Neutrality and the development of the European movement in the Netherlands

During the First World War the neutral Netherlands experienced a European moment. ‘The only solution, European federation’ was the title of the pamphlet the Dutch Committee for European Federation issued in 1914. They argued that the only way peace could be achieved and European decline stemmed was through cooperation among European states. The committee consisted of a group of intellectuals, writers, publishers and academics. Many of these activists were associated with the Dutch peace movement and like-minded activists across Europe.

In the historiography of European cooperation, the impact of the war on the thinking about European projects is often taken for granted. The growth of the European movement post-1918 is portrayed as a natural reaction following the atrocities of the war. This spurred the thinking of cooperation, leading to numerous transnational organisations that advocated some form of European cooperation. This paper shows that in the Netherlands an opposite development took place. After the war enthusiasm for European cooperation did not expand significantly. The interwar European moment in the Netherlands came later than in most countries, from the early 1930s when the crisis had made its impact.

This paper argues that the experience of neutrality played an important role in the lack of enthusiasm. The belief in neutrality as a means to safeguard peace was vindicated by the war. As such the Dutch peacemovement, rather than the European movement, grew significantly after the War. This paper highlights the importance of differentiating between types of transnational network, the influence of national considerations within these networks and speaks to the question of neutrality.