>rich ass country
>small army
>surrounded by huge powers like britain, france, denmark and power hungry HRE german states
>spawned as a result of a rebellion against the spanish
how the fuck did they survive to this day? if i was any country i'd have tried to annex those faggots. how did the netherlands manage to remain intact trough time? did they ally anyone important? were the countries arround it just too retarded to consider annexing this precious clay? what happened?
Are you the kind of person who also wonders why Switzerland is independent? Life isn't just about "DUDE LMAO ANNEX ALL STATES UNTIL THERE ARE JUST BIG BLOBS EVERYFUCKINGWHERE DUUUDE"
>>1201880
>le buffer state maymay
Oh look you are retarded.
>>1201871
Other nations would come to their defense, and the Dutch were masters of guerilla war and blowing dykes.
The French tried to but got fucked because everyone else wanted to maintain the balance of power and stop them. Louis XIV was king when they tried.
The Dutch actually got fucked on by the British and French when their maritime Empire/trade wealth grew too powerful. This led to the rise of British maritime/trade dominance going into the 18th century and an end to the Dutch golden age coming ou of the 17th century.
Otherwise excellent use of the terrain, fortresses, and support from outside powers to repel outside powers (namely France & Spain).
But they got rekt by Napoleon, so it is shown in history that if a super power REALLY wants to fuck on the Dutch they can. Same thing with the previous war I mentioned.
They always coasted between relevamt and powerful because nobody wanted to see them become a super power nor a super power disrupt the BoP by subjugating/annexing them.
>>1201927
Your mom's a master of blowing dykes
They were significally many and had a culture which made a sense of independent nation reasonable for their independence.
>>1201871
Richest part of the globe between 1500 AD and 1780 AD. After Napoleon folks pretty much agreed neutral countries should not be invaded.
Also probably the most urbanized and fortified area of Europe, strongest or second strongest navy for a while.
>>1201982
Rekt by Napoleon?
We actually had a democratic revolt which caused a ton of butthurt and when the revolutionaries fled to France they returned to a country pretty much already defeated. The king Napoleon installed has been one of the better ones in the century since William III.
Why does /int/ have such a retarded obsession with annexation?
>>1202041
playing too much europa universalis?
>>1201871
/tv/ would be short one shit poster assuming I'm not born in this alt time line.
