The Netherlands have always been part of…

The Netherlands have always been part of the precarious balance of power that has kept France in check.

The Russian tsar in particular had wanted the Netherlands to resume this role after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and had wanted the colonies to be returned.

In a secret protocol, known as the Eight Articles of London, a compromise had been struck with the United Kingdom before the Congress of Vienna, whereby only the Dutch East Indies were returned, and the Congress had created a kingdom for the House of Orange-Nassau in order to create a strong buffer state north of France.

The Kingdom of the United Netherlands combines, for the first time as a united sovereign state, the United Provinces of the Netherlands with the former Austrian Netherlands, with two capitals: Amsterdam and Brussels.

The son of the last stadtholder, William V, the Prince of Orange, had become King William I as well as hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg.