Dutch government-in-exile Nederlandse regering in ballingschap | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940–1945 | |||||||||
| Status | Government in exile | ||||||||
| Capital | Amsterdam | ||||||||
| Capital-in-exile | London | ||||||||
| Queen | |||||||||
• 1940–1945 | Wilhelmina | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1940 | Dirk Jan de Geer | ||||||||
• 1940–1945 | Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy | ||||||||
| Historical era | World War II | ||||||||
| 15 May 1940 | |||||||||
| 5 May 1945 | |||||||||
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TheDutch government-in-exile (Dutch:Nederlandse regering in ballingschap), also known as theLondon Cabinet (Dutch:Londens kabinet), was thegovernment in exile of theNetherlands, supervised byQueen Wilhelmina, that fled toLondon after theGerman invasion of the country duringWorld War II on 10 May 1940. The government had control over theFree Dutch Forces.[citation needed]
Until 1940, the Netherlands was a neutral country that was generally on good terms with Germany. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands.Queen Wilhelmina fled the country aboard the British destroyer HMSHereward, arriving in London on 13 May.[1] The Dutch armed forces surrendered two days later as they had been unable to withstand the speed of Germany'sBlitzkrieg style attack. In London, the queen took charge of the Dutch government-in-exile, which was established at Stratton House in thePiccadilly area of London, oppositeGreen Park.[2] Initially, their hope was thatFrance would regroup and liberate the country. Although there was such an attempt, it soon failed, and the Allied forces were surrounded and forced to evacuate atDunkirk. The Dutch armed forces in the Netherlands except for those occupyingZeeland surrendered on 15 May 1940.
To safeguard the succession, the heir to the throne,Princess Juliana, along with her family, was sent farther away to Canada, where they spent the war.[3]
The government-in-exile was soon faced with a dilemma. After France had been defeated, theVichy French government came to power and proposed toAdolf Hitler a policy of collaboration. That led to a conflict between Prime MinisterDirk Jan de Geer and the Queen. De Geer wanted to return to the Netherlands and collaborate as well. The government-in-exile was still in control of theDutch East Indies with all its resources and was the third-largest oil producer in the world, after theUnited States and theSoviet Union. Wilhelmina realized that if the Dutch collaborated with Germany, the Dutch East Indies would be surrendered toJapan, asFrench Indochina was surrendered later by orders of the Vichy government.[citation needed]
As the hope for liberation was now the entry of theAmericans or theSoviet Union into the war, the Queen dismissed De Geer as prime minister. She replaced him withPieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, who worked with Churchill and Roosevelt on ways to smooth the path for an American entry.Aruba andCuraçao, with world-class exporting oil refineries, were important suppliers of refined products to the Allies. Aruba became a British protectorate from 1940 to 1942 and a US protectorate from 1942 to 1945. On 23 November 1941, under an agreement with the Dutch government-in-exile, the United States occupiedDutch Guiana to protect thebauxite mines.[4] On August 1, 1941 the United States imposed an oil embargo on Japan,[5] which helped to spark thePearl Harbor attack.[citation needed] The Dutch government-in-exile also had a large merchant fleet at its disposal, which could be used to help the alliance.[6]
In September 1944, the Dutch,Belgian and theLuxembourgish governments in exile began formulating an agreement over the creation of aBenelux Customs Union.[7] The agreement was signed in theLondon Customs Convention on 5 September 1944.
The Queen's unusual action was later ratified by theStates General of the Netherlands in 1946. Churchill called her "the only man in the Dutch government".[8] After World War II ended, Wilhelmina and her government returned from exile to re-establish a regime more democratic than ever before.[9]
In 1943, Dutch military officerHendrik Johan Kruls was tasked with preparing a Dutch-led military administration in the Netherlands in the event that the allies would enter the country, known as theMilitair Gezag (Military Authority).[10] In June 1944, the allieslanded in Normandy and re-opened the western front, and in the ensuing months graduallyadvanced to the Siegfried Line. On 12 September 1944, the allies crossed theBelgium–Netherlands border andMesch became the first Dutch village to be liberated.[11] Soon after on the 14th, the alliesliberated Maastricht [nl], marking the first Dutch urban city to fall in the hands of the allies. That same day theMilitair Gezag was established in the Netherlands, with Maastricht as its capital and Kruls at its head, marking the return of the Dutch government to its own country, albeit under a military administration rather than an elected one. After the end of the war, theMilitair Gezag was dissolved on 4 March 1946.[12]
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