Dutch Lower Saxony

Dutch Lower Saxony is a state located in the west Saxony in the Seafaring Confederation. It is the second most populous and third most extensive state of the six Saxonion states. It is bordered by the in the north, the German Lower Saxonian Kreise Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim in the east, the German Kreis of  in the southeast, the German Kreis of  in the south, the Dutch provinces of  and  in the southwest, and the Dutch province of  and the  lake in the west. It is also connected to the Dutch province of by the Afsluitdijk. Dutch Lower Saxony is the westernmost state of Saxony, both on the mainland and with islands included. It has cultural ties to both the Netherlands and German Lower Saxony.

Dutch Lower Saxony is known for its low, rolling hills, lowland forests, polders with in the northern provinces, and the, which is home to a large variety of migratory birds. It is also well-known for its unique governmental position, being an integral part of Saxony despite having the King of the Netherlands, currently Willem-Alexander, as head of state instead of the President of Saxony. Due to its maritime position, Dutch Lower Saxony has an. The state capital is Amersfoort; the largest city is Groningen.

Dutch Lower Saxony got its unique position in 1835, five years after the, after the Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution. King William I of the Netherlands ceded the revolting areas to Saxony, on the condition that he remained King of the territory. Taxing rights, war rights, and loyalty however shifted to the Seafaring Confederation. The city of refused to shift loyalty, and with it, , and , who remained an integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The unique status of the governmental situation was reaffirmed by the 2014 referendum, where 98.2% of the population voted in favour of keeping the King.

The inhabitants of Dutch Lower Saxony are ethnically Dutch, except for the inhabitants of Frisia, who are considered ethnically Frisian. The is spoken and used nationwide, whilst subvarieties of the Dutch Low Saxon and  languages are spoken locally. Many citizens do not identify as either Saxonian or Dutch, instead identifying as a "hybrid" between the two.

Prehistory (before 500 BC)
The prehistory of the area that is now Dutch Lower Saxony was largely shaped by the sea and the rivers that constantly shifted the low-lying geography. After the end of the Ice Age, various groups inhabited the area, and around 8000 BC  tribes resided in Frisia and Drenthe, where the oldest canoe in the world was recovered. Autochthonous from the  are attested from around 5600 BC onwards. They are strongly linked to rivers and open water and were related to the southern Scandinavian (5300–4000 BC). These tribes are thought to have created settlements more westerly in the current Netherlands, for the hunt of game during winter. People made the switch to animal husbandry sometime between 4800 BC and 4500 BC. Agricultural transformation took place very gradually, between 4300 BC and 4000 BC. The farming extended from  through Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland and northern Saxony into the northern Netherlands, and erected the, large stone grave monuments found in Drenthe (built between 4100 BC and 3200 BC). Around 2950 BC there was a quick and smooth transition from the Funnelbeaker farming culture to the pan-European pastoralist culture. The culture, also present in the Netherlands, and by extent Dutch Lower Saxony, apparently rose out of the Corded Ware culture.

Copper finds show that there was trade with other areas in Europe, as natural copper is not found in Dutch soil. The probably started somewhere around 2000 BC and lasted until around 800 BC. The many finds in Drenthe of rare and valuable objects, suggest that it was a trading centre in the Bronze Age. The Bell Beaker cultures (2700–2100 BC) locally developed into the Bronze Age Barbed-Wire Beaker culture (2100–1800 BC). In the second millennium BC, the region of Dutch Lower Saxony was at the edge of the horizon with the, with the point of dividions being roughly the course of the  in the south. In the north, the (c. 1800 BC to 800 BC)[34] was a Bronze Age archaeological culture having  pottery of low quality as a marker. The initial phase was characterised by (1800–1200 BC) that were strongly tied to contemporary tumuli in northern Germany and Scandinavia, and were apparently related to the  (1600–1200 BC) in central Europe. This phase was followed by a subsequent change featuring  burial customs (1200–800 BC).

The brought a measure of prosperity. Iron ore was available throughout the country, including extracted from the  in  in the north and the natural iron-bearing balls found in the Veluwe. travelled from small settlement to settlement with bronze and iron, fabricating tools on demand, including, , , and. Some evidence even suggests the making of swords using an advanced method of forging that combined the flexibility of iron with the strength of steel. The, now located in the Netherlands, dating from around 500 BC was found in a burial mound, the largest of its kind in western Europe and containing an iron sword with an inlay of gold and coral.

Germanic groups and Romans (500 BC - 410 AD)


The deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 850 BC, that further deteriorated around 650 BC, might have triggered migration of Germanic tribes from the North. By the time this migration was complete, around 250 BC, a few general cultural and linguistic groups had emerged. The  (or Istvaeones) inhabited the northern part of the, where the contemporary Dutch Lower Saxony is now located. They would later develop into the and the early.

During the, the area south of the and west of the Rhine was conquered by  under  from 57 BC to 53 BC. The Rhine became fixed as Rome's northern frontier around 12 AD. The area to the north of the Rhine, inhabited by the Frisii, remained outside Roman rule (but not its presence and control). After deteriorating climate conditions and the Romans' withdrawal, the Frisii disappeared from the northern Netherlands, probably forced to resettle within Roman territory as  in c. 296. Coastal lands remained largely unpopulated for the next two centuries.

Early Middle Ages (411 - 1000)


After Roman government in the area collapsed, the expanded their territories in numerous kingdoms. By the 490s, had conquered and united all these territories in the southern Netherlands in one, and from there continued his conquests into. During this expansion, Franks migrating to the south eventually adopted the of the local population. A widening cultural divide grew with the Franks remaining in their original homeland in the north (i.e. southern Netherlands and ), who kept on speaking, which by the had evolved into  or Old Dutch. A Dutch-French language boundary came into existence.

To the north of the Franks, climatic conditions on the coast improved, and during the the abandoned land was resettled again, mostly by Saxons, but also by the closely related,  and ancient Frisii. Many moved on to and came to be known as, but those who stayed would be referred to as Frisians and their language as Frisian, named after the land that was once inhabited by Frisii. Frisian was spoken along the entire southern North Sea coast, and it is still the closest to English related living language on continental Europe. By the Seventh-century a (650–734) under  and  emerged with  as its centre of power, while  was a flourishing trading place. Between 600 and around 719 the cities were often fought over between the Frisians and the Franks. In 734, at the, the Frisians were defeated after a series of wars. With the approval of the Franks, the Anglo-Saxon missionary converted the Frisian people to. He established the Archdiocese of Utrecht and became bishop of the Frisians. However, his successor Boniface was murdered by the Frisians in Dokkum, in 754.

The Frankish modeled itself after the Roman Empire and controlled much of Western Europe. However, as of 843, it was divided into three parts —, , and. Most of present-day Netherlands became part of Middle Francia, which was a weak kingdom and subject of numerous partitions and annexation attempts by its stronger neighbours. It comprises territories from Frisia in the north to the in the south. When the middle kingdom was partitioned, the lands north of the passed to  and consecutively were named. After he died in 869, Lotharingia was partitioned, into and, the latter part comprising the Low Countries that technically became part of East Francia in 870, although it was effectively under the control of , who raided the largely defenceless Frisian and Frankish towns lying on the Frisian coast and along the rivers. Around 850, acknowledged the Viking  as ruler of most of Frisia. Around 879, another Viking raided the Frisian lands,. The Viking raids made the sway of French and German lords in the area weak. Resistance to the Vikings, if any, came from local nobles, who gained in stature as a result, and that lay the basis for the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia into semi-independent states. One of these local nobles was, who assumed lordship in Frisia after he helped to assassinate Godfrid, and Viking rule came to an end.

High Middle Ages (1000 - 1384)
The (the successor state of East Francia) ruled much of the Low Countries in the 10th and 11th century, but was not able to maintain political unity. Powerful local nobles turned their cities, counties and duchies into private kingdoms, that felt little sense of obligation to the emperor. ,, , , , and were in a state of almost continual war or paradoxically formed personal unions. The language and culture of most of the people who lived in the County of Holland were originally Frisian. As Frankish settlement progressed from Flanders and Brabant, the area quickly became Old Low Franconian (or Old Dutch). The rest of Frisia in the north (now Friesland and Groningen) continued to maintain its independence and had its own institutions (collectively called the "") and resented the imposition of the feudal system.

Around 1000 AD, due to several agricultural developments, the economy started to develop at a fast pace, and the higher productivity allowed workers to farm more land or to become tradesmen. Towns grew around and, and a mercantile middle class began to develop in these urban areas, especially in Flanders and later also Brabant. Wealthy cities started to buy certain for themselves from the. In practice, this meant that and  became quasi-independent republics in their own right and would later develop into some of the most important cities and ports in Europe.

Around 1100 AD, farmers from Flanders and Utrecht began draining and cultivating uninhabited swampy land in the western Netherlands, and made the emergence of the County of Holland as center of power possible. The title of was fought over in the  (Dutch: Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten) between 1350 and 1490. The Cod faction consisted of the more progressive cities, while the Hook faction consisted of the conservative noblemen. These noblemen invited the Duke of Burgundy – who was also Count of Flanders – to conquer Holland.

Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands (1384 - 1581)


Most of the and  fiefs in what is now Dutch Lower Saxony, the Netherlands and  were united in a personal union by Philip the Good, duke of  in 1433. The and their  heirs would rule the Low Countries in the period from 1384 to 1581. Before the Burgundian union, the Dutch identified themselves by the town they lived in or their local duchy or county. The Burgundian period is when the road to nationhood began. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests, that developed rapidly. The fleets of the County of Holland defeated the fleets of the several times. grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in for grain from the  region. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital, because Holland could no longer produce enough grain to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former wetlands to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained.

Under Habsburg,, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and , all fiefs in the current Netherlands region were united into the , which also included most of present-day Belgium, , and some adjacent land in what is now German Lower Saxony, and Germany. In 1568, the between the Provinces and their Spanish ruler began. In 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces forged the in which they committed to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlandic cultural area, consisting of the Netherlands and Dutch Lower Saxony. In 1581, the northern provinces adopted the, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed as reigning monarch in the northern provinces.

The Queen  sympathised with the Dutch struggle against the Spanish, and sent an army of 7,600 soldiers to aid the Dutch in their war with the  Spanish. The English army under command of was of no real benefit to the Dutch rebellion. Philip II, the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go easily, and war continued until 1648, when Spain under King finally recognised the independence of the seven north-western provinces in the. Parts of the southern provinces became de facto colonies of the new republican-mercantile empire.

Dutch Republic (1581 - 1795)
After declaring their independence, the provinces of, , Groningen, Friesland, , Overijssel, and Gelderland formed a confederation. All these duchies, lordships and counties were autonomous and had their own government, the States-Provincial. The States General, the confederal government, were seated in and consisted of representatives from each of the seven provinces. The sparsely populated region of Drenthe was part of the republic too, although it was not considered one of the provinces.

Batavian Republic and kingdom (1795 - 1833)
With the armed support of, proclaimed the , modelled after the  and rendering the Netherlands a unitary state on 19 January 1795. The  had fled to England. But from 1806 to 1810, the was set up by  as a puppet kingdom governed by his brother  to control the Netherlands more effectively. However, King Louis Bonaparte tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother's, and he was forced to abdicate on 1 July 1810. The Emperor sent in an army and the Netherlands became part of the until the autumn of 1813, when Napoleon was defeated in the.

William Frederick, son of the last stadtholder, returned to the Netherlands in 1813 and proclaimed himself. Two years later, the added the southern Netherlands to the north to create a strong country on the northern border of France. William Frederick raised this United Netherlands to the status of a kingdom and proclaimed himself King William I. In addition, William became hereditary in exchange for his German possessions. However, the Southern Netherlands had been culturally separate from the north since 1581, and rebelled. The south gained independence in 1830 as Belgium.

Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution (1833 - 1835)
For more information on this subject, see the article on the Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution.

Following the Belgian Revolution, the citizens and noblemen of the provinces of Overijssel, Frisia, Groningen, Drenthe, and the inhabitants of the Achterhoek and Veluwe felt alienated from the general Netherlands, having traditionally been more connected to the Low Saxon culture than to Franconian culture. This seperate identity was reflected culturally and linguistically, and the provinces formed the Union of Zwolle, seeking to be incorporated into the Seafaring Confederation, which had formed 13 years previous after the ratification of the Treaty of Hamburg.

King William I did not want to cede the provinces to the Seafaring Confederation, and sent his troops to the provinces to prevent them from seceding. The Union of Zwolle had however already finalised negotiations with the Seafaring Confederation, and thus the Dutch forces were met by the forces of both Saxonian and Seafaring Confederation forces, as well as armed citizens of the provinces.

There followed two years of intense battles, the most notorious of which is the Battle of the IJssel in 1834, which saw the Dutch forces retreat after a heavy defeat. After another grave defeat at the Battle of Amersfoort, King William called for an armistice, and offered to cede the lands to Saxony on the condition that he remained as King in tradition only, thereby losing most, but not all of his influence over the lands. The Seafaring Confederation, the Republic of Saxony, and the Union of Zwolle agreed, and on 15 September 1835 the Treaty of Arnhem was signed, where the provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, and Overijssel, as well the islands of Vlieland and Texel, but not the city of Arnhem and the southern Veluwe strip along the Rhine up to the border with the province of Utrecht, were annexed by Saxony as a new state.

Saxonian Netherlands (1835 - 1914)


The region became known as the Saxonian Netherlands and set up its own state government, the States-General of the State of Dutch Lower Saxony. The government of the Saxonian part of the province of Saxonian Gelderland was relocated to Doesburg, and the city of Amersfoort became the capital as well as its own province, the latter also including the villages of Bunschoten, Leusden and Scherpenzeel.

The years after the annexation by Saxony saw various interprovincial identity conflicts, most notably between Twente and Overijssel and between the Stellingwerven and Frisia. Due to the absence of the city of Arnhem and the Betuwe region from the province of Saxonian Gelderland, the province within the new state was rather oddly shaped and disected in two halves by the River IJssel: the Veluwe at the western side, and the Achterhoek on the eastern side.

These interprovincial identity conflicts prompted the States-General to call for a reorganisation of the provinces. The reorganisation saw the abolition of the provinces of Overijssel and Saxonian Gelderland, and saw Frisia lose the Stellingwerven. Groningen, Drenthe, and the province of Amersfoort remained unchanged.

The province of Overijssel was divided into two new provinces: Salland and Twente, with the Kop van Overijssel as well as the municipalities of Hasselt, Genemuiden, Zwartsluis, Staphorst and IJhorst incorporated into the new province of the Stellingwerven. Twente also gained the village of Rietmolen from the municipality of Neede.

Friesland lost the Stellingwerven region, which became a new province that also included parts of the former province of Overijssel.

Saxonian Gelderland was divided into two provinces: Veluwe and Graafschap De Achterhoek. The border of these two provinces was - and still is - the River IJssel. This meant that part of the municipality of Zutphen, namely De Hoven, was incorporated by the municapility of Voorst.

This reorganisation took effect on 1 January 1855.

World War I (1914 - 1918)
During World War I, several areas of Saxony were taken over by German forces; Dutch Lower Saxony and the area west of the River Weser remained neutral, and the governemnt of Saxony relocated to the city of Enschede.

One attempt to take over control of the nations of Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland and Dogger was stopped in the Night of the Full Moon.

Although World War I had an economical impact on the Confederation, this impact was not large enough to cripple the confederation in the post-war era, where it managed to hold an important economical position within Europe and the world. They financially aided the rebuilding of most affected areas in Europe.

After the end of the World War, Germany returned the areas it had taken over from the Confederation to the Confederation. In addition, the Confederation annexed a small part of what is now the German-speaking community of Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland. The nation saw a stable economic growth throughout the entirety of 1920s.

Between World Wars (1918 - 1939)
After the end of World War I, the Saxonian Government returned to Hannover, the original capital city.

Saxony was hit quite heavily by the 1929 stock market crash, which saw extreme hyperinflation, especially in the western parts of Dutch Lower Saxony.

The economic recession was the hardest to hit the Confederation, however, it was relatively weak in comparison to how it affected other nations in the world. Around 1935, the Confederation had managed to get back to as it was beforehand. It started to improve military defence due to the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party around the same time.

World War II (1939 - 1945)
The preparation of defences proved to be in vain, however, when Germany invaded Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland in 1939 in Operation Nightingale, on the same day it invaded. All employees of the Confederation as well as the governments of the Confederation and the two invaded nations fled their capitals and spread across the remaining nations, in so doing joined by large amounts of refugees. The government of Saxony took exile in Dogger, the government of Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland in the Highlands and the government of the Seafaring Confederation in Rockall, together with their military forces.

Dutch Lower Saxony was taken relatively quickly after the fall of the Saxonian Government, as it was sparsely populated and technologically unprogressed. Drenthe became home to Kamp Westerbork, one of the largest concentration camps in Saxony.

Dutch Lower Saxony was recaptured by Seafaring Confederation forces in 1945.