Kingdom of Holland
Holland was a kingdom in northwestern Europe bordering France and Germany.
History
The Kingdom of Holland was initially founded from the Dutch Republic by Napoleon. Napoleon named his brother, Louis, as the king, intending for him to be a puppet for the French Empire. However, Louis became convinced to join the Coalitions against Napoleon by King Augustus II of America. The latter used the friendship between their wives to bridge an agreement, negotiating for American and British troops to land in Holland and pressure the French from the north. At the Battle of Antwerp, Dutch independence from France was secured, and Holland officially joined the coalition.
Following the defeat of Napoleon, Holland was granted the territories of the Spanish Netherlands, and Louis was named Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Louis attempted to negotiate the return of the Dutch overseas colonies, but Great Britain refused to return all of them. The most notable of the forfeited colonies was Cape Colony of South Africa, which Britain intended to secure trade routes to their colonies in India.
Notably in the late 1840s, Queen Hortensia invited a social reformist by the name of Karl Marx to court. She and Grand Duke Charles were intrigued by the ideas of Marx. While social constraints kept them from enacting reforms in Holland proper, they used the Orange Colonies in Africa as a point of experiment. The reforms enacted strengthened relations between the Dutch colonists and the African natives. Marx eventually left Holland following the French Civil War to work for the new Minister of Labor in the new French People's Republic.
During the French Civil War, King Louis II supported the rebel forces against France, particularly in Brittany. Following the conflict, they annexed the Nord-Pas-de-Calais departments of France, adding to the Catholic French population. This deepened the unresolved tensions between that had been growing since the death of Louis I. Louis had been a uniting force betwwen the Protestant Dutch and the Catholic French populations. However, Louis II proved incapable to keep the people enamored by his personality. More demands began to be made by the people.
The situation worsened when the House of Orange, who many in the Protestant sectors had begun to view as the rightful sovereigns of a united Netherlands, began to openly protest. The Orangist movements failed to gain momentum during the leadership of William Frederick, who refused to agree to a constitution. Though his son later agreed to do so, the movement became little more than an extremist ideology.
In 1859, Louis II and Grand Duke Charles agreed to financially support Italian unification. Charles, with an army of volunteers, landed in Piedmont. The united forces enter the Roman Republic against the Sicilians and Papal forces. With Dutch support, the Piedmontese proved victorious.
In the 1880s, Holland argued Britain's reasons for control over Cape Colony were superseded by the completion of the Suez Canal, and thus Britain had no further need of the Cape Colony. The discovery of diamonds in the Dutch controlled colonies further strained relations as British companies attempted to secure mining rights and push the Dutch out. This culminated in the South African War, in which Holland emerged victorious. Cape Colony was returned to Holland, and the Dutch gained control of most of South South Africa. This only moved the strained relations, however, rather than ending them as this put the Dutch at odds with British aligned Portuguese colonial ambitions.
During the Great War, Holland sided with Germany and Russia against Britain, Spain, Ukraine, Occitania, Portugal and Austria. Japan joined the war against Holland and invaded Dutch Indonesia, while Holland engaged Spanish and Occitan forces in France. Though Holland was victorious, the Dutch government was unable to reassert control over the colony.
Disbandment
In Europe, Vladimir Lenin moved from Switzerland to the war torn France. His ideas resonated with the veterans of the Great War who felt disenfranchised. The Dutch people had revolted against the monarchy. Holland fell under a provisional government while King Louis III fled to Germany in exile. Lenin helped establish communist rule in France, Occitania, and the old Dutch provinces, establishing the Soviet Union.
Military
The Dutch Military, under the rule of the Bonapartes, have grown formidable given the size of the nation. Hiring many Prussian and French advisors, the Dutch army became a valuable asset in the Napoleonic Wars.
Religion
The north of the country is predominantly Protestant, while the south is dominated by Catholicism. King Louis I, a Catholic himself, managed to keep both sides at peace by elevating all religious practices to equal protective status. After the French Civil War and the subsequent annexing of the Flanders regions, the number of Catholics grew to outnumber the Protestants. However, the Dutch kings have been Catholics ordained by Protestant and Catholic bishops alike, symbolising two halves of the same nation.
Agriculture & Industry
The wealth of the Dutch Republics was rebuilt after the fall of Napoleon. Louis reopened the markets and the crown subsequently invested into the economy.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
Eendragt maakt magt / Unity Makes Strength
1806 - 1920
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Successor Organization
Demonym
Dutch
Ruling Organization
Government System
Monarchy, Constitutional
Power Structure
Federation
Economic System
Market economy
Controlled Territories
Comments