On the 24th of February,1848, the Belgian ambassador in London informed the English Foreign Minister Palmerston of the Belgian stance regarding the new developments in France. The ambassador told...Show moreOn the 24th of February,1848, the Belgian ambassador in London informed the English Foreign Minister Palmerston of the Belgian stance regarding the new developments in France. The ambassador told Palmerston that “a republican France was an aggressive and conquering France.” The memories of the French Revolutionary Wars and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars were still fresh in Europe. Had it not been a French Republic that had threatened the European Balance of Power, subduing the existing states and creating puppet states across the continent? A French Republic that had turned on its rightful king and deposed him before trying to subjugate the lawful order in Europe? The same Republic that had turned into an imperial power under the guidance of Napoleon the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Rome? The parallels to the events of 1789 had to have been frightening to the crowned heads of Europe and their governments. On the 24th, Frederick William IV of Prussia informed Victoria of Britain that he looked at France in fear of a new European war. In the newly formed nation of Belgium, the news of the new French Revolution was met with dread in governmental circles. In the Netherlands, the messages from the French capital of Paris were met with anticipation and uneasiness. When Tsar Nicholas heard of the news he reacted calmly, but immediately stated that Russia would march to war if any infractions were made on existing treaties. He also put a million more rubles at the disposal of the war ministry. Additionally, he wrote a letter to Victoria that a Russo-British union as discussed in 1844 may be needed to ensure stability in Europe. The general consensus at the time among the leaders of European nations was that war was inevitable. France was militarily, by virtue of its population, still one of the most powerful nations on the continent and if it would lead to war, it would mean untold destruction in a display that would appear to be a replica of the events that had happened a little over three decades ago. In the Low Countries, the subject of this thesis, the consequences of the Belgian Revolution of 1830 were still felt strongly. The Belgian Revolution had broken out after the July Revolution in Paris, that had seen the Orleanist take-over of France. It seemed likely that this new French Revolution, a Republican Revolution this time, would also move beyond the borders of France into the Low Countries and bring about another time of violence and war in Belgium and the Netherlands. Except history does not move in predictable patterns. Knowledge of the past does not make one a seer and although a war may have seemed inevitable, it was avoided nonetheless. The diplomatic crisis surrounding this new French Revolution however, is often downplayed in historical works, which have mostly focused on the spread of Revolution across the continent when discussing 1848. Yet, revolution and war were intrinsically linked at the time, especially if that revolution occurred in France. A Revolutionary France would mean a threat to European peace and the balance of power, but it was also a beacon for revolutionaries across the continent who felt supported by a Republican France that might come to their aid, militarily if need be. It may ultimately have been the case that no war in Europe erupted in 1848, but this does not mean that war had not loomed large over the governments of the Low Countries and Europe in general. A manifesto by the French Foreign minister of the Provisional Government Lamartine was sent to all the other courts of Europe one week after the initial Revolution in Paris. It had the intent of unlinking war and revolution (in France), because they were so intrinsically linked in the mind of the 19th century governments. The main objective of the manifesto was legitimising the rule of the Provisional Government and to make sure the reactionary powers would not see the new French Republic as an existential threat. The traumas of the French Revolutionary Wars were specifically addressed. If we consider Lamartine’s manifesto and the Belgian ambassador’s words, this parallel of revolution in France and war was very much on the minds of the contemporary players of the international game of diplomacy.Show less
This thesis looked at the representation of foreign miners in the Dutch mines in the Dutch newspapers. It focused on the Poles, Hungarians and Moroccans that came after the Second World War. In...Show moreThis thesis looked at the representation of foreign miners in the Dutch mines in the Dutch newspapers. It focused on the Poles, Hungarians and Moroccans that came after the Second World War. In analysing the newspapers a frame and discourse analysis was used.Show less
The archaeology of the late Paleolithic in the Netherlands studies human behavior during the termination of the last glacial period. These studies focus mostly on lithic material due to...Show moreThe archaeology of the late Paleolithic in the Netherlands studies human behavior during the termination of the last glacial period. These studies focus mostly on lithic material due to preservative conditions. One of the ‘groups’ defined on the basis of this lithic material is the Federmesser-group, or Azilien. This tradition is generally dated to the Allerød warm period (11.800-10.800 BP). This thesis focuses on Federmesser-mobility patterns in the western Meuse area of Limburg, the Netherlands. Specifically, the sites of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman will be addressed. Here we show that Heythuysen-de Fransman may actually have a different chronological position than was previously assumed. Based on assemblage size, a differentiation was made between Meuse sites and Peelhorst sites, interpreting the sites on the peelhorst as Base camps and the Meuse-region sites as extraction camps. In this thesis it is suggested that larger Peelhorst-sites may actually consist of a palimpsest of various sites related to clustered resources in this area, as opposed to the Meuse area. However, lithic typology does suggest processing activities were more important on the Peelhorst, while hunting activities dominate in the Meuse area. Through the analysis and publications of the lithic inventories of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman, the author hopes to contribute to the dataset of published upper Paleolithic sites in the Netherlands. The author also hopes to contribute to the larger debate on mobility strategies for the Late Paleolithic, on which little has been published for the Netherlands in the last 20 years.Show less
This research focuses on the German tactical defensive doctrine and its application within the defensive systems used in the Maas-Rurstellung during the Second World War. The Maas-Rurstellung is a...Show moreThis research focuses on the German tactical defensive doctrine and its application within the defensive systems used in the Maas-Rurstellung during the Second World War. The Maas-Rurstellung is a expansion of the Westwall, Germany’s main defensive line at the Western Front and is build at the end of 1944. In the research a map is drawn which shows the locations that are likely to have been used within the German defensive system, and thus the locations that can contain remains from this period. The map is based on both the height and relief of the landscape, as well as local infrastructure and the general German tactical doctrine. After this the locations chosen for the map were visited in the field to confirm or reject the presence of defensive structures, such as trenches or dugouts. The results show us that the expectations were correct in most cases and thus it is plausible and very effective to combine landscape and theory to form a predictive model for defensive structures from World War Two.Show less
