The Eagle versus the Lion

This thesis deals with the influence of German nationalism on its foreign policy towards the Netherlands. The main objective of this inquiry is to find out what influence nationalism had on Germany’s behavior towards the Netherlands. For this reason the main overarching research question is: What was the role of German nationalism in the Dutch-German relations between 1909-1914? As explained in the introduction, Gellner’s ideas on nationalism are used as a basis for this thesis. His analysis provides us with different types of nationalism of which one is applicable on Germany. Unification nationalism, which was also present in Italy from the middle of the nineteenth century onward, was determined by the discrepancy between the nation building ambitions of the political elite on the one hand, and the in the case of Germany educated people in a modern industrial society on the other. Apparently, the unification process never fully finished as there were still German people living outside the German state borders by 1909. What areas were to be included, depended entirely on the exact type of nationalism that was prevalent in Berlin. Based on the secondary literature and the primary sources, it is fair to conclude that the Klein-German nationalism was far more dominant compared to Pan-Germanic nationalism. Klein-German nationalism was focussed on including all people of German descent and was to include only the German Empire and adjacent areas, where German speaking people were living, mostly in Poland. Compared to Pan-Germanic nationalism, the ambitions of Klein-German nationalism were rather limited. Pan-Germanism foresaw a larger Germnay including the adjacent countries with Germanic populations. As these countries did include the Netherlands, the difference between Pan-Germanic and Klein-German nationalism was imperative to understand the possible consequence of German ambitions to the Netherlands. In both cases, pressure groups such as the Deutsche Flottenverein played a significant role, with a membership of around 300.000. As stated in the historiographical part, nationalism has never been investigated as an aspect in the Dutch-German relations. If we consider the available primary and secondary material, we can finally say that nationalism had only a limited influence within the German foreign policy towards the Netherlands. The pragmatic issues concerning security and economy were more dominant. This nationalism was never meant to incorporate the Netherlands or any other country, unless there was an outside intervention, for example Britain occupying the Dutch coast. Still, nationalism was a determining factor in Germany’s policy goals in international politics. Germany was oriented outwards concerning this issue throughout Europe, from the Balkans to Belgium. It was mainly concerned with securing its own interests on a worldwide scale. This resulted in Weltpolitik, which aggravated the relationship with Britain and France, due to the colonial endeavour in Africa. The alliance structure existing at the time also worked against Germany to a large extent. Russia, France and Britain were from 1907 onward united in the Triple Entente. This fact was of significant influence on the Dutch-German relations, as the Germans were forced to keep the Netherlands neutral to maintain peace with Britain. The Netherlands itself reacted rather passively. This was mostly caused by its limited size and military capabilities. The government used international law to determine its course as a neutral country, especially concerning the fortification issue. In this case as well as relating to the Eems-estuary issue and the Rhine duties, the Dutch government remained stubborn and tried to buy time, essentially hoping it would discourage the Germans. Because the First World War broke out in 1914, this tactic just happened to work out. What would have happened otherwise, remains to be seen.