Netherlands

The Netherlands, known by its official name the International Mandate for the Netherlands, is a socialist provisional government in Western Europe. It is bordered to the South by Belgium and to the west by West Germany.

**History:**

The Dutch were unaffected by the devastation and horrors of the First World War thanks to their strictly neutral foreign policy, and the nation remained mostly in peace. Though affected by the Entente's blockade of the North Sea, the Dutch persevered, and life mostly returned to normal following the Peace with Honour. The return of shipments from overseas following the breaking of the Entente's blockade had even engendered a minor upswing in pro-German sentiment, due to German success bringing prosperity to the low country.

Colijn would eventually be re-appointed as Premier in 1933, and again in 1935. As the Glorious Nivose reached its peak in France in 1936, the Dutch left would fall into conflict, with many in the Revolutionair-Socialistische Arbeiderspartij (RSAP) leaving, in opposition to the party’s pro-Nivose stance, to join the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij (SDAP) or other parties. This allowed frustrated pro-Nivose members of the party derided as “Patriotten” to join the RSAP, including David Wijnkoop and Paul de Groot. When Black Monday hit the Netherlands in 1936, Premier Colijn responded with a policy of strict austerity and privatization, aiming to reduce unemployment following the advice of liberal economists. However, these disastrous measures only served to lengthen the economic crisis, and the German behemoth which had saved the Dutch last time was now the epicentre of the collapse. In the same year, following the resignation of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Cornelis de Jonge, the Insulindians revolted, led by "the Scorpion" Soenario Sastrowardoyo. This crisis in the Indies forced Colijn to appoint the VNH member, Admiral Johan Furstner, to become the next Governor-General. Despite being hit by two crises simultaneously, Colijn and the ARP coalition would triumph once more in the 1937 elections, although only by narrow margins, a worrying trend caused by rising popularity of both the far-right and of socialist organizations.

In 1939, the situation improved for Colijn. Furstner, with the help of generals Berenschot and ter Poorten, had defeated the Insulindians, the economy showed signs of recovery, and the ARP coalition won yet again in the 1939 elections, having now been in power for more than two decades. But as September came, war erupted between France and the German Empire.

The neutral Netherlands had become a safe haven for the right-wing, but the Kingdom still suffered from the British trade war in the North Sea, and became even more dependent on the Germans for basic imports. This situation would lead to the Dutch effectively becoming participants in the war, supplying men and materiel for the German war effort, while still maintaining official neutrality - that is, until the Russian invasion of the east in 1943. As troops were desperately shuffled from the western front, the Reich finally, and very firmly, demanded that the Dutch join the war proper, in order to take up the slack. Left with no other choice, the Kingdom joined the great Crusade against Socialism.

The counter-attack that the Dutch right had hoped for would not come. Though at times the Germans managed to seize back portions of the country in the fighting around the North European plains, the fuel situation now decisively favored the INFOR with the flow of oil from the newly established Commonwealth of America to the revolutionaries. Now it was the Germans' turn to find their forces frustrated by ever-diminishing fuel reserves, as all access points for fresh oil were gradually cut off one after the other. The Ardennes offensive of late 1944 and early 1945 would be repulsed before the Germans could reach Amsterdam, ground down just outside of shelling range. The following summer offensive of operation Hexenhammer in the autumn of that year would be the last roll of the dice in the North European plains for Germany and would see Germany's North Sea coast liberated in the aftermath. This defeat brought the end of Germany's foothold in Frisia alongside all hope for the restoration of the Dutch government.

Being the last vestiges of the pre-war Netherlands before the Franco-British invasion, the SDAP's popularity soared, however, internal disagreement over the occupation forced the party to split in two. While the remaining SDAP is led by the legendary Willem Drees and pragmatically supports and participates in the Council, the Democratische Arbeiderspartij (DAP), led by former underground leader Jaap Burger, abstains from the Council, claiming the Mandate to be an undemocratic occupation.

The parties in the RWN are seen by much of the public as puppets of INFOR, and this section of the public has come to either support the DAP or even join the underground anti-socialist resistance, in the hopes that perhaps the Russians or someone else may drive out the reds. This large-scale public apathy and rebellion has bogged down any attempt to return the Netherlands to sovereignty, and four years after the end of the war in Europe, the Mandate remains.

The Council now has two main problems that it has to deal with. First, it has to fight the aforementioned reactionary partisans, who have disrupted the general peace in the country and present a means for the SARPAC to prod into western Europe. Secondly, the Council must complete their "Doorbraak", or Breakthrough, project, aimed at destroying the “Zuilen” or "Pillars", established by the ARP's founder Abraham Kuyper, that divide Dutch society and reinforce reactionary organization.

In 1925, the conservative “Anti-Revolutionaire Partij” or ARP, would be re-elected in coalition with multiple Christian parties, with the ARP’s Hendrikus Colijn replacing Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, from the allied Roomsch-Katholieke Staatspartij (RKSP), as Premier. The British revolution would, of course, deeply affect the Netherlands; as the global economy collapsed, the Dutch were forced to cling ever more tightly to the Germans to shield them from the collapse and subsequent revolutionary agitation. With heavily protected Mitteleuropan trade, the Dutch managed to just about push through the economic collapse, further deepening ties with the Reich.

Realizing his tenuous position and the growth of political unrest, especially from the left, Colijn amended the Civil Servant Prohibition, a law that prohibited civil servants from joining any "radical" parties. He also supported the conservative Christian trade unions, in an attempt to pull workers from socialist unions into organizations that would collaborate with the government and with business, rather than agitating against both. Lastly, he quietly, slowly, and surely cracked down on the left-moving SDAP, hoping to consolidate more power around the ARP.

Colijn and his government, growing ever-frightened of the socialists, started taking drastic measures to contain the situation. Perhaps most visible were their efforts to arrest major leftist leaders, such as David Wijnkoop, Lou de Visser and Henk Sneevliet of the RSAP. Eventually, they banned the RSAP and other leftist organizations altogether in 1940, forcing them underground, while the country prepared for war measures.

However, this would prove a dangerous decision; as the Heer was stretched over two fronts, the Franco-British army exploited the disorganization to launch a large offensive, successfully recovering French territory and eventually pushing into Germany and Flanders-Wallonia. By 1944, the Netherlands were laid bare, with socialist forces pushing into the border and German help becoming ever more limited. By 1945, Amsterdam would fall. With some of their members captured and imprisoned, and Coljin himself dead of a heart attack in 1944, the ARP, the RKSP, the VDB, and many other parties were forced underground, alongside remnants of the Dutch army, forming resistance groups all around the country who prayed for the Germans to seize the country back in a counter-attack. Promising to one day return, the members of the VNH escaped to the East Indies to seek refuge within Admiral Furstner's new domain.

As the front lines were pushed out of the Netherlands proper, INFOR would create the Raad voor de Wederopbouw van Nederland (RWN) or the “Council for the Reconstruction of the Netherlands” - colloquially known as “de Raad” or “the Council” by the populace - from prominent Dutch left-wing politicians and INFOR military officials. The Council would form the governing body of the International Mandate for the Reconstruction of the Netherlands; like the Belgian Mandate to the south, this organisation was aimed to rebuild a new, socialist Netherlands, although Dutch politics proved tricky to navigate for the socialists.

However, the more far-left RSAP (Revolutionair-Sosialistische Arbeidspartij) has many internal struggles, becoming a broad front for pro-France socialists after the Glorious Nivose has left it with little internal cohesion, and the fast rise to prominence after the party’s inclusion in the RWN has left it with a tentative support base. After the death of David Wijnkoop in 1947 and Henk Sneevliet in 1949, the leadership of the party has changed, with the “Volksgroep” faction now led by the famous underground leader, Paul de Groot, and the “Arbeidsgroep” faction now led by Henk Sneevliet's disciple Abraham Menist, and the “broad-front” is almost certainly headed for a split.

**Modern Netherlands:**

If the Council is successful in dealing with their preliminary problems, then finally the seemingly perpetual Mandate may give way to a new and stronger Netherlands, reborn from the ashes of war. However, if these issues are not dealt with delicately, even greater issues may arise…