ThisEndUp -> RE: Netherlands Diplo and Hunger (1/1/2021 7:58:44 AM)
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The Dutch traded with the Germans throughout the war, although as the war progressed, the bulk of that trade shifted towards luxuries like tobacco, and away from foodstuff or anything the British Admiralty classified as 'war material'. The Entente had realised early on that the Germans were avoiding the blockade by rerouting their trade through the neutral counties, so they eventually formed agreements to limit the amount that neutrals could import to pre-war levels. Further diplomatic efforts lowered that trade more, until that trickle eventually stopped with the American entry. So while the Dutch did eventually stop, it was more due to a lack of food for themselves as the blockade expanded in scope, rather than any shift in opinion. It was this reduction in imports that really turned the screws on the Germany; Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg himself thought that Germany would have been defeated in early 1916 without neutral trade. Since the reduction in trade was not really a consequence of an improved diplomatic standing of the Entente amongst neutral nations, but rather a larger commitment to the blockade strategy, perhaps we can change this to a decision event for the Entente? An option to expand the blockade to neutral countries, lowering the amount of MPPs Germany obtains from Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark along with an increased NM hit from the blockade, all proportionate to the number of ships on the blockade line, at the cost of international opinion.
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