How the Netherlands is Transforming into a Military Giant in Europe 

The Netherlands, historically known for it's decades of militairy budget cuts... is the maker of this video for fucking real?

One of the main problems of young people not wanting to join the Netherlands Army is the lousy pay. It's even slightly less than someone working at McDonald's. I was drafted in 1989 and the pay was equally bad. In all that time the state hasn't learned a thing.

The thing people misunderstand is Dutch military doctrine is much more about being a highly mobile intervention force than it is about being a conquer territory from the neighbours and occupy it force. The Luchtmobiele Brigade is probably the most impressive thing the Dutch have on offer. Which fits in nicely with a relatively light-weight force and a relatively large air-lift capability. Much like the Americans, the British and other large, modern armies, the Dutch can deploy quite significant power to anywhere on the globe within 24 hours. And much like with the tanks that are leased from Germany, the Dutch also have a small number of nuclear weapons in store from the Americans. Technically those are American weapons, stored on Dutch airbases, but the Dutch F16s as well as the F35s are capable of deploying those weapons.

(comment correction) You forgot to mention the Dutch Marine corps. They are one of the oldest Marines corps of the world. The Corps was founded by the worldfamous Admiral de Ruyter who needed specialised sea-soldiers for defending Ships from enemy sailors entering and Ship to shore combat. They are the special forces for the Navy like the Commando's are for the Army. To this day Dutch Marines are often stationed on Dutch/NATO Merchant ships in the pirate infested water part of the journey.

The Dutch government has gambled that with our army. They have assumed that the risk of war is small because we are surrounded by allies. They cut back so much that there was no longer a full-fledged army. Fortunately, they have now realized that we cannot rely solely on a quickly deployable unit. Now they are busy rebuilding everything.

I currently work at the truck production plant of Scania which also makes the new military trucks for the Dutch army and it does bring a smile to my face seeing how much trucks for the army we are making now

The contents of this video suggest that it was very hastily made. Perhaps the script was AI generated. A lot of ships in the Dutch Navy fleet are not even mentioned in the video, while it is such an easy topic to get a comprehensive list of. The title also does not reflect the contents of the video.

The European wars of the 1600s and 1700s had a great impact upon the founding of the USA. I am sure you know about New Amsterdam and the settlement of the Hudson River valley. It was the fear of the religious European wars of the 1700s that motivated our Founders to create our present form of government.

The suspension of national service in 1996 . has one thing to do with it , 2nd huge budget cuts in the 2000s . going from 244 F16s to 48 Going from a navy of 20 frigates 6 submarines 15 mine hunters 2 supply ships ( dozens of auxilery boats and ships) 13 PC-3 orions . to 6 frigates ,4 submarines 6 mine hunters , 2 LPD 1 JSS combat suport ship . and 4 ocp 800 tanks , 93 geppards , thousands of armoured vehicles artillery pieces . Airdefenses . Over 300.000 troops . to no tanks a few geppards in long term storage . still quite a lot of Armoured fighting vehicles. Main issue , Budget cuts , 2nd larbour shortage , where you can frankly ask what you want and they pay for it .

The Dutch still have a golden age going in agriculture (2nd largest exporter in the world) and IT (ASML and Eindhoven Brainport).

They just gave 100% of air force away

about the navy, we also have 2 karel doorman class frigets. called the ZR. MS. Van Amstel and the Van speijk. those 2 ships are multi purpose frigets so they are used for searching for subs and can defend its self against aircraft

Yeah we were so powerful we got our arse kicked out of Sebrenica in 1995!!!

netherlands is a superpower bro they control the whole ocean

This tube is not correct, you are missing information

The dutch has a total of 6 frigates not 4. New mineships are being build

Dutch residents should not be lazy and relax on the couch if we as Dutch people want to be taken seriously, we also have to do something

17 million people and only 50,000 in military of which 8,000 are in reserve. Very small commitment and no future superpower here

Addition to your info. We boight 22 extra F-35. Starting a new division of MLRS (I thought we bought 40 from Israel. Also there are adiditonal armed raptors coming and pateiot systems. Next will we a new tank divsion, currently this is a group that operates with Germany.

the 21th century is the golden age for the Netherlands.

at 3:34 it says 'marsose', which is incorrect. 'Marsose' is an Indonesian word that comes from the Dutch 'Marechaussee' (which comes from the French). So the correct word would be 'Royal Dutch Marechaussee'

Seriously, what is this for a shiity video, asking us questions and not giving any answer.😮 Indeed NL is almost a military super power. The 18 tanks frighten me the most, if they are operational that is.

You left alot out, are navy has one more ship type you didn't mention, the joint support vessels ( we have 3 of them) the dutch navy is also fused with the belgium navy ( called benesam) and since the fall of the Berlin wall, our goverment didn't feel the need for a large military force. In the army we do not own main battle tanks any more, we sold all of our leopard tanks. The yellow riders now operate in cooperation with Germany German tanks, and don't own any mbt,s our selfs. It is so stupid we went from 995 mbt,s to 0 in less then 3 decades. I don't think the royal dutch airforce isn't to pleased that the 24 f16s are already send to Ukraine. Since we ordered the new f35 and the full amount of f35 armt delivered yet. In comparison with the ww2 and cold war era, I think the dutch armed forces today are nothing of what it used to be, don't forget for a country so small we could compete with the biggest nations in the world. And you know why the new submarines are going to be build in Germany? That is because in the last 40 years the dry docks were the walrus class was build don't exist anymore and the knowhow and experience to build subs got lost. What I do appreciate int the army, is their capability and capacity, to actualy work with earth moving equipment like wheel loaders excavators, and bulldozer these are the dutch army genie companie. And the korps commando troepen ( kct) are nott the only special forces in our armed forces. We also have a special forces unit in the royal dutch marine core named nl morsaf ( former bbe) and we have aivd kinda like Cia/fbi. And the royal Marishousee is comparable with atf border patrol. As far as the dutch patriotism goes, I think there are more that would love to join the dutch armed forces, but politics and .assume budget cuts from the last 30 years contributed greatly in the number of personal in the dutch armed forces. And I rather see my tax euro,s be spended on our armed forces then, it getting spend on worthless projects like they do at the moment. ( tried to join the dutch armed forces in 2004, 2005 and 2006) and every single time it was the same awnser " deu to budget cuts we are not hiring right now, try again next year. So I eventually gave up, and staid in the profession, I still work today. ( operating hydraulic excavators) But I'm full of pride to our men and woman in the dutch armed forces. And if you're interested, you could look up, Peter van uhm commander of the dutch armed forces ( retired) why I choose the gun speech. Think you would appreciate that.

Don’t forget the Dutch chip power from ASML

I come from Indonesia, but I have a biological father who is a descendant of soldiers from the Netherlands, until now my father has never seen his father's face since he was little and this happened during the second military aggression in Indonesia, I hope my father can find his biological father or his siblings are in the Netherlands.😢😢

Yes when they spend 15 billion euros they must have a good military. The navy is combined with belgium but the dutch navy is significant bigger. The jsf 35 is one of the most advanced fighterjets.

De Netherlands has a couple of flowers in its arsenal, that potentially could help prevent war.

My father was a marine on the Karel Doorman aircraft carrier. Proud marine.

"De echt Nederlandse ware patriotten." De ware patriotten dat mogen wij zijn. Langs marcheren voor vadertje staat. Geboren helden van ons moederland. De echt Nederlandse ware patriotten. De ware patriotten dat kunnen wij zijn. Ons hart vol van liefde voor ons land. Klaar om te vechten voor den koning. De echt Nederlandse ware patriotten. De ware patriotten dat zullen wij zijn. Geloof en verstand totaal overtuigd. De ziel en wil gebrand op ons gelijk. De echt Nederlandse ware patriotten. De ware patriotten dat willen wij zijn. Wie dan maar ook uit ons land komt. Sluit zich natuurlijk direkt bij ons aan. De echt Nederlandse ware patriotten. De ware patriotten dat moeten wij zijn. Dan dragen wij allemaal oranje kledij. Hijsen de vlaggen rood, wit en blauw. De echt Nederlandse ware patriotten.

We don't have a big military because our ex- prime ministers lowered the military budget of the Netherlands (if we look at the GBD) by 300% since 1980. Although the military budget of the Netherlands is relatively big, it's mostly spent at the modern vehicles and technology of the dutch military. New regulations of NATO state that all NATO countries need to spend at least 2% of its GBD on the military. That equals to 23,540,000 million Euro. so its a 'big' improvement from todays military budget (28% improvement). This will mean that the salary of a soldier will improve, therefore more people will be interested to join.

No offense, but the suggestion of the title is quite over the top. Militarism is my hobby and im living in the Netherlands. But overall - our current forces are decent, but far from a military giant. The reverse claim about them to be a joke is also not correct, but closer to the reality after all. As with many European countries - we reached a bottom, lacked fundamentel investements in defense. While we woke up now, it might take years if not more then a decade to reverse this.

You still forgot the marines, and especially Marsof, which is an elite group within the marines. And the elite regiment of the army: Koninklijke Luchtbrigade. And in the mean time, the Ducth military staff gave order to expand the Air Force to 52 F-35's. Recent years, the Ducth government has given the militery 5 Billion extra per year. This is being used to modernized an fully equip the army. The only problem that remains getting enough personnel.

The budget has more than doubled because of the war in Europe, with an added 2x factor for half a decade to climb back to the minimum requirements for readiness... According to official raports done by the previous ministers of Defence, full combat readiness will take 20-30 years for the Dutch because of severe budget cuts, horrible mental health care and evaporation of many entire weapon systems and knowledge, know-how and combat experience. There are 9.000 unfilled positions in their armed forces and of the total 69.000 employees, over 20.000 are civilian occupations currently... 2 of 6 fregats are operational, they sold all combat operational tanks, over half the F35's will only collect dust for many years due to lack of pilots to fly them, no air defence systems (the newly purchased were gifted to ukraine before even reaching the Dutch). The list goes on and on for pages about all the missing yet critically important things that are lacking or not even present...

We had a much better army hope it will get good again with alot of new people that will lead the country soon.

Im dutch myself this video is fun

It was not Maurits (Maurice) who initiated the revolt against Spain, but his father Willem de Zwijger (William the Silent), otherwise called Willem van Oranje-Nassau.

The dutch were never colonizers they were traders. They more or less stumbled their way into colonization. Their military strength did not come from colonies, but from trade and ingenuity. Windmills and cooperative society to outpace their rivals in production, genius designs by brilliant men to make better use of what they had, and the principles of liberty to allow great men to rise to the task instead of letting nobles fumble. Michiel de Ruyter being a great example of when the value of nobility came into conflict with the ideal of allowing the great to take their place, allowing the dutch to win some of the most difficult battles possible, and sadly also a reminder of the decline of said value towards the end taking away said strength from the nation.. Though to answer the question: the dutch is not about to turn into a military power. There simply is no taste for it in the population and no benefit to be gained for the nation. What are we going to do with said navy? Invade Britain? At most we'll expand our capabilities to improve our ability to assist NATO and EU initiatives with combat power.

In 2018 Dutch soldiers had to shout “bang bang” because they where out of bullets. Im from the Netherlands and was in the military. At this moment we have the worse army ever.

What about the new submarines replacing the current one's.

4 new submrines (French probably) and 4 new Fregats (Dutch) are ordered.

stop asking a question every 1 minute 😅

F-16's already arrived in Ukraine. Batavia is NOT a warship, but a V.O.C. ship, meaning it's a merchant ship. The Amsterdam is also a merchant vessel. The R81 was a legendary ship for the fleet, still to this day a huge missing part of the navy is a replacement for this ship. There was originally a second carrier to be added to the wanted list but cancelled later on. 4 Alkmaar class ships have been donated to Ukraine, the 5th will likely go as well. Only 4 of those submarines are ordered to replace the 4 currently in service. The Leo 2's are NOT Dutch owned or leased, but on loan from Germany to form a German/Dutch battalion. There is a big difference there. C-130's are set to be replaced by 4 Embraer C-390M, which is clearly a lot smaller. PC-7's are about to be retired as well, I'm not sue what aircraft will replace those if any. And right now, no the Dutch armed forces are not capable of doing much. Yet still those within it are far better trained then even the US troops.

Your info is not complete. The Dutch navy is building 31 new ships till 2030. And at the moment 29 exclusive the small vessels.4 submarines 1 joint support vessel 2 landing platform vessels 4 air defense frigates 2 multi purpose 4 patrol vessels 5 minehunters 1 torpedo work vessel 4 dive support vessels 2 hydrographic 1 support vessel and trainings vessels

Nederland power

Nigeria above netherlands? Mate the netherlands would dump on them in a week with air dominance, who makes those lists lmao

All the Leopard Tanks wee given back to Germany many years ago. Infantry need Tanks, ask any Infantryman.

i like the video a lot but please stop asking a question to the people every 10sec to trigger conversation, just explain the video without that.. + why is Amsterdams location wrong on that map lol

The Netherlands is a poor excuse for an army. The last time that the Netherlands were truly badass, was during the golden era.

The Netherlands, a "formidable military force in Europe"... Is that a joke ??? With 34 fighters, a single tank squadron and six frigates ???

My country❤🇳🇱

You ask a bit to much questions :) it's good to ask for interactment in the comments, but because you ask our minds about something so often, it begins to feel like you researched a bit, and didnt wanna deepdive, so you ask the watchers to inform you more. I know that's not the case :) just starts to feel like it a bit, great video otherwise!

For anybody coming to get an answer to the question in the title. The question isn't answered, don't waste your time on this.

How they can become Military Giant when they don't even produce their own weapons?

Bruh, stop asking me questions. I'm here so you can answer mine 😂

Military Giant, no. Force to be recond with, YES

The title of this video is absolutely ridiculous. The only that’s serious about building their armed forces is Poland.

Why do tanks that are claimed to be Dutch a German flag on it?

this whole video sounds like it was written by AI

Don’t forget that the dutch has combined their military with Germany 👍

1:43 17,300,000 Milj. ppl ere in the Netherlands?? Are u crazy? Make that 19,000,000 19-9-2023 And another 1,000,000 flokkin' the streets.

While quantity is a skill on its own, The Dutch use quality over quantity. With a small population it's impossible to maintain a large professional army and though many cost cutting measures have been taking place over the last 2 decades thinking the threat from the east was gone recent developments in the Ukraine has shown the Dutch government that those cuts were premature. Military spending has and will be further increased to (re)build a highly mobile, quick deployable and flexible Army that will be able to play a major role and be a reliable partner within NATO and our friends around the world. Rebuilding what has been lost will take time, but the Dutch will always be able to punch well above their weight as we have shown in the last 25 years during peace keeping and peace enforcing missions. The Dutch motto is: Je Maintiendrai which means depending on the context: I will maintain, I will defend or I will support. Joining the Dutch Army is not about earning a lot of money though the salary is decent enough especially if you consider the hazard pay during exercises and missions. Many young Dutch (Including myself with 12 years with the Armoured Infantry 42BLJ) join after right after highschool to a.) Serve our country and help make the world, no matter how small our contribution is to be a better place and b.) while being enlisted enjoy the nearly unlimited educational opportunities fully paid and during working hours.

Free, palasthine 🇦🇪😉

All these people in the comments laughing but they havent even seen the video

focus on economic development and social well being instead

How do u feel about this channel, what do u think🤣🤣🤣

Not our finest hour.

Do your own research. Don't use ai and don't use a computer generated voice. You even could pronounce and write Marechaussee correct.

It's a little exaggerated we don't have the capability to be an impressive military Force or build up one in a short time. The only impressive branch is the Airforce which can deploy a big punch if needed. There are plans though to invest more in the army and getting a bigger military but its going to take years. Besides there also is no real rush to do so because the only treat is coming from the east which Ukraine, Poland and Germany sit between with far bigger and more capable armies and we also aren't looking to claim terratory. Although we could easily claim some more territory if we really would like to.

European Union ...informatic superpower

Its a question to me why the investments in the army are around 18 billion dollars (same as Turkey) and why the army is that small and low equiped.

wat een onzin.. van te weinig budget naar superpower .. ga toch weg..

They now spend 21,4 billions euro's on their army!

rutte spoort niet

Endless discussions about changing some submarines, selling all tanks and maritime patrol planes... Don't make me laugh. It will never be a super power.

So much butchering of pronounce zjees and we just dun need em thats why we have less haha 😅

I am from the Netherlands. This story is greatly exaggerated

Its not

no , its a joke.

34 f-35s? Damn we finna be broke 😂💀

Let us replace our 40-year old airfighters for a totally new 20-year old type..

konienklieke isnt how u say it

This is a lie😂 we dont even have a army to defend ourselves we gave all of our fighter jets away😂😂

This title is stupid

LOL yes super power, our government definitely got the super power of Tax payers. 😅🤣

Wat een grap is dit joh met.die schele aan het roer in 1 streep de afgrond in ja

They lost all credibility when they abandoned the Bosnian muslims in Srebrenica to be massacred by the Serbs

European Union superpower

It's really not.

Superpower lol 😆 Far from 🤣 And Yes I'm Dutch.

😂....say cheese

The Dutch Army is small because when have lots of not European people here, whe have turkeys people morrocean people people from Surinam and The Netherlands Antilles thats why

we dont wave so mutch monny :(

The Dutch army became a joke.

Dutch have jew in 1600

Are we the baddies?

haha.. Dutch a military Giant... HAHA.. For real. The Dutch have NEVER been a Giant Military Power. We always had either Marine or army...We have been invaded and lost wars by almost every European country, including Belgium and Russian... The Dutch are great merchants, and Traders, but the worse fighters, cause that costs money..... p.s. i am 100% Dutch..

Droom lekker verder man, Nederland is weg binnen 12-15 minuten.

Hahahahahahahahaha🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Hahahahahah😂😂😂 superpower ..no troops no boats we have nothing

What a joke🤣🤣🤣