Why didn't the Netherlands gain territory after World War 2? (Short Animated Documentary)

[@JarNO_WAY]

The tiny bit of land that the dutch kept, known as Duivelsberg (or devil's mountain) consists mostly of forest, the only buildings that are there present day is a tiny campsite as well as a pancake restaurant. So technically, the Netherlands just annexed pancakes from Germany.

[@mzple]

Based

[@average-osrs-enjoyer]

Wait wtf I've been there loads and never knew it had that history!

[@theMoerster]

Not too bad but they should've held out for waffles from Belgium instead

[@blueseanomad7435]

This comment should be pinned.

[@thekingoflordagames3517]

worth it

[@HistoryHustle]

Cool video! When the territory was returned many merchants parked their goods in the soon-to-be-German-territory-again in order to avoid border fees. And it worked. Their goods were now on German territory free of charge.

[@semperfidelis9083]

James Bizzonette chiefly among them.

[@jhiediet]

Isnt that called the Night of Elten or something like that? Edit: got it, Eltener Butternacht. Thanks for reminding me of this historical feat!

[@monkeydank7842]

Worth a longer video of you?

[@groerhahn225]

That's genius!

[@TurquazCannabiz]

Stefan the legend back at it with the random facts

[@niemandzuhause4897]

I actually lived in of the towns that the netherlands occupied after the war. The village of Elten which is the northen one of the two shown on the map. Interesting side notes: 1. The german population in town had access to all the goods that were impossible to get in postwar Germany like coffee, sugar, chocolade etc. 2. in the night the village was returned to Germany, hundreds of trucks full of goods were parked in town because with the transfer happening at midnight they avoided all taxation and stuff because technically they never crossed the border. This was known as the Butternacht or butter night cause butter was one of the main goods transferred this way.

[@ShantanuSuchil]

So you mean to say, King Harlaus came knocking

[@clavichord]

Isn't it also true that children born in Elten during the post-war period it was briefly part of Holland, gained Dutch citizenship, and that even today, there are a part of the population in and around Elten who have Dutch or dual Dutch-German citizenship due to the post war border change?

[@billieticklish]

Oh if borders today would just nudge a bit as conveniently lol

[@Seethenhagen]

"I didn't cross the border, the border crossed me!"

[@vitus6897]

​@@clavichord yes, my aunt is one of those peoples. and even today our population is almost evenly split 50/50 between people of german or dutch citizenship. thats why we don't really care as long as you are from Elten. most people also speak or at least understand both languages.

[@talea.asoka9757]

Fun Fact: Germany and the Netherlands have had a border dispute for centuries, at the mouth of a river called the Ems. This river lies between the province of Groningen and the region of East Frisia (which is in Lower Saxony). This border dispute was only settled in 2014.

[@Maxime_K-G]

Damn, they already settled it? I thought they had just agreed to disagree but not make a fuss about it.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

@@Maxime_K-G The settlement was that both countries will govern the disputed waters together.

[@rb3058]

Das hört sich eher nach Bürokratie an und nicht nach einem "border dispute". Das kann man sich richtig gut vorstellen, wie beide Seiten nicht wussten, welche Behörde nun zuständig ist.

[@talea.asoka9757]

@@rb3058 Also ist es ein Territorialstreit im ganz klassischen Sinne, er spielte bzw. Spielt nur keine große Rolle sowohl für Deutschland als auch die Niederlande.

[@encycl07pedia-]

had*, not have had. That implies that the border dispute is ongoing, not settled.

[@dimosthenistserikis5901]

If you read the newspaper it's hilarious. This guy has put so much effort on every detail it's really wholesome. Great video!!!

[@BTobiasJ]

At 2:00 if anyone was wondering

[@Jesse11788]

"The treaty is a formality and won't have any geopolitical repercussions or immediate consequences. Quote us on that." Me: 𝙄𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚-𝙚𝙮𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙚.

[@MetDaan2912]

One mistake: it says the Amsterdam government, but the Dutch government is not in Amsterdam but in Den Haag.

[@georgios_5342]

March 25th is also the Greek Independence day

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

"Now in 2-ply", it's not just for birdcages any more.

[@etoiledageo]

The story behind the tiny peace of land we got is actually pretty funny. One of the Dutch diplomats that was part of the negotiations to return the land lived close to it and liked to walk his dog there..

[@junetan1733]

Seriously, that is kinda cute.

[@BonQueerd]

Thats cute

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

I didn't know that! As the other two replies said, its cute! Thanks for the info!

[@jeanbethencourt1506]

That's adorable. Almost as adorable as the modern Dutch ditching their own language for English.

[@TRGantz]

@@jeanbethencourt1506 ?

[@fluffehpancakes1102]

Knowing the Dutch they probably secretly asked for more Sea space

[@hesseleritus4763]

helogoland lol

[@jelmer-hendrikveen2722]

The spice must flow bruder

[@grungepolitics]

You mean future farmland

[@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer]

There's likely a dutch flag in Doggerland already.

[@xander_21]

of course we want more sea space we love the sea 😂

[@pizzapersona9320]

I never knew the netherlands tried to get land in the first place, it's very interesting how different my country could've looked after the war

[@robertneven7563]

de Nederlanders hadden geen recht op meer land, het waren toch de vriendjes v d Duitsers in de 2de W O??, ook in de eerste W O waren ze toch zooooooo neutraal, forget its, Nederland sloot de westerschelden af in de eerste zodat de Britten en de Belgan geen support meer kregen langs die kant, W O en nam willemhelm met de pinhelm onder ze vleugels , in Doorn kon de woodpecker rustig leven tot ze n dood,

[@chrisboogerd3031]

G E K O L O N I S E E R D maar ja we zijn dus gewoon genaaid door engeland iedereen kreeg land behalve wij

[@JamesBond-lp9wr]

Ja dat klopt. Maar ja ooit zal er toch weer een oorlog komen en dan wie weet.

[@robertoneven2803]

@@chrisboogerd3031 T ja dan hadden jullie Nederlanders maar moeten mèè doen bij het bevrijden van jully land in 1944 1945, geen kloten hebben jullie gedaan bij de bevrijding van Nederland, waar waren de mariniers???????????????het K C T ?????????????????????????? Prinses Irene brigade????????????? na de bevrijding van Tilburg door the Britich army , meer bepaald de Schotten mocht de prinses Irene brigaden niet deel nemen aan de parade, hen aandeel in de strijd was te minetjes , dus??????????????????

[@chrisboogerd3031]

@@robertoneven2803 valt ook niet veel te vechten als je verouderde militaire dienst hebt. Weinig mensen en wapens en training voor gevechten uit de 19e eeuw. De Nederlanders hebben gevochten voor alles wat ze waard waren maar na 4 dagen moesten ze opgeven. En tijdens de bevrijding hebben Nederlanders zeker wel gevochten maar onder Engelse vlag en als verzetstrijders. Leer je geschiedenis voor je domme opmerkingen maakt.

[@philipforinton5804]

Video idea: What happened to the chartered trading companies? They're pretty important in the buildup of early colonialism and established the key colonies like India

[@12_terabyte57]

That's a very good video idea!

[@cv4809]

They would eventually become unprofitable and a burden for their respective governments, so they were dissolved

[@minamagdy4126]

Hudson's Bay Company is still the oldest operating corporation on Canadian lands. It recently rebranded back to that name from "The Bay" a few years ago. It's mostly a store nowadays (haven't been in one in a while)

[@jyothireddy4246]

@@12_terabyte57 After the rise of EIC in India, in British Parliament atleast a common question was asked, a company literally controls one of the oldest human civilizations in the world, and the parliament's fear was that they might officially declare independence like how it was done in British Americans colonies and function themselves, since EIC never behaved like a forgein power and was basically acting a Indian state who is fighting other Indian states and and British governers ruled like Kings themselves and sat on a King's throne and even though you could brush of this argument by saying they were British loyalists and would do no such thing like this, but this was an idea was considered by the company owners, so just imagine a what if this happened.

[@mrterp04]

@@minamagdy4126 there’s an urban legend that each store has beaver pelts on hand because the Hudson Bay Co was compelled to give them to the British King or Queen upon a visit, but apparently it’s not true.

[@flatscreengamer9725]

1:09 Hamburg is not that far west. Its not in North Rhine Westphalia like you have it but further north and closer to the Danish border in the center-north of the country.

[@Charlie-III]

were he points on the map must be Hamm(Westfalen) not Hamburg. Hamm is an "important" city in North Rhein Westphalia and Hamburg is well 300km northeast... mistakes happen i guess :D

[@benediktnett669]

He probably meant "Hamm"

[@foundationgamer9771]

🤓 Seriously though thanks for pointing that out

[@Zehnt1337]

The pin points at the city of Hamm, a minor mistake I would assume. Not as important as Hamburg but still very important to the ruhr-area because Hamm had europes larges railway yard and was the railroad gateway to north, central and east germany

[@laurinseidelmann6652]

@@Zehnt1337 Indeed, also IIRC Hamm and its surroundings was one of the better coal reserves Germany still had access to

[@xsXRevanXsx]

Always a fun time when history matter releases a Dutch themed video.

[@jonbaxter2254]

Gekolonised?

[@geenkaas6380]

ja heel leuk

[@chrisklenke9681]

“Historically, prime ministers aren’t food”

[@12_terabyte57]

Same, definitely if it's a WW2 video like this one

[@aqualix4662]

@@chrisklenke9681 haah ja die was mooi

[@muskatDR]

Netherlands: Can we get some lands to the east? UK: Nah Netherlands: *expands into the sea*

[@prity5631]

soon they will occupy uk when they have build enough land trough the sea😆

[@Kjoyhen]

If we cant get land on land, we'll get the damn sea

[@StopKillsfromdying]

Stop Games from Dying to support the initiative campaign of stop killing games from games dying due to server shut off

[@gerdforster883]

The bit of land the Netherlands got to keep is an uninhabited hill. Which was fair, as hills are kind of a rare commodity for the Dutch, while Germany has lots of them. They still clog up the Autobahn with their caravans going to german mountains, though. So maybe we should have given them more than just one.

[@ottokern1001]

Underrated)

[@elorani1714]

Should have given them Kilimanjaro back when German East Africa was a thing. Definitely would not have created any issues.

[@MagiconIce]

No, that we have to endure their Caravans is punishment enough for occupying them in the 40's.

[@d3al3rplays68]

Could counter that with the Germans still trying to oqupy our beaches, Germans still digging foxholes overthere all summer...

[@xxxBradTxxx]

Why is the sewage system in Amsterdam always backed up? Because it's full of clogs

[@someguysomeone3543]

0:41 seeing the US move into frame as if the country became a moving island was strangely horrifying.

[@ninoy4914]

It was like a massive whale

[@VonMisesinarabic]

It's called continental drift

[@karnickel-s33d16]

We're coming to give you freedom. Do not resist.

[@Podzhagitel]

“IS THAT… THE EASTERN SEABOARD!???!! AHHHHHH!!!! I’M GOING INSANE!!! HELP ME!!!”

[@charloux3448]

Foreshadowing?

[@oskarrasmussen7137]

Virgin WW2 Netherlands: -Fights both Germany and Japan -Suffered hard, hard fighting on their territory -Was occupied -Got next to nothing despite being on the winning side. Chad WW1 Denmark: -Fought no one. -Got one of the greatest naval battles in history named after them, even though it neither happened on their territory nor involved any danes. -Maintained profitable trade relations with both sides. -Had to fight to not get more territory than they demanded despite not being on the winning side.

[@oberstaffe2733]

6 hours moment

[@deusvult6920]

True Chad's don't have sex before they're married. True Chad's can control their body not have their body control them. True Chad's don't let women have any power over them.

[@badvideosto]

@@deusvult6920 You ok there Buddy?

[@giannis_m]

@@deusvult6920 This is what too much reddit does to a mf

[@BetaDude40]

@@giannis_m I have a feeling they're about to make a very rational and reasonable reply. Everything about his post just *screams* "sane"

[@ilex471]

When the Netherlands were occupied by the Germans in May 1940, the local time was changed to German (Berlin) time, instead of Amsterdam time (difference: 15 minutes). A few weeks later, the Germans also introduced daylight saving time, so, within a month, the clocks went forward 1 hour and 15 min.. The daylight saving time was abolished immediately after the war ended, but the standard time was kept on Berlin time; again, at the request of the Allies.

[@PhyrexJ]

Sooo why is daylight saving time still around now then?

[@marco26gdm]

@@PhyrexJBecause it’s used all over the EU

[@shodank9590]

ngl in german politics its discussed to get rid of the daylight saving time because its a bother to change the time 2 times a year lol :3

[@Corpsorz]

@@shodank9590 same here in the Netherlands haha. actually i believe the idea was thrown in the EU by several other countries aswell. but got rejected. Personally i dont really mind the time difference. im good with whatever they decide :p

[@jasper265]

I loved the thing you did with "plan bij" there. It took me a few seconds to get it was intentional and not just a mistranslation, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the multilingual pun.

[@ninjaturtledd]

I was searching for this comment. Perfect pun.

[@spudskie3907]

Love the humor in the newspaper articles. "The primary opponents were the British whose foreign secretary said, 'Britain doesn't give other countries lands, that's not how this works. I mean, seriously, are you high?'"

[@aeonsolo]

1:09 do you mean the town "Hamm"? The City of Hamburg lies far Northeast of Münster. Like farfar :P Anyhow, love the videos, keep it up.

[@kaiserhhaie841]

Ah, this makes sense. I was just asking myself the same thing

[@yah5o]

And by "Northwest" you mean north-east ;) almost north-north-east

[@aeonsolo]

@@yah5o haha yeee. East. West. Aren't those bourgeois categories?

[@ReuterL]

Yeah, lets just call Hamm the new Hamburg. Noone will notice the difference. Lets also call New York, Springfield

[@kaiserhhaie841]

@@ReuterL what? Hamburg is not on the location Pinned in that video and it's also not in any of the Dutch territorial demands

[@Girell]

To be fair, even though I am from the Netherlands I never knew the Dutch government asked for that territory. It's interesting to imagine what would have happened if they actually did annex it (or parts of it)

[@jorisw_]

Same here, had never heard about this

[@biggc73]

Dan had je de NRC moeten lezen .Daar heeft ooit een hele pagina ingestaan.

[@zahra9890]

ja stel je voor aken had bij nederland gehoord. hoefden limburgers niet meer de grens over voor boodschappen, en Nederlandse kerstmarkt haha

[@SuperHns]

@@zahra9890 pik Aachen is toch bijna Nederland, ik kom uit Heerlen Noord voor ons is het echt 10 minuten in de auto lol. Wij zijn eigenlijk blij dat het Duitsland is nu, want boodschappen en benzine zijn goedkoper.

[@zahra9890]

@@SuperHns ja dan is t idd beter dat er wel een grens is😆

[@timvlaar]

Great video, but one correction: whenever a close-up map of the Netherlands is shown, the modern map of the Netherlands is shown (with Flevoland), but Flevoland only came into existence in the 80's. The correct map is shown at 0:41.

[@croozerdog]

Wait you wont give us land? Fine. We'll make our own.

[@Hilversumborn]

@@croozerdog With Blackjack and hookers

[@svdgnl]

The Noordoostpolder was made in the 40 so in should be there and the flevopolder in 50 and 60.

[@cyrilwiddershoven6437]

@@croozerdog our goals is to take the entire north sea as land

[@timvlaar]

That still leaves the south of the province which didn't exist yet.

[@zacksung11]

I hope you make these videos in the future: -Why does Belize exist? -Why isn't Brunei part of Malaysia? -How did France and Portugal possess cities in India, and why didn't the British Raj kick them out? -How did Brazil have an emperor, and what happened to the royal family? -And finally, why are there two Samoas? Lovely video, as always. I'm excited to see your next topics.

[@leeham1405]

Answers: Britain Britain Napoleon Britain Britain 'Educated guess'

[@emlynselene1096]

I would also suggest "Why does Liechtenstein exist", "Why does San Marino exist", and "Why does Monaco" exist. Interestingly the only one of those I don't know the answer to is Monaco

[@Louis-qs9cj]

@@leeham1405 nah the two samoas are because germany and the us

[@Louis-qs9cj]

@@emlynselene1096 simple answer: hre

[@Guido_XL]

- Why did Neutral Moresnet exist (for more than a century)?

[@Smulpaap123]

1:20 "Plan Bij", love it. For those wondering, "bij" means "bee".

[@deutschermichel5807]

Bÿ

[@ronaldbos9345]

And for the few people wondering how you actually pronounce the letter 'B' in Dutch, it's pronounced as 'bay'.

[@rubenvanbelzen1217]

Ahh now I get it, even though I’m Dutch lol

[@Nightowl5379]

@@rubenvanbelzen1217 hahah nice one

[@jaspermooren5883]

Haha, even though I'm Dutch, I didn't even get it either. I was thinking of 'bij' as in the English word 'by' or 'with', which is the other translation for 'bij' depending on context, in which case it wouldn't make sense. I was pretty confused by that one. But yeah, it also means 'bee'.

[@teegrizzly39]

I truly enjoy this channel. Thanks for making it so easy to follow and fun to watch.

[@donmah06]

The southern bit of returned land, Selkant and Tuddere, was built up by the dutch govt as a suburb for the nearby city of Sittard. So, most people in that municipality still live close to it while most of the rest is farmland. Also, the demograpics of this municipality is to this day quite weird and diverse; not only a lot of dutch and germans but also a lot of cultures from other coldwar-era NATO countries. I'm guessing this is probably because of the nearby NATO base near Geilenkirchen and the old important NATO regional headquarters in/near Maastricht (which was partially situated in caves underneath it, very cool! Pictures of it look really interesting, a lot of oldddd computers and other technical equipment and american cave-street names)

[@JusticeCactus]

The NATO base is located in Geilenkirchen not Kirchroa.

[@thed542]

The Maastricht base is now void and simply caves you can visit in the summer! It also hosts illegal raves too

[@donmah06]

@@JusticeCactus ahh thank you! yeah I forgot where it was exactly; plus the last time I searched for it on google maps you could see it but there wasn't any label for it yet

[@donmah06]

@@thed542 oooo yeah I heard about that as well!

[@Laszlo5897]

That's where my family's from. Quite surreal to see this comment.

[@openthinker6562]

I love how you can see piles of Butter at 2:32 in the building. Other comments say it’s a reference to how trucks parked their goods during the border change to avoid paying border fees, which worked!

[@fancyfernando9687]

Good video as always, but one small correction: at 1:08 I'm pretty sure you mean the city of "Hamm" and not Hamburg, Hamburg is way further up north.

[@mandmand3132]

@Ricky Smith ur a failure for ur country, hamburg isnt near anywhere near where the arrow pointed. hamburg is rather close to the danish border

[@brickonblock5183]

@Ricky Smith yeah but the marker points to Hamm. so either a error in the marker placement or in the text overlayed onto the marker or something completely different

[@m33st3rdanny]

Funfact!: the middle piece on the dutch landmap is called “Flevoland” and it didn’t exist yet after the war! It used to be just sea!

[@kotlolish]

Basically the dutch went: "Well if we can't take land? FINE! We will make it ourselves!"

[@jaspermooren5883]

@@kotlolish Funily enough a significant portion of it (the Noordoostpolder) was completed in 1942, in the middle of German occupation. So part of it immediately got annexed the day it was made land. We did get that back though after the war. So in a very twisted way you could argue we annexed the Noordoostpolder from Germany, even though the project began long before the war started. In fact the first significant step, the Afsluitdijk, was completed in 1932, even before Hitler came to power in Germany. And the Germans can't really take credit for any bit of it. They just didn't actively kill an ongoing project.

[@ronik24]

1:08 I doubt that Hamburg is south of Münster... ;-) It actually is much further northwest than the top right corner of the shown territory... which does not even reach as far as Bremen.

[@Charlie-III]

were he points on the map must be Hamm(Westfalen) not Hamburg. Hamm is an "important" city in North Rhein Westphalia and Hamburg is well 300km northeast... mistakes happen i guess :D

[@dw620]

Good spot! (And somewhat glossed over quite how many ethnic Germans were refugees after being expelled from the East, too...)

[@dutchgamerguy2446]

Oh Bremen, Beautiful city of roadblocks and construction

[@rayoflight62]

The level of care for details in this video is a masterpiece in itself! At 02:00, the front page of "The Amsterdam Times" is a best example, for how it is cured in detail. Even the ads and a meme: the "2-ply" newspaper ad - hints at the most common use - post reading - of the paper. The "Buy cigarettes" ad is a reminder of the unhealthy habits of the time. Well done, thank you!

[@iwtkc]

a masterpiece indeed.

[@Nightowl5379]

Smoking wasn't that unhealthy btw. Your body does have nicotine receptors naturally. For the natives Americans Smoking was sacred and doctors promoted, that's no coincidence imo so I believe it has been made bad.

[@GlennnD]

Another fun fact: In the place Elten which converted back to Germany there is still a restaurant named in Dutch "Het oude posthuis" (The old post office).

[@revinhatol]

SIMPLE ANSWER: *Oldenburg.* EXPLANATION: The Danish, Greek and Norwegian monarchs were from the Oldenburg cadet branch, the House of Glucksburg.

[@larsvandenbiggelaar7380]

Great video! One thing of note though, which you may or may not already know: the map that first shows up on 0:14 and then throughout the video isn't entirely accurate to what the Netherlands looked like right after WWII. The landmass in the middle of the country south of the IJsselmeer is what is now the province of Flevoland. However, the majority of this land was actually still part of the lake until the 50s and 60s, as it is artificial land created through reclamation. I think the story behind it all is quite interesting and worth reading through. I hope you can use comments like this to continue making great content in the future!

[@mees9704]

And out of revenge for not getting any land the Dutch will now attempt to create a land border with Britain.

[@mielBrouns]

Yes we are coming for them

[@Jack-Hands]

DoggerlandPolder is a go.

[@Nightowl5379]

Did you know that there is a landmass in between, or was, like its underwater now. But it was all connected as true neighbors! Britannica lost a lot of landmass to the sea and became an island on that point

[@mielBrouns]

@@Nightowl5379 yes because they knew we where going to get them. But we still will mark my words. WE’RE COMMING.

[@Nightowl5379]

@@mielBrouns lol, no let's reunite, that's more productive in this era;)

[@pagansbasin6657]

Netherlands: please give us this land The Allies: I don’t even know who you are

[@proactiveomnipresentvessel6569]

Nah it be more like oh you silly rat baby

[@tigervv6437]

Actually they did. The Dutch merchant fleet had proven vital to allied war efforts, as did the refineries on Curaçao, which provided a big share of allied fuels.

[@feddek9325]

Without the Netherlands USA couldn't build its planes. All those plames where build with the bauxite deposits of Suriname.

[@ShantanuSuchil]

You know, that bit of land that proved too much for the British

[@silverhost9782]

@@ShantanuSuchil Britain ended up eclipsing them after the anglo-dutch wars though

[@ilya.petersen]

That little piece of land we kept is just around the corner from where I live. It is mostly a nature reserve consisting of hilly woodland. And the company I work for has its offices in a formerly German villa (house Wylerberg).

[@peteranderson037]

Apparently, the Dutch seem to like their territorial concessions. The reviews on Google Maps give it a 4.2 out of 5. According to the reviews it seems to be a good place to walk your dog.

[@HayaseMTSR]

I actually live in the area Germany bought back in the 1960's. There is to this day a lot of pro-Dutch sentiment here specifically from older people who still feel Dutch. Most younger people here, including me, just call themselves a weird mix between Dutch and German because while our passport says German and we speak German we grew up with a lot of Dutch culture and a lot of us also speak Dutch.

[@Raadpensionaris]

That is honestly pretty cool. Didn't know that it still has such effects till this day

[@perrys1723]

Where in Germany?

[@HayaseMTSR]

@@perrys1723 the over all area that got bought back is called "Selfkant" and it's the western most point of Germany today

[@ReddoFreddo]

You're telling me that after less than 20 years of Dutch rule the people there became Dutch culturally? Or were the Germans there removed and replaced with Dutch people?

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

Nou mooi, kunnen we daar direct even een paar volksrepubliekjes stichten.

[@stevemc01]

0:34 Oof that’s pretty accurate… Mussolini was killed by partisans and hung up and humiliated. Hitler opted to play Furnace Simulator IV. Hirohito survived.

[@jibberism9910]

Loved the illustrations!

[@alexcunningham6674]

Humble video suggestions: 1) How Swedish was Finland under Swedish rule? 2) Why did the Hanseatic League fail? 3) Why did the Kalmar Union fail? 4) (For April Fool's Day) A Short History of the Foundation (Your dry humor is perfect) Your videos bring me many laughs and teach me many things I didn't know, thank you so much!

[@davidkasquare]

A Swedish speaking Finn, I would love to watch #1.

[@janverhoeff7628]

Minor correction: the windmill you're showing has the sails reversed. The direction it's turning is correct, however the lattice should be behind the beam.

[@dutchgamerguy2446]

Proper Dutchman

[@JacobBax]

No Dutch windmills turn counterclockwise.

[@MrJm323]

It's a giant solar-powered fan, you silly!

[@umgssda]

When the Netherlands gave back the Selfkant region they kept control of a road they build as a transit route through there. The road was then totally unaccessible from the surrounding german land. This only changed in the 1990s when new intersections were added and it was integrated into the german road network.

[@MCharlerySmith]

Fascinating! Thank you, History Matters.

[@赤青白]

"The government is said to be pushing for another territorial concession this time at the expense of Belgium, because in Queen Juliana's words 'It's not like it's a real country.'" I love how much effort he put in the newspaper section. Legend.

[@B_men_apo]

A real slay queen

[@itsblitz4437]

Your profile pic and name is confusing. Is it Serbian or Japanese?

[@klartraum8495]

@@itsblitz4437 Serbianese. You are welcome

[@itsblitz4437]

@@klartraum8495 thank you sir, for that clever word play.

[@BernasLL]

"BUY CIGARETTES" by Superliminar Advertising Co. was pretty good as well.

[@Muesli711]

Unfortunately for the Dutch, James Bisonette wasn't on their negotiating team.

[@CT--ov5ne]

They lacked James bisonette funding

[@mikespearwood3914]

@@CT--ov5ne If only the Dutch set up a Patreon account!!!

[@tommy_clayton]

"Britain doesn't give other countries lands, that's not how it works. I mean, seriously, are you high?" In the newspaper 😂

[@LHSMeleeClub]

I LOVE HOW EXPRESIVE THE ANIMATED CHARACTERS ARE

[@volodask]

I loved the "Plan Bij" - literally, "Plan Bee" in Dutch. So many Easter Eggs in your videos.

[@GorgeDawes]

Possibly the silliest, most niche joke of the series so far. Keep up the good work.

[@dutchgamerguy2446]

Belgium is no country

[@volodask]

@@dutchgamerguy2446 What are you talking about?

[@Nightowl5379]

@@volodask I agree Belgium is still Dutch bound by blood honestly

[@MijmerMopper]

One point I miss is that these plans where not widely supported within the Netherlands either. It is questionable to what degree the formal request was a negotiation tactic.

[@jarnodatema]

0:15 One mistake: Flevoland didn’t exist back then. We reclaimed an entire province out of the sea after the war.

[@CreativityShowsSanav]

1:10 Hamburg is more north, silly!

[@Waaott]

1:09 Since when is Hamburg this near to Münster?

[@Charlie-III]

were he points on the map must be Hamm(Westfalen) not Hamburg. Hamm is an "important" city in North Rhein Westphalia and Hamburg is well 300km northeast... mistakes happen i guess :D

[@jaspermooren5883]

@@Charlie-III Hamm is not even that important, I guess he mistook it for Hamburg, which actually is an important city, but yeah, it's close to Denmark at the mouth of the Elbe and has never been in any Dutch claims for over 500 years.

[@commonwealthrealm]

Poland, the only allied country that lost more territories after WW2 than they gained...

[@Altermerea]

The lands obtained in exchange were more valuable. Just having more territory isn't enough, Algeria is the largest country in all of Africa, and 95% of it is just sand, sand and an inhospitable more sand.

[@keeganharris186]

also the only country that literraly moved sidways

[@nobleman9393]

I would say that modern Polish border is far better.

[@smilingearth5181]

Poland: so, what do we get after all this? Postwar powers: you get to exist

[@Rabauke84]

Poland got the best parts of the back then Germany. Heavy industrialized and pretty rich on ressources, they also got important ports. Actually, you can still see the former german border by looking at the railways in Poland.

[@cocafristyhoi1645]

We did actually keep a little hill. Totally worth it in my opinion.

[@james64ibm]

I mean in 50 years or so it will probably double the area of the Netherlands above sea level, so I'd call it a great success.

[@ressljs]

So did you keep that just so you'd have something physical to look at and say, "YES, we took this from Germany?"!

[@dalstein3708]

It is called the Duivelsberg, and it is a really nice place for a walk.

[@dextercochran4916]

Put a windmill on it and plant tulips near it. It will be seen as historically part of Holland.

[@TheKahim]

😂

[@brotheralex9226]

Denmark : Gains territory whilst being neutral in WW1. Netherlands : Literally suffering and dying but couldn't get land in WW2.

[@BoDAssassin]

And Denmark didn’t really want the land. In fact the British and French wanted Denmark to take more land from Germany, but they settled on only taking the land that had Danes.

[@sharkronical]

*gains very small lands *loses the only valuable colony

[@markusz4447]

Curacao has about 70 oil if you max out infrastructure :D

[@sharkronical]

@@markusz4447 the only thing Curacao is good for is to cheese and naval invade the US in 1937

[@Numba003]

This is another question I hadn't really thought of to ask lol. I enjoy these that I haven't really considered before. Thank you for another interesting bite size snippet of history. Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)

[@donovanmike8003]

“Never lands” makes more sense as a name now

[@Delightfully_Witchy]

Oh, *you!*

[@donovanmike8003]

@@Delightfully_Witchy 💁‍♂️

[@kongism]

1:54 Corsica is gone

[@jaspermooren5883]

Lol, they did acurately remove parts of Flevoland (because they didn't exist yet), but removed Corsica in the proces I guess.

[@caervlevsmaximvs7518]

I'm dutch so I just had to instant-like the video, lol. Video itself deserves the like too.

[@HoennMaster]

WW1: Denmark take more land from Germany damn it! WW2: Netherlands stop asking for land from Germany damn it!

[@fr0ntend]

there was a different situation: 1. Denmark had a historical claim to schleswig-holsten 2. Denmark was offered it, after ww1, and also after ww2, but they would not be allowed to expel the germans that lived there. The Netherlands explicitly demanded the complete expulsion of the germans, similar to how east and west prussians were expelled from those lands. As the video explained this would cause a lot of work, not be fair to the germans who lived there and lets be real, it was not needed for the Netherlands the same way it was for Poland.

[@HoennMaster]

It's a joke guys, calm down.

[@Victor-07-04]

@@fr0ntend I’m Dutch and I would’t have liked this, the shape of our country would be terrible

[@jaspermooren5883]

​@@fr0ntend Also the British were by far the most in the position of 'please let's not do Versaille again', much more so than Russia or France, and the US had no interested really in anything Western Europe, as long as denazification happened and the Europeans were fine with it. They just wanted peace and of course had a vested interest in keeping the communists at bay. As long as it didn't go to the Russians, they really didn't care wheter it was under British or Dutch rule. If the Dutch would have gotten this land after WWI they almost certainly would have been able to keep it after WW2 as well. Also the Netherlands is actually a pretty powerful trading and maritime power and always has been (even fought a few wars over it with the British, to the point of having Dutch royalty on the British throne for decades). It just isn't in the British interest to strenghten the Netherlands, while Poland was under Russian occupied territories and Russia had all the reason to create a bigger buffer state between Russia and Germany (Stalin was till the day he died super afraid of a WW3 started by Germany), which is geopolitically what Poland was. If the British had their say on what happened to east germany, they probably wouldn't have allowed that either, but instead of having to politically manouver against the Dutch, which was politically at their weakest point in centuries, they had to politically manouvre against the Russians, one of the 2 world super powers at the time. So the Russians got what they wanted, the Dutch didn't, who were basically at the mercy of whatever the allies were willing to do. They liberated us after all, not the other way around. In fact operation Market Garden, which was the liberation of the Netherlands, was almost exclusively performed by British and Canadian forces (who were still a British colony back then), so they quite literally liberated us.

[@jaspermooren5883]

@@Victor-07-04 It does look weird, but that is just because you're not used to it. If we would have gotten it, you probably wouldn't have liked the shape the Netherlands has now.

[@paleoph6168]

0:04 "Compensation for occupation" what a motto 💯

[@NoblesseObligeify]

Being a dutchie I never knew this, nor even considered this an option. Thank you for the info

[@no.6660]

Week 3 of asking history matters: what happened to the end of the year Q and A, and what happened to the industrial revolution video that you have hinted at for a while?

[@Perririri]

Normie

[@no_one_of_that_name_here]

1:03 that's not where Hamburg is

[@jeddi5173]

The fact that these developments weren't noticed by mappers bewilders me

[@harenterberge2632]

Fun fact: the Netherlands still has a border conflict with germany about the Eems estuary.I always wondered why the exchange of land deal was not used to resolve this conflict as well.

[@DasWarVorbestimmt]

As a german living exactly on that border for most of my life; 1:08 thats not where Hamburg is in relation to the other cities. Its much further up north.

[@davystoelwinder5575]

Yep i think its more north to Denemark

[@petermaffay8312]

The 14 sqkm of occupied Elten came along with the Elten Berg "Mountain" (~90m high), making it one of the highest points of the netherlads north of the rhine, naturally attracting hundreds of interested dutch tourists

[@viezekraker]

Ehm, Vaalserberg 322m and Mount Scenery 887m but sure ;)

[@derhenri2002]

1:02 I had to laugh out loud at that because my entire family basically comes from Münster. Yeah, the claims were absolutely ridiculous. Can't image they had gotten what they wanted!

[@javahne4007]

It would have been an improvement, to be honest. For all involved, to be really honest 😀

[@tigervv6437]

At the time proper compensation would have been fair, given the levels of destruction in The Netherlands. The claims were outragious, obviously, but Germany got off pretty good if you ask me.

[@RK-cj4oc]

Bruh. 5 years before the dutch asked this the Germans claimed everything from Normandy to Kazachstan as theirs. this is reasonable in comparison.

[@nicolasmarazuela1010]

@@tigervv6437 the dutch claims wouldn't have been a good idea in the long run. This would ment, that Frnace also would annex territory and a weak Germany would have been fatal during the building of the European Community.

[@deutschermichel5807]

@@RK-cj4oc Actually no. Germany didn't claim nor annex everything from Normandie to Kasachstan. Germany only temporarily occupied it, whereas Poland got annexed

[@NoNameX_X0]

2:29 “aw you guys, why so generous?”

[@ahennessy7998]

The real reason is that the allies feared the power of the Dutch

[@brianjonker510]

No more superpower status for the tulip land

[@deutschermichel5807]

Gouda is too much of a threats for american liquid spraying "cheese"

[@NickyHonings]

it's not the first time the Dutch got fucked over by the French or English.

[@wilhelmdietz4023]

We would definitely dominate everything if we had a bigger country and population.

[@rubenvanbelzen1217]

@@deutschermichel5807 that’s definitely true

[@alparslankorkmaz2964]

Nice video.

[@genericyoutubeaccount579]

The Netherlands forced German POWs and Nazi collaborates to walk through the massive minefields after the war. About 260 of them died "clearing minefields" with nothing but their feet. Dutch women who had slept with German soldiers were also punished but not as severely.

[@pietervanderzwaan4295]

i believe denmark did the same style of minesweeping

[@Perririri]

@@pietervanderzwaan4295 Both countries violated Geneva Accords

[@SoWhat1221]

@@pietervanderzwaan4295 There's a pretty good film about this, called Land of Mine.

[@IudiciumInfernalum]

They put them there so they get to clear them out. Seems fair to me.

[@StYxXx]

@@IudiciumInfernalum Even women and kids burried mines?

[@SimWlq]

The Dutch were also known to be collaborating with Germany in a lot of cases, so their claims would probably be laughed out of the room for that reason alone.

[@Raiser2024-pw6pp]

yeah correct even if most dutch people will deny this. No other western country helped so much the nazis to get rid of their own jews.

[@hans3770]

That is not true. Only a very small percentage of the Dutch were helping the Germans. In 1945, the Dutch population was 9.2 million, and 101,314 people were members of the Dutch fascist party, which is 1.1% of the Dutch population.

[@tasolyn]

Another aspect you forgot is that the Dutch government itself wasn't actually too keen on these plans and didn't fight for them too hard since the government was made up out of protestant parties, and the lands they were going to occupy were full of catholic people. This is also the reason why the Dutch government pushed so hard for removing all the Germans from this area.

[@TLamie]

I actually like to believe they would have gotten land if they did not persist on pushing away germans

[@schadelharry4048]

Protestants always cry and want to steal/socialize, and then wonder, how that doesn't turn out to be real work or anything sustainable.

[@DiscusvissenRocken]

Our coward Queen and her lapdogs didn't do shit but our people fought them all the way untill the Allies finally decided to lend a hand. Many people here gave their lives to fight those nazi scumbags while they killed innocent children like Anne Frank. And those NSB traitors aren't forgotten either. Removing the germans was for their own safety as many of our people wrre still out for german blood so they wouldn't have veen safe here anyways even if they were welcome at the time.

[@johnschuh8616]

Think it would have prevented a decline in the number of Plattfdeutch speakers. The Germans would have been able to ditch to the new language without all that much trouble. Hard to imagine it now, but the religious differences have almost disappeared.

[@alexanderzippel8809]

Great video, unfortunately at 1:09 u made a tiny mistake labeling Hamburg pretty close to Dortmund and the Ruhr in general. But besides that, I love the video

[@kekistani6712]

1:09, this isn't Hamburg, it's Hamm, which has actually 180.000 inhabitants instead of 1,8 Million in Hamburg

[@rsmapping]

Wide Poland doesn't exist, it can't hurt you

[@Jonago.]

As a Dutch person I never knew this, very interesting!

[@Nightowl5379]

Same!

[@nedsnark6479]

Once again, James Bizzonette could have saved everyone a lot stress had he been given the chance.

[@PANZERFAUST90]

omfg let it go already.......

[@fatchins9126]

@@PANZERFAUST90 NO I WON'T 😭

[@tacob0]

Who?

[@mikespearwood3914]

@@tacob0 The universe boss!

[@nedsnark6479]

@@PANZERFAUST90 can't...won't

[@cheradeninezakalwe5957]

0:02 Minor detail, but before the end of World War 2, Italy was also in posession of the Dodecanese Islands, with the main territory being Rhodes, so it should be shown on the map.

[@RangaTurk]

That became problematic when Bulgaria was an AXIS member in 1941. Bulgaria also gained territory from Romania after the war despite this fact as well.

[@alexeecs]

If you have not zoomed in to read the text at 2:00 you are missing out

[@pridelander06]

Love how the Dutch flag is stuck in concrete at 2:07 but then only a flag holder at 2:32 😂

[@leonschramm7771]

Little Mistake: Hamburg isnt near Dortmund or Münster or any of the territory the Netherlands demanded

[@JacobBax]

And the windmill is turning the wrong way

[@DeyaViews]

I like how the top three comments on this video were all made within minutes of one another and all are about the Eltener Butternacht. This was when a lot of merchants parked their goods in the soon-to-be-German-territory-again in order to avoid border fees. The town that was ceded back to Germany effectively changed country during the night, from the Netherlands to Germany, this meant no tax on everything inside the town and so it was filled with trucks and it even did some damage to the infrastructure of the town. Hundreds of trucks full of goods. This was known as the Butternacht or butter night cause butter was one of the main goods transferred this way.

[@davineismont2264]

A question i've never asked myself but is really interesting

[@harveya1a952]

All of what the Netherlands was supposed to be given was given to James Bisonnete

[@JB-yb4wn]

Everyone knows that. 😆

[@Adam-xf9gm]

0:48 Germany didn't start WWI. I get your point tho

[@rockypower5168]

They had a big impact in Austria Hungary's aggression and egged them on so...

[@petra6762]

So did the UK and France

[@thepretorian5292]

@@rockypower5168 so did russia had on serbia

[@ahmedbabiker6562]

​@thepretorian5292 Russia guaranteed independence for Serbia What did Germany do to Austria-hungry? "go invade whatever you want. i will support you"

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

The Dutch should’ve negotiated for Doggerland.

[@micheljansen85]

It created something i like very much and currently live in. In the Selfkant (the southern part) we refer to it as; You are not in the Netherlands, but you havent fully arrived in Germany either.

[@rockomax4284]

The territory the Dutch government wanted at the time was a bit much to be fair, but they could have at least settled to straighten the gaps Germany forms into the Netherlands. With the gaps I mean the part near Coevorden and Nijmegen. Maybe straightening up the borders of Limburg would have been nice as well.

[@TheHylianBatman]

Surprising how the Dutch went from a gigantic empire to being laughed out of negotiations. History, I suppose.

[@jongerenreviews8559]

To be fair, the British always had a hard-on for making life difficult for the Dutch

[@maozedong44]

@@jongerenreviews8559 Jealousy. Plus the humiliation of being invaded and used as a puppet against the french by the dutch republic is painful history for the brits.

[@bonbondurjdr6553]

The Brits hate everybody.

[@kis4659]

@@jongerenreviews8559 Good. Dutch deserve no less.

[@Ukraineaissance2014]

Not is isnt? It so unpainful that I dont even know what the fuck you are talking about unless you are trying to categorise the glorious revolution as an 'invasion'? In which case, we call it the glorious revolution for a reason...

[@jackodees1765]

A small correction: The Dutch government is not based in Amsterdam, it's based in Den Haag.

[@sam08g16]

Den Haag Deez Nuts

[@brianplum1825]

You're not as correct as you think. Amsterdam is the Dutch capital -- the Hague is the seat of government.

[@miamiata7716]

@history matters Your pre WWII map is incorrect as the province Flevoland didn’t exist yet. For the rest, nice video as always!

[@krisk7]

0:06 correction: Poland did not get anything from Germany for occupation. Soviet Union decided to take by force a much bigger chunk of eastern Poland. Despite the fact that Poland was "on the winning" side, the "allies" agreed to this partition of the Polish land. The bottom line for Poland was a net loss of territory. As a "sort of partial compensation" Poland was "moved" to the German territories without Poland having much say. Soviet Union considered it more as a humiliation of Germany and a way to keep Poland on our toes always unsure what Germans could do and that we always need to ask Soviets for protection against the West.

[@mvl6827]

The winning side of Poland was in fact the Russian side..Did Poland have much in the shape of armies?

[@8g_rinosatrioputra_335]

Well, because Eastern Poland used to be Soviet.

[@optimatus]

But the quality of the western parts was much higher than the non-Polish speaking parts in the east.

[@bmc7434]

Historically the Russians re-created Poland in it original position, as Eastern Prussia was the original homeland of the Poles. Google Poland around 1000-1400 AD roughly in the same location and size as Poland today. Not Like Poland didn't invade Western Russia after WWI.

[@johannbrrr8065]

I am not sure, but if you look at the people who were moved, a lot more Germans were moved than Poles and with silesia you got a huge coal reserve, which was a huge boast for polish industry and economy

[@Chase1493]

Would have been nice to see East Frisia reunited with rest of Frisia, for obvious reasons.

[@DonGivani]

Between Frisia and OstFrisia, there is Groningen. Groningen is not Frisia and more linked to Nedersaks then Frisia.

[@RedRocketthefirst]

@@DonGivani Yeah but, frisia

[@rickvugts1242]

One way the Dutch got compensation from Germany was by seizing property and assets from German enemy citizens living in the Netherlands. Basically anyone with a german passport was declared an enemy, so also Jews and innocent families. for those interested see: Besluit Vijandlijk Vermogen (E133). The dutch also deported many germans as part of operation black tulip, often also many innocents. It is a part of the Dutch national history that is often overlooked.

[@dw620]

Thanks for noting this... Much is conveniently "overlooked", unfortunately, such as the scale of quite how many ethnic German civilians were refugees looking for new homes after being expelled from the East (14,000,000, give or take, minus the million or so who died en route...).

[@rickvugts1242]

@@dw620 I recently wrote my thesis on the topic and was fascinated by the topic. Although in the period it is understandable that people felt hate towards "the German enemy", that doesnt make it right to target innocent civilians solely based on nationality. That was always something that bugged me about the ww2 memory history: the lack of acknowledgment of the (post) war suffering of German citizens. Your point about German refugees is correct, but too often overlooked... two wrongs dont make a right

[@danielbishop1863]

Related fact: When the Czechoslovak government seized the property of "ethnic Germans" after the war, they took some land that had belonged to the royal family of Liechtenstein, despite that country having been neutral. Liechtenstein was so unhappy about this that they refused to recognize either Czechia or Slovakia until 2009.

[@ferrykeizer4911]

Oh shit. That was kind of a dick move on our part innit.

[@robertneven7563]

de Nederlanders hebben zelfs hun eigen land niet eens bevrijd in de 2de W O dat waren de Canadezen de U S , de Polen de Noren de Britten en de Belgen, waar waren de heldhaftigen Nederlandse mariniers?de prinses Irene brigade??????? het K C T ,,,,,,,,,,,???????????? nergens

[@semthijssen5644]

Fun fact: on the occupied land the Dutch build a road to better connect certain parts of the province Limburg. When the land was given back in 1960 they agreed that the Dutch would still take care of the road and it remained part of the dutch road network. It was only transferred to German jurisdiction in 2002, when it changed its name from N274 (dutch name) to L410. It was only after this moment that the road was actively connected to the German road network, until this point it was not allowed to stop on this road and it wasn't connected to German roads. It is till this day the only part of the German road network where trucks can drive on Sunday.