The territory of the Netherlands was inhabited already in the Neolithic era. In the 2nd floor. 1 thousand BC Celtic tribes lived here, to the beginning. AD driven out by the Germans. In the 1st century AD part of the Netherlands was conquered by the Romans, in the 3rd-4th centuries. – Franks, Saxons and Frisians. With the formation of the Frankish kingdom (5th century), the territory of N. became part of it, then – in the empire of Charlemagne. After its collapse, it went to the East Frankish kingdom (end of the 9th century). In the 10th-11th centuries. a number of feudal estates were formed – vassals of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 14th century in some of them – the counties of Holland, Geldern, Zeeland – estate representations – the states – arose and began to actively operate. In the 15th century Holland, and then other feudal possessions, became part of the Duchy of Burgundy, with its collapse, they became subordinate to the Habsburgs, and after the division of the empire of Charles V – under the rule of Spain. Back in the 12th century. cities arose in the Netherlands, trade and crafts grew rapidly. K ser. 16th century the political, economic and religious oppression of absolutist Spain became a brake on their development. In 1566, the bourgeois revolution began, which was closely intertwined with the struggle against the rule of Spain and the Catholic Church. The Netherlands was the first country in the world where such a revolution took place and a state with a non-monarchist form of government arose – the Republic of the United Provinces. Spain recognized its independence in 1648. At 17 – early. 18th century The Dutch economy, the most powerful in Europe, held key positions in world trade and international transportation. The high level of shipbuilding and shipping led to major geographical discoveries in Asia, Australia, North America, laid the foundation for the creation of a vast colonial empire. However, the lag in the development of industry led to a defeat in the struggle with England for colonial, maritime and commercial dominance. K ser. 18th century the republic lost world economic hegemony. As part of the first coalition created by England, the republic participated in the war against revolutionary France, but failed and in 1795 was occupied by French troops. In 1806, Napoleon turned it into the Kingdom of Holland, and from 1810 included it in the French Empire. By decision of the Congress of Vienna (1815), the sovereign Kingdom of the Netherlands arose on the territory of the United Provinces, which until 1830 also included Belgium. Since then, the Nassau dynasty has reigned in the Netherlands. Economic reforms since ser. 19th century contributed to the acceleration of the process of industrialization – the development of light, food, shipbuilding industries, chemical and electrical industries. But basically the welfare of the country was based on international trade and financial transactions, the exploitation of the colonies (primarily Indonesia). Check computerminus for political system of Netherlands.
There was a division of society into main groups (“pillars”) according to the religious principle, which was reflected in the party-political and all public structures. The leading parties were clerical (Roman Catholic, Christian Historical Union (HIS), Anti-Revolutionary (ARP)), as well as the Social Democratic Labor Party (1894), from which the Social Democratic Party, SDP (1909), later emerged. In con. 19th century the first trade unions arose. The Netherlands, having declared neutrality, did not participate in World War I, but suffered greatly from it, as they were cut off from their colonies – the most important sources of raw materials and main markets. In the 1920s and 30s. In general, the orientation of the economy towards traditional non-industrial spheres remained, although the process of industrial growth gradually gained momentum. The Netherlands went through the crisis of 1929–33 hard, and then suffered damage from the autarchy of the leading European countries. In the beginning. 2nd World War the Netherlands also declared neutrality. But Germany occupied them in May 1940. The occupation lasted 5 years; only in the autumn of 1944 did the Allied armies enter the Netherlands, and the fully German troops in the Netherlands capitulated only at the beginning of May 1945. After the war, the Netherlands abandoned the traditional policy of neutrality and entered various political, military, economic organizations: they joined the Marshall Plan, together with Belgium and Luxembourg organized the Benelux trade and economic union, joined the UN, NATO, ECSC, were one of the founders of the EU. In the post-war period, the Dutch colonial empire collapsed. In 1945, Indonesia gained independence, and in 1975, the last of the colonies, Netherlands Guiana (Suriname). The loss of colonies and the change in the structure of world demand in the context of the unfolding scientific and technological revolution necessitated the accelerated industrialization of the Dutch economy. The rapid and massive development of modern industry turned the economy into an industrial one and made the Netherlands one of the most developed countries in the West. To con. 1970s The Netherlands has passed the industrial stage and started the transition to a service economy. Significant changes took place in the inner life. The division of society into “pillars” began to recede into the past. The structure of the party-political system was changing. The SDP was transformed into the Labor Party (PT, 1946). On the basis of the Roman Catholic Party, the Catholic People’s Party (KNP, 1946) was formed. In 1948, with the merger of the right wing of the Social Democrats and the Union of Freedom, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (NPSD) arose. The subsequent profound changes of a general social nature – the growth of education, the smoothing out of the most acute manifestations of inequality, the decomposition of traditional large social groups – led to the erosion of the electoral base of the leading parties and the emergence of a number of political groups and movements. In 1966, the center-left party Democrats-66 (D-66) arose. The threat of losing voters forced the clerical parties to unite: in 1980, the Catholic CNP, the Protestant HIS and the ARP created a single party, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). The party-political system acquired a configuration that persisted in the beginning of 21st century.
