ABSTRACT
Among the countries of Western Europe, the Netherlands is one of those with a weak military tradition. This is reflected in the relatively low social esteem the military profession has held throughout the ages in Dutch society. Perhaps an exception should be made for the Dutch navy, which managed to preserve the memories of its glorious sea wars against England in the seventeenth century. It is always hazardous to speculate about the roots of national tradition. But the modest social position of the nobility, the strong orientation towards international trade as well as a dislike of virulent patriotism and heroism among the ruling merchantmagistrates (regenten) seem to be relevant to the mainly civilian character of Dutch political culture. In addition, the policy of neutrality (which lasted over a century to the Second World War) constituted a fertile breeding ground for anti-war attitudes. This policy was successful in the sense that the Netherlands managed to stay outside the major European quarrels of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unlike, for instance, its southern neighbour, Belgium, it was not attacked by Germany in 1914.
