The Royal Netherlands Army is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the Staatse Leger was raised making the Dutch standing army one of the oldest in the world. It fought in the Napoleonic Wars, World War II, the Indonesian War of Independence and the Korean War, as well as served with NATO on the Cold War frontiers in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Maurice of Orange as portrayed by Michiel van Mierevelt, between c. 1613–1620.
William II of the Netherlands at the Battle of Quatre Bras.
Soldiers on guard in the inundated area of the Dutch Water Line during the mobilisiation of the army in 1939.
Soldiers of the 15th Infantry Regiment advancing on East-Java in 1948, the Bren-gunner adjusts his sights.
The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
Chief of Defence general Onno Eichelsheim during the acceptance ceremony of the command over the Netherlands Armed Forces, April 2021
HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën during exercise At-Sea Demo/Formidable Shield 2021 on the Atlantic Ocean
Troops of 11 Air Assault Brigade disembarking a CH-47 Chinook in Mali
RNLAF F-35A Lightning II during cannon trials in October 2018
