History of the Netherlands The post-war years saw rapid economic recovery (helped by the American Marshall Plan), followed by the introduction of a welfare state during an era of peace and prosperity. The Netherlands formed a new economic alliance with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Benelux, and all three became founding members of the European Union and NATO. In recent decades, the Dutch economy has been closely linked to that of Germany, and is highly prosperous. The four countries adopted the Euro on 1 January 2002, along with eight other EU member states. The prehistory of the area that is now the Netherlands was largely
Partitions of Luxembourg of Luxembourg would be decided later; the Netherlands, which had assented to the Conference's decision, invaded Belgium to force the Belgians to accept limitation of its territory. After the withdrawal of this force, the London Conference made its third suggestion, that Luxembourg be divided between the two, with most of the land going to Belgium, but with Luxembourg City remaining under Dutch control. Leopold agreed, and the treaty was signed on the 15 November 1831. Although the Dutch King William I rejected this suggestion at first, after the stand-off had dragged on for several years, he gave way, and agreed