Wow that is scary Sander. I look at the link (thanks) and I was wondering on the map of the Netherlands there is outlying islands lining the main land - was the gap with water between these islands and the mainland used to dry land?
Another question - during WW2 when the Germans invaded the Netherlands on your Eastern border did the Dutch actually destoryed the dikes in order to flood the land to somehow stop the German invision? I'll love information (in English Please) or links (English)! :)
I'm probably scared due to the fact I can't swim :(
=>was the gap with water between these islands and the mainland used to dry land?<=
No,the 'island' in the middle is a result of the last ice age,its where the last glacier finally halted and retreated.
WW2
Yes we did,like with every war we ever were in since its construction.Its called the Waterlinie,(Water line)
http://www.geo.uu.nl/~forth/history/Waterlinie_klein.jpg and its ment to protect the most important cities of the Netherlands.
But it didnt work.The Germans used loads of Paratroopers to secure the bridges (which we tried to blow),the sucseded at first,then they were attacked by Dutch troops and defeated,Hitler had said that Holland would be conquered in 1 day (like Denmark) but as 4 days past Holland wasnt defeated at all,so Hitler said he would bomb Rotterdam if the Dutch wouldent surrender,we didnt ,he bombed Rotterdam and threatend to bomb Utrecht as well.We surrenderd and 5 years later 10 days before the official capitulation of the Germans we regained our freedom.
We never had a chance our weopons were all from before WW1,eg here a Dutch canon in WW2
http://home.planet.nl/~cosse001/ww2/Wereld%20oorlog%202%20015.jpg.
[Just bumping this thread so it's still there tomorrow when I post my new sample]
Thankyou Sander for the wonderful information you have given to me.
And Thank you P for your wonderful interest in Dutch history. :)
<<Half of the country is below sealevel (lowest point is appr. minus 8 metres). If the pumps that keep the land dry would all be switched of at once, half of the country would submerge under the North Sea within 48 hours>>
Sander, where and how are the pumps mantained
please tell us and provide some links :)
are there any people living in the west ?
who build the pumps
ok but when were this "walls" builed , and how was the country before those walls
what are this?
http://www.holland.nl/bin/holland/sights/stormvloedkering.jpg
and who build them, what's the name of them ?
do you know some www in english with photos, describing the "walls" the history of them and the technology?
thanx
thanx sander,
But how was the country before any "walls " were build ?
was it much more smaller ?
And when the first project started ?
I am interested because I want to visit Holland and I want to understand what I'll see there !
thanx