News item | 01-03-2022 | 14:54
The conscription law is 100 years old today. The law is still in force, but compulsory voting has been suspended for more than a quarter of a century. People have not been called up since 1996. Yet, especially now, because of the war in Ukraine, many people have questions about conscription. Will conscription be reactivated?
To start with the answer to that last question: no, that is absolutely not the case. The Netherlands has a professional army that can defend its territory in a NATO context. If, for whatever reason, there is a need to activate conscription again, it will take years before it is set up again. It would also require huge investments: in barracks, in equipment and in instructors.
Women under arms
Conscription was last in the news at the end of 2020. Then for the first time women also received the so-called conscription letter. Every Dutch young person receives this in the year that he or she turns 17. It states that they are registered for military service from the age of 17 to 35. This also applies to women since 1 January 2020. This was completely unthinkable in 1922. War was men’s work.
Obligated
Conscription was compulsory. As the well-known statesman Jan Rudolf Thorbecke said: it was the heaviest burden a state could impose on its citizens. Civilians were forced to take up arms to kill if necessary. They also ran the risk of being killed or injured. Thousands of Dutchmen took up arms and paid the highest price in battle. This happened especially during the Second World War and the Indonesian War of Independence.
Cold War
Before World War II, the number of conscripts called up annually was kept low. This changed after the war, influenced by the subsequent Cold War. Virtually all the boys deemed physically and mentally fit had to stand up. The Netherlands thus acquired a large military force. Its task was to stop a possible attack by the Warsaw Pact on the North German Plain. Some of the conscripts even spent their military service permanently in Germany, in places like Hohne, Langemannshof and especially Seedorf. For Dutch people of 50 years and older, these are still well-known names.