1.5 Neutral Netherlands in WW1

• Geschiedenis
• Middelbare school
• vmbo, mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3-6

Introduction

Aan het eind van deze les kun je herkennen en uitleggen welke gevolgen de Eerste Wereldoorlog voor Nederland heeft gehad.

The first world war

1.5 Neutral Netherlands in WW1

Feniks, Geschiedenis Werkplaats, Memo, Saga

Learning objective

At the end of the lesson you can give 3 consequences of the First World War in the Netherlands

Neutral

• The Netherlands were neutral during the First World War

• Neutral means that you do not choose sides

• For a trading nation like the Netherlands, this is difficult: after all, you trade with both parties.
  

Mobilisation

1914

• Although the Netherlands was neutral, the army nevertheless mobilised
  
• Belgium, too, had declared neutrality, but was nevertheless attacked!

consequences WW1 for the Netherlands

Consequences of

World War I

for the Netherlands

Belgian refugees

The Netherlands took in around 1 million refugees from Belgium.

These Belgians were fleeing the war.

Belgian soldiers, like soldiers from other countries, were disarmed and imprisoned.

Death Wire

• Also called: The Wire

• The Death Wire was constructed by the Germans between Belgium and the Netherlands.

• Germans wanted to prevent Allied soldiers, German deserters, spies or war volunteers from travelling to, from or through Belgium.

• There were 2000 volts on the wire

• Around 1000 people are thought to have lost their lives.

Contact with the Death Wire, which had 2,000 volts on it, meant death by electrocution...

...so smugglers came up with all kinds of ways to avoid touching the wires.

Economy

• War is bad for trade: scarcity arises in the Netherlands too

• Dutch ships are also victims of the Unlimited Submarine War...

• ...but sometimes also of acts of war by the Allies
  

Aardappeloproer

1917

Enkele Amsterdamse vrouwen zagen dat er een schip vol aardappelen in een van de grachten lag. Ze gingen erop af en plunderden het schip: hun schorten vol aardappelen. De dag erna waren er meer plunderaars. Pas nadat zes mensen door het leger werden doodgeschoten, keerde de rust terug

Terms in this lesson

• Unrestricted Submarine War
  
• mobilisation
  
• neutral
  
• Death Wire

Dates in this lesson

• 1914: Mobilisation
  
• 1915/1917: Germany's Unrestricted Submarine War

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