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

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siege" was, in fact, an extremely useful way to exact appropriate standards of behaviour
from citizens and present an image of strict neutrality to the outside world. Stijn Streuvels'
description "ash-grey with supposed neutrality,,241 was exactly the stereotype that a neutral
hoped to portray. In reality, the anned forces were unable to keep residents from
endangering internal neutrality. Smuggling, an obvious concern in 1915, continued
unabated for most of the war; censorship was haphazard and inconsistent; and the country
was used for all manner of clandestine infonnation-gathering activities. Attempts at
tightening controls over internal neutrality through the "state of siege" was difficult, not
only because of the dubious legality of some of the military regulations, but also because
the public did not appreciate interference. Because the country was officially "at peace",
reconciling neutrality with extraordinary military jurisdiction did not sit well with civilians,
which offers one of the most convincing arguments for why the "state of war" and "siege"
had such varied success. Certain actions the Dutch would grudgingly accept from the
military authorities, while others they simply would not.
Yet, given that 75 per cent of the country experienced some fonn of military
intervention during the war, the impact of the "state of war" and "siege" was far from
negligible. In fact, through the "state of siege" especially, civilians were more restricted in
their activities than at any previous peacetime junctures. To varying degrees, the military
authorities limited their freedom of speech, movement and assembly. Even when the High
Court restricted the jurisdiction in the "state of siege", commanders exercised extraordinary
control over the rmming of municipalities and the day-to-day affairs of individuals. In this
respect, the Netherlands as a neutral society in wartime had more in common with its
belligerent equivalents than with its own pre-l914 existence.
241 See: fn 179 above.