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

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The years 1914 to 1918 illustrate how in time of total war, 3 no nation, not even a
neutral one, can remain immune from its effects. This was especially true for the
Netherlands, which was in close geographic proximity to several major belligerents:
Wilhelmine Germany flanked the eastern border of the country; Belgium, scene of much
Western Front fighting, was situated on the southern border, with France further south still;
and to the west, across the Channel, lay the concentrated naval might of Great Britain. All
combatants made demands on Dutch neutrality and used their powerful positions to exact
compliance. For example, Britain, France and later the United States stopped Dutch trade
with Germany by blockading goods entering Dutch ports. In turn, Gennany and its allies
threatened to halt all coal exports if the Dutch did not open their transport routes to and
from Germany and occupied Belgium. Despite being surrounded, caught "between the
devil" (Germany) and the "deep blue sea" (ruled by Britain),4 the Netherlands managed to
remain neutral; mainly by compromising with each belligerent, at times compromising its
independence and neutrality, and hoping fervently that its neighbours would accept the
compromises.
This thesis attempts to analyse the nature of Dutch neutrality during the Great War,
principally by analysing the ways it was upheld and maintained from within the country.
The work focuses first and foremost on the Army and Navy and their part in securing
territorial integrity, sovereignty and upholding the requirements of international law. These
3 Using the term "total war" to describe the Great War is highly debatable, especially since World War Two was far
more "total" (Ian F. W. Beckett, "Total War" in Clive Emsley, Arthur Marwick, Wendy Simpson (eds.), War, Peace
and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Europe. Milton Keynes, Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1989, pp. 26
- 44; John Horne, "Introduction: mobilizing for 'total war', 1914 - 1918" in John Horne (ed.), State, society and
mobilization in Europe during the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 1 -17; Hew
Strachan, "Essay and Reflection: On Total War and Modern War" The International History! Review. 22, no. 2, June
2000, pp. 341 - 370). It is applied here in the sense that the war was differentiable from the "limited" wars of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries due to scale of numbers involved and improvement in technology. In total war,
entire societies are involved in the war effort and states use all resources available to overcome their enemies (Paul
Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory New York: Oxford University Press, 1975, pp. 8 - 18; Imanuel Geiss,
"Reflections on total war in the 20th century" in Peter Liddle, John Bourne, Ian Whitehead (eds.), The Great World
War 1914 - 45. Volume 2. The people's experience. London: Harper Collins, 2001, p. 452). In such a war, obligations
with regard to neutrals or international regulations will only be upheld ifit is convenient for a warring state to do so.
In this sense, the Great War was "total".
4 The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Loudon, used the sentence "between the devil and the deep blue sea"
to describe Netherlands' impossible trading position between Germany and Britain in a letter to the Dutch Minister in
London, Reincke de Marees van Swinderen, 26 November 1915 (in C. Smit (ed.), Bescheiden betrefJende de
buitenlandsche politiek van Nederland 1848 - 1919. Derde Periode 1899 - 1919. Vierde Dee11914 -1917.
[Documents regarding the foreign policy of the Netherlands 1848 - 1919. Third Period 1899 - 1919. Fourth Volume
1914 - 1917] The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1962, p. 482).