well being of the army first, with the RNLAF coming in a distant second while it seemed that the navy was of little concern to the government. Which let the modest fleet of destroyers and submarines which had been built up during the 1960s carry on with little modernizations or refits.

The new bill turned this favoritism on its head and while the army would receive sufficient funding to completely modernize and overhaul their existing forces. Especially their armored divisions which were still using vehicles from the 1950s. However both the navy and RNLAF received massive increases in their budgets. Sufficient for the RNLAF to develop the Fokker 100 series of fighters and Koolhaven to build a string of medium bombers and ground attack aircraft. Their was enough money left over even after this flurry of new aircraft orders and pilot training programs that a dozen new air bases could b built across the country. Providing far increased capacity and much more modern facilities than the air bases in use before. Which received major modernizations of their own to bring them up to a more modern ability.

The navy also developed a new fighter. The Koolhaven built D 87. The single engine naval fighter was equipped and built specifically to operate aboard the new Tijger class light aircraft carriers then under construction. These large ships also used the Koolhaven P111 bomber and sea king helicopters. The four small thirty thousand ton ships had been built following a fierce debate in the Staaten Generaal over whether or not the nation needed carriers for their fleet. One faction supported building four large carriers in the American or Soviet style. While others believed carriers to be ill suited to the needs of the Netherlands. Eventually a compromise was reached and the navy ordered four small carriers in the style of the British, French and Japanese navies. The resulting ships could carry forty some odd aircraft and carried an extensive anti air and anti missile defensive battery.

Operating alongside these ships were twelve destroyers and eight frigates of the Admiraal Tromp and Provincen classes. The Tromp class ships were large fleet destroyers carrying a modern armament of missiles and air defense systems. They were built to operate alongside the carriers if they needed and escort, or operate on their own on long distance cruises to the far reaches of the globe. The Provincen class frigates meanwhile had been designed to hunt for Soviet submarines in the north sea and protect the Dutch merchant marine from the possible depravations of the same. The two classes were built on the same hull and possessed the same machinery. But differed in their armament and purpose. 33 They were fitted with the same radars as the Tijger class and mounted a similar if smaller air defense system.

A group of submarines, three classes in total were also ordered. The smaller ships of the O-100 class were coastal submarines only. Mostly intended to patrol the coasts of the Netherlands and the rest of the empire. Notably Zuidland which was a major world shipping hub on par with the Suez canal or the Gibraltar straight. Coming in at only six hundred tons these small boats were built with stealth in mind rather than speed or range. As a result the vessels were practically invisible to most sensor systems of the time. Enabling them to get right up close to their enemies before unleashing a deadly torpedo strike from their two forward tubes. The low cost of the vessels and their stealth made them popular amongst many smaller navies. Eventually almost forty ships of the O-100 class would be built. Although the Netherlands would only ever operate sixteen of them.

The O-20 class was the next class of boat built by the Netherlands. Excepting the three experimental ships of the O-17-19 class which tested missile launch systems and pressure hulls for the navy. The O-20 was a large ocean going boat designed for the hunter killer role. The large ships had the capacity to carry torpedoes and missiles to allow them to attack both sea and land targets. While their new oxygen systems meant that they could stay submerged for months at a time. The ships were built mainly to hunt enemy submarines. Namely the Soviet missile boats which routinely patrolled the North Atlantic. Although should a smaller conflict break out then the boats would be used as blockade ships keeping the enemy from being supplied from the sea. Twelve of thse ships were built in total for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Due to the ships excellent design it proved popular abroad and twenty seven additional ships were built by 2000.

The final class of submarines ordered by the Dutch navy in the 1980s, the O-33 class was a ballistic missile submarine. As such the eight ships of the class were capable of delivering twenty nuclear missiles to targets anywhere in the world. The vehicles were the largest submarines in the fleet at the time. Displacing well over fifteen thousand tons when submerged they were far from quiet due to their bulk making it difficult to completely mask the noises produced by their crews and engines. However the vessels were equipped with some of the best sonar and counter measures in the world when commissioned. The navy typically kept two of these ships at port undergoing refit and modernizations at a time. With another ship used to train cadets. That left five ships at sea with fully armed missiles at a time. That is over a hundred warheads underwater at any given moment.

Although the army had not received nearly as much funding as either the navy or the airforce they were not totally neglected by the government and with the money they did receive they were able to modernize a number of their bases, improve the anti aircraft weaponry used by mobile units. But most importantly the army was able to switch combat rifles to a more modern type rather than the world war two vintage weapons then in use. A whole new string of tanks and armored personnel carriers were also built which totally replaced the vehicles already in service. The Panster 86 or Liupaard main battle tank proved popular outside the Netherlands and was sold in large numbers to almost thirty nations both in and out of Europe. Making the tank one of the most widely used vehicles in the world. And with a production run of nearly twenty thousand it is one of the most produced tanks in history.

With the reforms and expansions undertaken by the armed forces the Netherlands confidently survived the twentieth century. Working hard to avoid conflict but not so hard that their beliefs were compromised. The kingdom took part in a few wars during the period. Mostly the various conflicts in the middle east and a number of wars with the Indian republics of Sumatra and Sulawesi. By the dawn of the new millennium the nations economy and military were among the best in the world. Its schools were well regarded by the world at large and the nation was in the midst of a new golden age.

Currently the nation is involved in no conflicts. Although with the recent modernization of their military the country is more than ready should one suddenly break out. And their alliances with the other Entente nations and various European nations ensures that should conflict break out they will stand a good chance at emerging from such a conflict victorious. Global warming however has become a major issue for the country as much of the kingdoms European landmass exists below sea level. And what is above sea level is only a few meters in elevation. An extensive series of dykes and canals keep the water out but with sea levels expected to rise by as much as a half a meter in the next century if something drastic is not done much of the country could soon be underwater. Consumed by the North Sea. Currently king Alexander II is proposing a bill which would provide nearly two billion guilders to the construction of new stronger dykes and much improved flood control systems.
 
Alright then I think that is the last update. This has been a blast to write and I wish I could have done the post war more detailed but due t other stuff it was rushed and shortened somewhat. Thanks so much for reading ad I hoped you liked it.
 
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