History
Since the 13th century, the Dutch government relies on voluntary armed citizens to defend their homes and to maintain public order. At first this task was carried out by so called 'shooter guilds'. In the 16th century the voluntary armed citizens, under the influence of William I, Prince of Orange, were organized into militias. These militias were dissolved in 1908.
The outbreak of the First World War and the growing foreign threat lead to the formation of a new unit called the 'Voluntary Landstorm' on August 4, 1914. At the end of WWI this unit consisted of 6,000 men. In the turbulent times of the Interbellum the Dutch Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn decided to extend the 'Voluntary Landstorm'. At the beginning of World War II this unit consisted of around 98,000 men.
In the years after WWII again the need was felt for a rapidly deployable unit for the defense and security of Dutch territory. While the majority of the Dutch forces then were deployed in Indonesia, the threat of the Soviet Union increased. Therefore the National Reserve was established on April 14, 1948. During the Cold War the National Reserve developed into a versatile part of the Royal Dutch Army and received the status of Corps. In the 80s the first women entered the National Reserve Corps. After the Cold War, the Royal Dutch Army changed dramatically in character. Conscription for military service was suspended. The Royal Dutch Army shrank and became more frequently involved in peacekeeping or peace-enforcing missions abroad which resulted in a renewed relevance of the corps.
Read more about this topic: National Reserve Corps
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)