Historical Dutch Military Categories

Question

I'd like to establish categorization for some branches of the historic Dutch military. the category Netherlands Armed Forces exists. Does it only count those who served under the Kingdom of the Netherlands (est. 1815)? What should we do for historical regiments in old regimes: under the Dutch Republic (1579-1795), the Batavian Republic (1795-1806), and the Napoleonic French Era (1806-1815)?

(Linked profile's marriage names him as an infantryman during the Napoleonic French era)

Answer 1

The Dutch Armed Forces (De Nederlandse Krijgsmacht) has existed for just over 200 years. On January 9, 1814, the prince, later king, William I, established the organization of the so-called Standing Armee, consisting of volunteers. This date marks the birth of the Royal Netherlands Army. 

During the time of Napoleon, Dutch men were conscripted into the French army. So no Dutch Army.

In the time of the Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden (the Republic of the United Netherlands) there was a standing army. "Het Staatse Leger" that was founded in 1568 in response to Spanish rule. The army was abolished in 1795, when the Republic was replaced by the Batavian Republic.

In principle, the category "Het Staatse Leger" should be next to the category "De Nederlandse Krijgsmacht" and not below it, since "De Nederlandse Krijgsmacht" have replaced "Het Staatse Leger".  This army fell under the Generaaliteit "Generality". At that time, the Navy was independent and fell under the "Admiraliteit" (Admiralty). These were accountable to the Staten Generaal, the government at the time. "Het Staatse Leger" can be further divided into Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery.

If you are going to create these categories, I advise you to use the Dutch names and not translate them into English. For example "Het Staatse Leger" and "De Staten Generaal" are unique names and concepts.

Joop

Comments

so to clarify, perhaps the macro-label should be changed to "Military, Dutch," which covers all eras of occupation/ military history: Dutch Armed Forces (modern), French era (including conscripted Dutchman under France, with explanation in the inside the category heading), and Batavian Republic military? Or perhaps construct a team of Dutch residents to re-divide them correctly?

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I agree with you. The Netherlands Armed Forces category should be given a parent category. The name you propose for this category seems fine to me. This category is managed by the: Project Military and War so I think it's best to contact them.

Mvg Joop

Answer 2

I would suggest that in this case there is enough continuity between these different historical countries that you could make sub-categories for the different periods?

Answer 3

From 1568 - 1829 about 80'000 Swiss militairs were active in 'the Netherlands' and for the Dutch East India Company. They were organized in companies and regiments and pure Swiss even mostly restricted to one of the Swiss Cantons. Nothing about this in the Dutch Wikipedia but detailed in the German Wikipedia. I think these should be observed by eventual categorizing of the 'Dutch' army. It shows the lack of interest in military history of 'the Netherlands', that this part of Dutch history is only mentioned with one word: Zwitsers by the listing of the foreign 'huurlingen' in the 'Dutch' army.