Post by Leonie on Aug 11, 2010 11:27:30 GMT 1
Country: the Netherlands
Real name: Willem de Vries
Personality:
Netherlands is a calm, tolerant but somewhat intimidating man. Almost everyone can live in his country, no matter what gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or food tastes. (In 2009, people of 189 different countries lived in Amsterdam, his capital city.) He can't handle crowds of people very well. Fun thing is, the country is rather crowded since it's so small. (Maybe that's why he's smoking!) His calmness is pretty useful in chaotic situations; even when he's afraid, he doesn't show it. Netherlands is also a strategist; he's very logical and is good at quick making up plans. His visual-spatial ability is also very high. Although he is a calm person, he has very little patience. While he's not as impatient as a certain Austrian, he can't stand long, endless discussions. He wants an answer and wants it quick. Netherlands is not really a generous person and hardly a gentleman, but fortunately he knows how to treat a lady.
In the past, Netherlands didn't play by the rules at all. He was quite the rebel, took in everything from others (New Sweden, Gold Coast, Brazil, parts of China) and didn't care about the previous owners. He broke away from Spain and pissed off England with dominating the seas (which resulted in four Anglo-Dutch wars). After World War Two, being dependent on the export business, he wasn't allowed to be so rebellious anymore, otherwise he would lose his trading partners. Besides, he actually liked being this friendly with the other nations...he even befriended his previous enemies (Spain, Germany, England...).
Netherlands likes to be neutral and doesn't want to be caught up into problems from others, but in the end he'll probably fight anyway. Although he denies it, he's definitely addicted to smoking. In the Golden Age he smoked marijuana, but he managed to stop with the drugs. Netherlands started smoking again after the invasion of Germany in 1940..and uses drugs every now and then, too. He acts very indifferent, but he cares about his own Dutch people, his siblings Belgium and Luxembourg and some special nations; Canada and Japan for example. Of course, he would never admit it.
By the way; he gets lost very easily. Thought Australia was still New Guinea.
Likes:
- Flowers in general, especially tulips
- His siblings Belgium and Luxembourg
- Sea
- His rabbit Nijntje (or Miffy)
- Culture (literature, paintings)
- Stamp pot
- Smoking
- Young women (too young)
- Bicycles
- The Golden Age
Dislikes:
- Being dependent from others
- Being told what to do
- Long discussions
- Crowds
- Sea
- Heavy rain, it reminds him of the North Sea Flood of 1953
History: (Brief? No.)
His people started making Hunebeds. They used stones who originated of the last Ice Age. The Hunebeds, found in now called Drenthe, are ever older than Stonehenge or the pyramids of Egypt.
55 BC - 400 AD Roman Age
In 55 years Before Christ, Roma expanded his territory by invading France, Germany and the Netherlands (he discovered the little country by coincidence). However, he invaded not the whole Netherlands; the river the Rhine was a barrier he couldn't cross. The southern half of the Netherlands was turned into a Roman province. (Belgium was 'born' in this Roman province.) 300 years later, in 240 AD, the Salvian Franks (Germany) decided to take over the Netherlands and invaded him, crossing the Rhine and also invading the northern half of the country. In the end of the 3rd century, the Franks became allies with the Netherlands and even defended him against other Germans. In 358, Roma decided to give his Dutch territory to the Franks as a federation for still unknown reasons (let's assume he was drunk). Netherlands became Christian in this time, too.
400 - 600 AD Migration Period
At this time, The Netherlands was divided in Gallia and Germania. The West-Roman Empire had grown weak and Germania thought it was a good idea to take over all of the West-Roman Empire. And so he did. The Netherlands was now part of Germania, end of story.
600 - 850 AD Boring Period I / Viking Era
Nothing really happened. For the Netherlands, that is. Charles the Great had his big moments here, in this period
850 - 950 AD Iron Century
The Nordics were still busy with invading other countries, and, unfortunately, with success. In 857 they took Utrecht. After that, Netherlands chased them away in 864, but they came back, as a dog to his old house. For three years long they plundered the country several times. Netherlands chased them away for a second time...and the Nordics came back again. After a crop failure in 892, the Vikings left the country immediately. (You sure get hungry when you invade a country or two, I guess.)
950 - 1384 AD The High Middle Ages
Luxembourg was born in 963 and Netherlands threw a party (okay, that's not entirely true...). In 967,
1384 - 1482 AD - Boring Period II / Burgundian Netherlands
There were some earls and dukes who liked to steal as much Netherlands as possible.
1482 - 1581 AD - Habsburg Netherlands / Spanish Netherlands
...Spain showed up and made Netherlands and Belgium part of the Spanish Empire. He wasn't entirely happy with that (actually, he wasn't happy at all) and soon a bread-and-cheese revolt broke out in 1491-1492. It wasn't successful, though. In 1506, Luxembourg joined the Spanish Netherlands. Netherlands became protestant in the early years of the 16th century. Probably to provoke Spain. In 1566, he started to organise meetings to do a 'iconoclasm' (destruction of religious objects). Definitely to provoke Spain. Two years later, the Eighty Years' War (also called Dutch Revolt) had begun and soon the northern Netherlands fought himself free. Oh, the brave Sea Beggars, the pirates and privateers of the Netherlands...beating Spain up like that. In 1581, Netherlands declared his independence. England decided to help the Netherlands in this war. Austria showed up every now and then to help Spain, but as we all know, Austria isn't suited for fighting. Bye Austria. In 1596, England, France and the Netherlands made an alliance with each other (yes, it's unbelievable, but true).
1581 - 1651 AD - The Golden Age
Time for some good news; in 1606 Netherlands discovered Australia!
1651 - 1748 AD - Stadholderless Period
In this period, there were several wars with England. Boring stuff. England was jealous of the Netherlands because he practically possessed the seas and oceans, so he decided to declare war. Four times (how immature). He lost New Amsterdam/New York in one of those wars... In the same period, Denmark asked him for help. Help for what, you ask? To sabotage the treaty of Roskilde. Guess what, he said yes. In 1669, Netherlands invaded Indonesia with success. He was also the second country to recognize America as a sovereign country (after France). This happened while the third Anglo-Dutch war was going on. The weird thing is, at this very moment Netherlands was also in war with France, the so-called Franco-Dutch war. In 1701, he signed The Hague Pact: ''England and the Netherlands are free to conquer the Spanish colonies.'' He was also part of the Spanish Succession War (1701-1714). In 1713, the Netherlands belonged to Austria. From now on, he's called 'the Austrian Netherlands'
1748 - 1795 AD - Patriots Period
Maria Theresa decided to go harsh on the northern Netherlands. America visited the Netherlands while bringing his conquered English ships with him. However, England asked for his extradiction. After this, England discovered that the Netherlands had secret negotiations with America, which resulted in the fourth and final Anglo-Dutch war. At the end of the war, it is now longer allowed to wear orange for the Netherlands. Austria wanted the guns from Netherlands.
1795 - 1815 AD - Batavian Era
There's a lot of development here in the Netherlands, due to the French Revolution. After another war, the Netherlands fought himself free. Netherlands and Belgium both finally agree to an United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815.
1815 - 1940 AD - Revolution and Modernization
But sadly enough, Belgium and Netherlands couldn't get along with each other. They were parted for so many years that they couldn't be reunited. That's why Belgium decided she wanted independence too, in 1830. The Belgian Revolution was begun. A year later, Belgium is recognized as a new independent country, but they both have to sign an official paper (oh yes, it's like a divorcement). Netherlands refused to sign. Yeah, problem. ''So, if he doesn't want to sign, we just invade him,'' the other countries thought. And so they did, five against one. Finally, Netherlands signed. In 1840, he recognized Belgium. In this time period, he introduced and used a lot of laws and political and social systems in his country. The first international peace world conference was held in 1899 in The Hague. In the First World War, Netherlands decided to be neutral. However, there was a chance he got caught up in it as well. The plan of Germany for invading France was through Belgium, but originally, Germany would go through Netherlands and Belgium to reach France. The plan was changed at the very last minute. After the war, he was a founding member of the League of Nations.
1940 - 1945 AD - Second World War
''I'm neutral!'' he said after realising a Second World War was about to begin. However, this time, Germany invaded him, on the 10th of May in 1940. He capitulated on the sixth day, because Rotterdam was bombed and other cities would follow that sad fate. Oddly enough, Germany wasn't as rough with him as he was with others . Maybe it's because they both originated from Germania and Holy Roman Empire. His people collaborated with the Germans and sold each other out. In 1942, Japan betrayed him with occupying Indonesia / East Indies. In 1944, he became a founding member of the Benelux. The Dutch famine of 1944 was the worst. They ran out of food and the winter was extremely cold. His people started to eat flower bulbs. He was one of the countries that suffered the most. However, Netherlands was freed in 1945, on the Fifth of May by the Allies, especially Canada (see, that's why he sends tulips every year.)
1945 - 2010 AD - Present
He was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945, also he was a founding member of the Council of Europe. Five years later, the East Indies became independent. Yes, he ended up with losing most of his colonies, the poor guy. To add some more sad stuff, there was a water flood in 1953. It was called the North Sea Flood and many people died because of this. A year later, Indonesia broke up with Netherlands. Ahw. Netherlands was, along with Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, West-Germany and France, a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community and later, European Economic Community. Also Suriname wanted independence; he lost the country in 1975. In 1993, he signed the treaty of Maastricht; the European Union was founded. He was one of the founding members, the others being Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany and France. And guess what? Those six, along with Switzerland, also were the seven contestants in the first Eurovision Song Contest.
Role Play Example: (...made it sad. Wasn't my intention, but it happened anyway.)
His back hurt. The bruise of Rotterdam, above his left leg didn't fade. Poor Rotterdam. Rotterdam, full of innocent people, was bombed. The nations called him weak, because he capitulated after the bombing of Rotterdam. He fought for only five days. They didn't know other cities would be bombed as well, if he didn't capitulate. The Germans didn't attack his soldiers anymore...they attacked his people. Women, children. He wanted them to stop, he wanted the women and children not to suffer anymore...so he gave up. It was the only way. The Royal Family fled to England; otherwise, they had been captured by Germany and Netherlands didn't want to think about what would have happened then.
He wasn't able to do anything. He saw how his people betrayed each other. They collaborated with the Germans, traded their neighbours for money. It was terrible. It was terrible to being forced to watch. He also saw how his people protected each other...but it wasn't enough. Little by little the Jews disappeared. He used to be so strong, but he couldn't use his strength. Such terrible years; he was so angry with himself but at the same moment he knew he couldn't do anything about it. Otherwise, his people would suffer and that was the last thing Netherlands wanted.
There was some good news, though. A small smile replaced his hurt expression. Juliana. Sweet Juliana. She gave birth to her third daughter, Margriet. In Ottawa, Canada. Canada had been so kind to declare her room as Dutch territory, so the child had only the Dutch nationality. Canada. Canada had done so much. So much. How he could he possibly thank him enough? Netherlands coughed and searched for the wall to lean against it, keeping him from collapse. The Dutch famine of 1944 was the worst. They ran out of food and the winter was extremely cold. His people couldn't bear both. So much people died of hunger...it was just insane. His people started to eat flower bulbs. They were so desperate, so desperate...nearly 18.000 people died. Men, women, children...
He should be happy. The Canadians had almost freed his land. The era of Hitler was over. But...he had lost too much to be happy. He had lost too much to stand strong. A strong pain shot in his knee and he felt on the ground. He lied there, on hands and knees, not being able to stand up. After a couple of minutes, military brown boots came into his sight. A hand was offered. Netherlands gratefully accepted it and felt he was pulled up by a strong person. “C-Canada...” he rasped. He hadn't spoken for weeks. He knew he could collapse every moment, but the arm of Matthew Williams hold him in a strong grasp. Since when had the Canadian become so strong? Since when had he become so weak? “I can't thank you enough for freeing my country, taking care of princess Juliana...” he managed to say before closing his eyes in defeat. He was broken. But free.