History of the Netherlands The Dutch government subsequently decided on a large-scale programme of public works (the "Delta Works") to protect the country against future floods. The project took more than thirty years to complete. The Oosterscheldedam, an advanced sea storm barrier, became operational in 1986. According to Dutch government engineers, the odds of a major inundation anywhere in the Netherlands are now one in 10,000 years. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), was founded in 1951 by the six founding members: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (the Benelux countries) and West Germany, France and Italy. Its purpose was to pool the steel
History of the Netherlands French imperial province. After the collapse of Napoleon in 1813–15, an expanded "United Kingdom of the Netherlands" was created with the House of Orange as monarchs, also ruling Belgium and Luxembourg. The King imposed unpopular Protestant reforms on Belgium, which revolted in 1830 and became independent in 1839. After an initially conservative period, following the introduction of the 1848 constitution; the country became a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch. Modern -day Luxembourg became officially independent from the Netherlands in 1839, but a personal union remained until 1890. Since 1890, it is ruled by another branch of the House of