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
Revolution of 1848 in Luxembourg powers. After being annexed by the French in the Napoleonic Wars, Luxembourg was elevated to a Grand Duchy and awarded to the Dutch King by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. While it was supposed to be ruled by him in personal union, rather than as part of his kingdom, the King-Grand Duke William I treated it merely as a province of the Netherlands. (At the time, modern Belgium was part of the Netherlands, so Luxembourg was not separated from Dutch territory.) The Grand Duchy would also be part of the German Confederation (the successor to the Holy Roman Empire),