HOI4 (Hearts of Iron IV): Netherlands Guide – Form the Benelux

Hearts of Iron IV, a grand strategy masterpiece from Paradox Interactive, thrusts players into the pivotal years leading up to World War II. In this meticulously detailed game, strategic prowess is paramount as you navigate your nation through the tumultuous era. As one of the Allied Forces, the Netherlands found itself compelled to abandon its neutrality when the German war machine stormed into the Lowlands. This historical accuracy echoes throughout the gameplay, as the Netherlands faces the complex task of balancing its neutrality against the looming war. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the initial situation of the Kingdom, offering invaluable insights on how to navigate the impending tempest and, ultimately, steer the Netherlands toward global dominance in HOI4.

Netherlands Starting Position in HOI4

The Netherlands remained neutral throughout the entirety of the Great War and thus, did not see needless suffering on their forces though seeing its neighbors suffer did leave a psychological impact on the nation as a whole.

While still a colonial empire, its prestige has been one of slow decline. Its only remaining significant colonial possession is the Dutch East Indies, modern-day Indonesia, which currently gives the Dutch a significant boost in rubber resources and a good amount of manpower. 

While officially neutral, the Netherlands finds itself under threat by the ever-aggressive German Reich in HOI4 which seeks to use the lowlands to maneuver around the Maginot Line. 

Initial Economic Position

The Netherlands starts off with two major national spirits in HOI4 that negatively affect the economy: Shell-shocked Spectators of the Great War and De Crisisjaren, the former of which provides -25% to factory output and -10% to dockyard output while the latter gives a reduction of 50% in construction speed.

Though not experiencing any resource shortages, the Dutch industry is woefully unprepared for any conflict, only seeing 8 free civilian factories, 4 military factories, and 3 naval dockyards. The low factory count will put a huge damp on any efforts to modernize and prepare the armed forces for the upcoming war.

For trade and economy HOI4 laws, the Netherlands starts off with Limited Exports and Civilian Economy. The latter, much like the low amount of factories, will make it harder to build factories at a satisfactory rate.

Initial Political Position

Adopting a strategy of strict neutrality, the Dutch have the national spirit Aloof Neutrality to best reflect this. This national spirit ensures that any joining of factions, sending volunteers, or guaranteeing independence by the nation will revert widely across the globe.

Similarly, the Weak Government national spirit increases the daily political power gain by 0.5 and reduces stability by 10% though the latter is counteracted by Wilhelmina, which grants a 15% boost to stability.

In terms of political advisors, there are some great ones for the Netherlands in HOI4 with Jacob Adrian de Wilde (Genial Anti-Revolutionary) being a great pick for the democratic and non-aligned Netherlands. The rest, however, are primarily locked behind certain ideologies, making them not that useful to obtain.

Bordered by Germany to the east, the Netherlands is in danger of facing a war that could quickly see them capitulate unless they join the Germans first.

Initial Military Position

The Dutch Army consists of 8 half-strength Infanterie Divisie (9 infantry battalions), all of which are based on the mainland. The Dutch Navy fares somewhat better with their fairly decent 34 ships though all are outdated and comprised of submarines mainly. The Air Force, on the other hand, is more or less non-existent with only 60 outdated planes.

The Dutch do have a unique advantage to their side: the terrain. Once the player unlocks the Prepare the Inundation Lines, they will be able to flood and drain the terrain around Holland, Brabant, and Friesland, giving the defenders a huge advantage in division defense.

Likewise, this will slow the attackers down and make it harder for them to get supplies to their troops on time.

In terms of leadership, the Netherlands in HOI4 can rely on the likes of Henri Winkelman (Army Defense), Adrianus Rudolphus van den Bent (Infantry), and Maarten Belzer (Concealment) to provide bonuses to the army in their efforts to repel the enemy.

General Godfried van Voorst tot Voorst is comparable to the best generals in the German Reich and will be essential in leading any defense. 

The national spirit Shell-shocked Spectator of the Great War is a great detriment to the recruitable population with its 50% reduction to the recruitable population factor. Luckily, the Dutch government is in possession of the Dutch East Indies, which can easily contribute manpower and troops to the mainland’s struggles.

The Orange Above Route for the Netherlands in HOI4

This HOI4 path will see the Netherlands embrace a non-aligned leader and place its fate in the monarchy and its determination to resist any invaders. Using this path, the Netherlands should be able to resist the Axis advance in HOI4 and lend its cause to the Allies as a staging ground for the coqnuest of the German Reich.

Opening Military Moves

With the Dutch Army only holding a comparably smaller army than Germany, a swift change to Indonesian manpower would be vital to ensuring that the Dutch Army would be capable of withstanding the German onslaught. To this end, start off by copying the Infanterie Divisie of your colonial subject, the Dutch East Indies. Start training this template on your mainland.

As Indonesian manpower becomes vital, we cannot allow Indonesia to fall to the Japanese. Once all four states of Holland are fully occupied with 3 divisions each (for now) at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the connection point to Leeuwarden, we should start diverting troops to the Dutch East Indies with the primary goal of guarding the ports for now.

If the player so wishes, they can abandon the Moluccas Islands, Aru Island, and Papua New Guinea as they offer the least amount of manpower in the Dutch East Indies. Kalimantan should also be an option for surrender as their land border with British Malaya makes it difficult to defend against Japanese land attacks.

Do this if you feel that it’s impossible to defend the island adequately without compromising the islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Lesser Sunda Islands.

At this point, our opening priority should be researching anti-tank guns and the first anti-tank upgrade to combat the German tanks. All planes should be scrapped as there is no hope of stopping the Germans in the air.

Move the entirety of the navy to the Dutch East Indies. They’ll be used to mine the absolute hell out of the seas around the Dutch East Indies. After doing so, start training them for free XP.

Opening Economic Moves

Since we are starting with 9 civilian factories, do start constructing at least 2 civilian and military factories in only the following states: Holland, Suriname, Sumatra, and Java. They’ll be the lynchpin of our industry and are the states we won’t be abandoning to the enemy.

Get 2 military factories on infantry equipment and one each on support equipment and towed artillery. Once there is a free one and anti-tank has been researched, devote a single factory to anti-tank guns.

For research, start with anti-tank guns, electronic mechanical engineering, and basic machine tools. Once this is done, go complete dispersed industry I, engineering company, and support weapons I. Lastly, take construction I, improved machine tools, mechanical computing, radio, and inter-war artillery.

With the 3 naval dockyards, just keep them focused on producing transports and prioritize repairing damaged vessels.

Do import the needed resources for your military production to ensure that it won’t be negatively affected by this.

Opening Political Moves

For national focus, we should look to remove the Weak Government national spirit so go for Form New Government and Gateway to Europe national focuses to unlock the trade mechanics. Our goal here is to get rid of the new Prime Minister as soon as possible in order to remove his highly damaging traits.

After this, it’s time to prioritize the Army so go Abandon the Gold Standard then Overturn Military Budget Cuts, Appoint New Supreme Commander, and Prepare the Inundation Lines to get the Army defenses started in earnest.

Once enough political power has been generated, appoint Jacob Adriaan de Wilde (Genial Anti-Revolutionary) as your first political advisor and Henri Winkelman (Army Defense) as the Chief of the Army. 

After that, focus on increasing the war support of the nation through decisions and start moving the conscription laws, trade laws, and economy laws to a wartime economy state. 

The Trade War

The Netherlands has a unique game mechanic in HOI4 called Gateway to Europe that allows it to choose which nation it should place its support with. For this mechanic, keep increasing the British and German influence until both have reached 50 and we can take the Maintain Trade Neutrality focus that will eventually lead us to the Oranje Boven national focus.

As mentioned earlier, prioritize completing anti-tank I and upgrades as soon as possible. At the same time, start changing some of the Dutch divisions at home to the Indonesian templates as they should have around 1 million in manpower with the volunteer-only law. 

When the civilian factories and the military factories have finished, start constructing land forts in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the connection between Holland and Leeuwarden. At least level 3 or 4 forts should suffice in holding back the Germans in the initial stages.

For army doctrine, go for Grand Battleplan over Superior Firepower because we need the former’s defensive focus over the latter’s offensive one. Later on in the war, once the enemy has been worn down, we can move to the Superior Firepower.

The Preparations for War

Assuming all the aforementioned national focuses have been completed, start focusing on rebuilding the economy with Continue the Public Works, Finish the Noordoostpolder, The Maastunnel, Expand the Artillerieinrictingen, and the Expand R&D Facilities (which needs Philips to be completed prior). Doing all these focuses will get rid of the construction speed debuff and provide us with another research slot.

While this is ongoing, keep churning out Indonesian divisions with this template:

• 9 infantry battalions

• Engineer support company

• Artillery support company

• Anti-Tank support company

• Anti-Air support company (optional – only do if you have enough military factories to support this)

This main template should form the backbone of our home guard against the inevitable German attack. As for the division defending the Dutch East Indies, go with this:

• 9 infantry battalions

• Engineer support company

• Artillery support company

This template should be able to hold back all enemy landings or easily pick off those isolated Japanese forces. No matter what, the Dutch East Indies cannot fall and need to be properly defended.

Ensure that each island in the Dutch East Indies is protected by an individual army so as to not have any units move around the Japanese-dominated waters and make themself an easy target against Japanese naval forces.

The island of Lesser Sunda is a prime example of this. In this case, have the army assigned to it not follow a garrison order but rather place each division individually on each state and have them assigned to no orders so they remain in position no matter the cost.

For the next military leaders, appoint Adrianus Rudolphus van den Bent (Infantry) and Maarten Belzer (Concealment) to High Command.

Preparations Escalate

Assuming the war tension increases, so too must our efforts. By this point, both the British and German trade influences should be equal to 50 and we can move along the non-aligned path towards the Symbol of Resistance national focus for now as we cannot replace the government until we are at war.

With enough CP, start recruiting new military leaders to fill all Army leadership positions, especially in the Dutch East Indies. When enough naval XP has been generated, equip your submarines with mine laying tools and refit all existing submarines with the new design. Be sure to keep mining all seas around the Dutch East Indies and Holland.

We want the Japanese to suffer in the South China Sea, Celebes Sea, Java Sea, Arafura Sea, Bismarck Sea, Straits of Malacca, East Indian Ocean, Far Eastern Indian Ocean, and Timor Sea while the Germans will experience the same in the English Channel and the Eastern Northern Sea though between the two, we can leave the Atlantic to our British Allies to take over.

For Army XP, take the Static Warfare Spirit of Division Command since we need its max entrenchment to further boost the capabilities of our defenders. For the Spirit of the Academy, the player may choose whichever possible while the Professional Officer Corps would be our pick for the Spirit of the Army. 

Next, for economic construction, keep focusing only on Holland, Suriname, Guyana, Java, and Sumatra to keep our industry well alive and going. When enough military factory (around 6-10) are already in, start developing the infrastructure in Holland first then the colonial possessions to increase movement speed and division recovery rate.

The Calm Before the Storm

As much as possible, we will not join the war when Germany attacks Poland since we need further time on our end to set up our forces. If Indonesia is well protected already, feel free to send more troops to the mainland to help counteract the German attacks.

Don’t forget to also defend the airfield in Holland as it’s an easy target for any naval invasion (if the Germans manage to land any) – a single division should be enough to defend it.

Continue efforts to transform the economy to a wartime one and start completing the national focus War on Pacifism (to get rid of the Shell-shocked Spectator of the Great War national spirit gradually). Be sure to complete the Germany is the Greater Threat national focus prior since we are looking to engage the Germans and not the British.

When this is done and more free time is available, start completing the Colonial national focuses to develop the Dutch East Indies’ industrial capacity. If more civilian factories are available, continue upgrading the forts in Holland and build coastal forts in the port cities in the Dutch East Indies.

Be sure to continually continue researching infantry, support equipment, artillery, and anti-tank technologies to get the upper hand over the foe.

The War Begins

When the Germans start invading, join the Allies as soon as possible and complete the Replace the Defeatist Government national focus and keep going down this path to complete the non-aligned focus tree. Don’t forget to flood the country to keep the Germans from advancing at a rapid pace.

The plan here is simple: hold out until the Germans have been sufficiently bled dry and Allied forces can aid in the liberation of the homeland. If you’ve managed to turn Holland into a fortress, this shouldn’t be much of a difficulty.

The same applies to Japan as they need to land naval invasions to even have a chance of conquering the Dutch East Indies and acquiring their precious rubber but with our preparations, any landings should be fiercely opposed by our brave defenders.

When possible, appoint Prince Bernhard to the cabinet as his war support and division recovery rate will be invaluable for our efforts. Additionally, keep the war support up by taking all decisions relating to it as much as possible.

Follow this strategy and all should work out. The Americans and British can easily handle the Japanese navy and even if they don’t, we can ask for access from the Chinese once the European war has been completed and bring our battle-hardened men to Korea to launch an opportune naval invasion.

After the war, the player should be able to dictate the fate of the Netherlands in HOI4 since a well-trained Dutch and Indonesian Army is enough for the player to conquer the territories they see fit.