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

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the neutral side of the border, the highest ranked being Kaiser Wilhelm II himself, who fled
imperial Germany on the eve of revolution, and sought refuge in the Netherlands. 87
Although these topics are essential to attaining a comprehensive knowledge of the
Netherlands' plight in the war, research in these fields is far from complete, especially in
research addressing the internal and social consequences of the war on the Netherlands. 88
Until 2001, only a few fringe works existed in this field including a thesis on coal
distribution, a small book on the sea-fishing industry, and a pivotal study by A. M. P.
Kleijngeld of mobilised troops in the city of Tilburg. 89 Kleijngeld not only ventured into
"new" military history by concentrating on societal effects of the armed forces'
mobilisation, but he is one of few historians who have taken these aspects of a neutral's
predicament into account. Lately, Paul Moeyes' book Buiten Schot (Out of Shot), provides a
broad narrative and, at times, anecdotal history of the Netherlands in wartime, moving
between international and domestic events of significance. 9o It is a timely addition to the
study of the Netherlands in this seminal conflict, and illustrates, if anything, the need for
more detailed research on subjects that Moeyes only has a chance to encounter briefly.
"Traditional" military historians have given somewhat more attention, but far from
enough, to the war. There is some comparative work available on the relative merits of the
three mobilisation periods (1870, 1914 - 1919, and 1939 - 1940), although the assessments
are incomplete. 91 The only attempted in-depth study of the Netherlands' anned forces in the
Great War is a Masters thesis by James Bout, which although accurate in broad facts is far
87 H. J. Hazewinkel, "De Keizer vlucht" [The Kaiser flees] in Schuursma (ed.), 14 -18 Volume 9, pp. 1651 - 1656;
Sally Marks, "'My Name is Ozymandias' The Kaiser in Exile" Central European HistOl),. 16, no. 2, June 1983, pp.
122 - 170; A. J. Weekendstroo, "De internering van Keizer Wilhelm II" [The internment of Kaiser Wilhelm II]
Annex. 73, no. 6,1989, pp. 22 - 23; Nigel Ashton, Duco Hellema, "'Hang the Kaiser!' De Brits-Nederlandse
betrekkingen en het lot van ex-keizer Wilhelm II, 1918 - 1920" ['Hang the Kaiser!' British-Dutch negotiations and
the fate of ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1918 - 1920] Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zakell. 6, 1998, pp. 75 - 93.
88 Cappers et. al. "Die Niederlande und del' erste Weltkrieg" p. 250.
89 R. van Kamp, "De kolenvoorziening van Nederland gedurende de Eerste Wereldoorlog" [The coal provisions of
the Netherlands during the First World War] Academisch Proefschrift, University of Amsterdam, 1968; D. J. Gouda,
De Nederlandse zeevisserij tijdells de eerste wereldoorlog 1914 - 1918. [Dutch sea fishery during the First World
War 1914 - 1918] Haarlem: Schuyt en Co., 1978; A. M. P. Kleijngeld, Gemobiliseerde militairen in Tilburg tijdells
de Eerste Wereldoorlog. [Mobilised troops in Tilburg during the First World War] (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van
het Zuiden van N ederland LVII) Tilburg: Stichting Zuidelijk Historisch Contact, 1983.
90 Moeyes, Buiten Sellot.
91 See especially: W. Klinkert, J. W. M. Schulten, Luc De Vos (eds.), Mobilisatie in Nederland ell Belgil!: 1870-
1914 -1939. Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1991; Schulten, "Van neutralisme naar bondgenootschap" pp. 3 - 16;
Snijders, "Twee mobilisatien".