History+of+Holland

=__Events in the History of Holland__=

50 BC - 400 AD The Romans
In 57 BC Julius Caesar's troops conquer the southern parts of Holland and what is now Belgium. The Romans rule all the tribes in the area, after that it marked the end of the prehistoric era in the Holland.

400-800 AD - The Franks
In the Middle Ages, the early middle ages, The Franks -a Germanic Tribe- conquered the Low Countries of Holland, which were previously conquered by the Romans. The Franks introduced a new religion, they introduced Christianity to the local population, converting the people by force if necessary. Over the decades The Franks gradually moved southwards to expand their territory. However, in 451 Attila the Hun and his army threatened their borders so the Franks joined forces with the Romans to block them from invading.

German Rule - 800-1200 AD
Louis the Pious (778-840) succeeded his father Charlemagne in 814. Louis built defences against the Vikings, the defences he built were coastal defences - the Vikings had taken to sailing up the rivers to take far inland. Most of the Vikings were from Denmark mainly and they continued their raids in spite of the coastal defenses that were built by Louis for another 200 years.

1300-1600 - Various Rulers
The Low Countries were fairly stable by the late fourtennth century. The reign was controlled by five lords, they only paid their nominal homage to their French and German overlords. Philip the Good of Burgundy managed to succeed the countship of Flanders -a medieval country in northern Europe that included regions now parts of northern France and Belgium and southwestern Holland- he also managed to get hold of Holland, Zeeland, Brabant and Limburg to the north and Antwerp, Namur and Luxembourg to the south as well in 1914. During the reign of Philip the Low Countries consisted of independent territories which are also known as States, these would report to the central government in Bruges. The Dutch parliament was formed from these states.

1500-1700 - The Battle against the Spaniards
__The fight for independance.__ When King Philip II of Spain introduced inquisition and when he made new laws to suppress Protestant sympathies from spreading the Dutch rebelled. So an opposition party was formed, three members of the Council of State led it. One of them was William of Orange. He beloeved in individual freedom and religious tolerance. In 1568 William of Orange made his first attempt to free Holland from Spanish rule. The invasion failed due to the lack of support. His second attempt in 1572 was more successful. The low countries broke apart in 1579 for good. This formed the basis for Holland. Throughout the conflict the Low countris remained Catholic. They eventually became Belgium.

=1600-1800 - The Golden Age= === The peace of Westphalia had a term which said that the Scheldt estuary would be closed to shipping; this was made because they wanted to destroy the trade and prosperity in Antwerp. The Golden Age began and the commercial expansion pre-eminence of Amsterdam- the capital of Holland- was assured by this act. ===



=1790-1932- The Independent Kingdom= The united provinces and the area that was re-named the Batavian Republic, which only survived until 1906 when Napoleon put his brother Louis Bonaparte the king of the Kingdom of Holland. collapsed due to the arrival of the French revolutionary forces in the mid-1970's. Napoleon and his brother were distracted and had their directives elsewhere, Napoleon booted his brother out of the office after 4 years, because of the the House of Orange supporters invited Prince William VI back. He was named prince sovereign of Holland in 1813 and the next year, he was crowned King William I. Holland's independance was restored and Holland in the north with Belgium in the south joined into a United Kingdom of Holland.

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1940-1945- World War II
Germany promised to keep Holland neutral, but they didn't stick to their promise, they didn't respect Dutch neutrality, so the German troops crossed the border of Holland on May 10th 1940. They destroyed Rotterdam 4 days and the Dutch were extremely overwhelmed. Their queen Wilhelmina fled to London, and thousands of Dutch men were forced to go and work in factories in Germany. More then a hundred thousand men, woman and children, compromising 75% of the Jewish community in Holland were to die in German concentration camps.



1944- Operation Market Garden
Thousands of paratroopers descended by parachute from the sky, up to 150 km behind enemy lines on 17th september 1944. They wanted to secure two bridges in Holland so that the Allied Army could advance quickly northwards into the Lowlands of Germany. If this was carried out according to their plan war would have ended by Christmas 1944. This plan- Operation Market Garden- didn't turn out the way the expected it to. After 10 whole days of fighting, the operation ended. Holland was liberated on the 5th of May 1945.

After 1945- Post War
These years -post war years- were spent on recovering from the damage of the occupation. Rotterdam was quickly rebuilt and the dykes which were blown in the war were also repaired. Former Dutch colonies, Java and Sumatra which were taken by the Japanese, were ruled by a nationalist Republican government. This government refused to recognize the Dutch sovereignty, it also declared itself independent in 1945.