Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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landweer of the conscript intake year 1906. 25 Warnings were also sent to border and
coastguards in the Navy, landweer and Koninklijke Marechaussee notifying them of a
possible mobilisation,26 and the General Staff placed all on-duty personnel on alert, halting
conscript training exercises to occupy military postS.27 The Navy began preparing for
mobilisation as well: sailors outfitted the fleet of torpedo-boats, submarines and mine-layers
for war service. 28
On 28 July, after Austria-Hungmy's declaration of war on Serbia, Snijders held a
meeting with railway directors outlining the procedure for requisitioning all rolling-stock
once mobilisation was underway?9 The cabinet passed a law prohibiting all conscripts
leaving the country, including those who were to go fishing outside Dutch territorial waters,
or who worked across the border in Germany and Belgium.3o The Navy's cruisers -
Gelderland, Noord Brabant, and Zeeland - started patrolling sea-inlets, and submarines
were manned and stationed at important ports (Vlissingen, Den Helder and Ijmuiden).31 All
officers had their leave cancelled?2
By this time, Netherlanders, like most Europeans, were aware of the strains and
stresses of the crisis. The economic situation within the countly was perilous. Financial
markets plummeted in expectation of war, while merchant ships remained in port as
uncertainty reigned regarding access to overseas markets and the safety ofthe seas. Stock
values dropped significantly and even leading securities suffered huge falls?3 By Tuesday
night (28 July), business slowed around the country. Drastic intervention was needed,
although the Minister of Finance, M. W. F. Treub, rejected calls for a moratorium. To
ensure the financial market did not collapse completely, he did agree to close the
25 Staatsblad. no. 329, 27 July 1914; Telegram from Detachment Commander Kooiman to Mayor of Do I'd recht, 28
July 1914, in SAD, "Stadsarchief 1851 - 1980" archive no. 6, entry no. 5472.
26 Snijders to J. J. [Rambonnet, Minister in Charge of the Navy?] 27 July 1914, in ARA, "Archieven van de Generale
Star' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 127.
27 Staatscommissie, Waarnemil1gen bi} de Gemobiliseerde Landmacht p. 5; Bosboom, In Moeili}ke Omstandigheden
p.3.
28 Hengel, "De mobilisatie van de zeemacht" pp. 49 - 50; Bles, "De Koninklijke Marine mobiliseert" p. 77.
29 Klinkert, "De Nederlandse mobilisatie van 1914" p. 25.
30 Provincial Governor to all mayors in the province of South Holland, 28 July 1914, in SAD, "Stadsarchief 1851 -
1980" archive no. 6, inventory no. 5472.
31 Bles, "De Koninklijke Marine mobiliseert" p. 77.
32 Voogt, "In ons land" p. 17.
33 S. de Meester, "Overzicht van den economischen toestand van Nederland voor en in het begin van den
Europeeschen oorlog" [Overview of the economic circumstances of the Netherlands before and at the start ofthe
European war] in Meester (ed.), Gedenkboek (1914) p. 37; G. Vissering, J. Westerman Holstijn, "The Effect of the
War upon Banking and Industry" in Greven (ed.), The Netherlands and the World War Volume IV, p. 5.