Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam, Amsterdam Nederland, 1. Januari 1875
After the War of Dutch Aggression in 1870 was concluded on the battlefields of Belgium, the homeland of the Dutch people was viciously occupied by the winners of the conflict, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Dutch colonies were stripped away, the jewel in the crown, Java, falling into Austrian hands. The industrial and military capacity of the Netherlands was stolen away, and the Koning deposed and exiled to America. For five years, millions of Dutchmen had their sovereignty taken away. But this would soon end, as the Conference of Amsterdam begins.
From 1870 to 1875, the people of the Low Countries accepted their new masters very uneasily. For the first two or so years, the people did not resist the theft of their livelihoods, their territory, and their freedoms. But then, in the month of October, 1873, a mysterious group known as the Gratis Oranje began a campaign of sabotage, military and otherwise. On the 4th, their first victims died; two Austrians patrolling Amsterdam were found in the canals the next morning. Britons and Germans alike began to disappear, along with Dutch sympathizers. The October Attacks reached their climax on the 25th, with the assassination of the mayor of Amsterdam. The occupying powers didn't dare to appoint their own candidate, for fear of retaliation, and a nationalist leader Rens van Wieren took office.
After that point, Amsterdam was controlled de facto by the Dutch under Rens van Wieren. The occupiers, though they were headquartered in Amsterdam, weren't secure in their positions anymore as the number of dead reached the hundreds. But after the October Attacks, the powers decided to crack down on the Gratis Oranje. Thousands of troops were called in from across Holland, and investigations into the activities of this terrorist group became widespread in the capital. The authorities became more and more desperate as more and more lives were lost, and they began to institute practices reminiscent of martial law. Homes were searched without warning, citizens stopped and searched at checkpoints across the city, and thousands of innocents were thrown in jail in order to cover up the failure of the Austrians and Britons to bring the organization to justice.
These tactics bred further resentment against the foreigners, and the problem was aggravated not only in Amsterdam but across the country. The Hague, Rotterdam, and other cities experienced similar assassinations and killings, except on a larger scale, as those places had less of a military presence. Many urban areas became forbidden for the British and Austrian forces, as walking those streets would mean certain death. Thousands died across the country as 1874 was rung in, in the single largest xenophobic massacre in the history of the nation. Bloody New Years, as it was called, made it quite apparent to both administrators in Holland and back home that this occupation could not last.
Thus, the Conference of Amsterdam was arranged.
Invitees to the Conference
The North German Confederation,
The Second French Empire,
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
The Empire of Austria-Hungary,
The Empire of Russia,
The United States of America
The Dutch Delegation, Headed by Mr. Rens van Wieren
The Belgian Delegation, Headed by Mr. Roland Henrichon
