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

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Yet the cry "Nooit meer oorlogl" ("never again war!") resounded through the country as it
did in a multitude of different tongues throughout Europe's nations, new and old. In the
interbellum age of demilitarisation, the League of Nations and collective security, it further
reinforced the under-valued nature of the Dutch anned forces in the national consciousness,
ensuring it would be poorly resourced for many more years.
In May 1919, the last of the mobilised conscripts were sent on long-tenn leave.
The only conscripts still occupying any military barracks were the latest intake of trainees
(year 1919). The govennnent dismissed W. F. Pop as Commander-in-Chief on 15
November 1919, once the demobilisation was complete. 168 Volunteers were also released
from service at this time. The Navy, unlike the Army, did not officially demobilise although
its conscripts were sent home along with their anny equivalents. It dismantled gun
emplacements on the coast early in 1919, cleared mines from harbour entrances, removed
war buoyage, and reconverted those ships that had been tumed into minelayers during the
war.169 Even the electric fence, the wire of death that had separated Belgium from the
Netherlands for more than three years, disappeared within the space of a few months. Its
wires could now be seen fencing paddocks and fann yards on both sides of the border. 170
The country slowly retumed to normal and counted its blessings.
hI a world that would never be the same, the Netherlands had escaped almost
unscathed. It entered the interbellum period without the damage and despair of the nations
that fought the war or experienced invasion, yet it was far from certain about its future. The
end of the war signalled that, like the rest of the world, the Netherlands had to reassess its
position, find security and re-organise its intemational relationships. Most importantly, it
had to find a place for neutrality. While neutrality had been attractive as a foreign policy
option for the Netherlands in the century that preceded the outbreak of the Great War, by
the end of this conflict, its foundations were severelyundennined. After 1919, the Dutch
faced an unenviable prospect: to give up neutrality and build its security on some other
basis within or outside the League of Nations, or revive neutrality and hope that it would
168 General Staff, "Verslag nopens de verrichtingen van het militair gezag, voor zoover dit werd uitgeoefend door den
Opperbevelhebber van Land- en Zeemacht; opgemaakt ingevolge het bepaalde in art. 6 der wet van 23 Mei 1899
(St.bl.No.l28)" 6 January 1919 [1920] p. 21, in ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Star' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory
no. 710 (also in no. 912).
169 Hengel, "De mobilisatie van de zeemacht" p. 60.
170 Vanneste, Kroniek van een Dorp Volume 2, pp. 620 - 623.