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
Netherlands at the 1920 Summer Olympics straight bronze medal. The team had a fairly easy win over Luxembourg in the first round before requiring extra time to defeat Sweden in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, the Netherlands lost to eventual gold-medalist Belgium. This relegated the Dutch team to the consolation tournament for silver; they received a bye into the consolation final when France turned out to have left the Olympics. In the match for silver and bronze, the Netherlands were defeated by Spain to finish in third place. Twelve rowers represented the Netherlands in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in the sport. None of