Naarden in a nutshell The earliest mentioning of Naarden dates from 800-900 AC, “Naruthi” a small village near Lake Flevo. In 1350 Naarden was completely destroyed during a internal Dutch power struggle. It was rebuild a few kilometers further inland with high stone walls and a single moat. During the Dutch Revolt (where the Dutch sought independence from Spain) Naarden was captured by Spanish troops. On December 1st 1572 all Naarden citizens were murdered by the Spanish, to serve as an example for other cities wanting to join the rebels. In 1577 the Spanish disappeared and Naarden went over to the Prince of Orange.The Spaniards had brought down the Naarden walls, so something had to be done to make the town defendable again.Naarden had a strategic position on the road to the wealthy city of Amsterdam and the rich province of Holland. So it had to be well defended. The Prince of Orange ordered “Master of Fortifications” Adriaen Anthonisz to build Naarden earthen walls with bastions, making it a modern defendable town.The process of building these defenses took decades. Only because of the threat of King Louis XIV “The Sun King” of France work on Naarden was started again, too late. On the 20th of June 1672 Naarden was captured by the French without a battle. They strengthened the town by adding ravelins in the moat and building a palisade wall and a outer moat. Stadtholder Willem III (later also King William of England) wanted to retake Naarden and succeeded after a prolonged siege on 11 September 1673. The French didn’t have enough artillery for an effective defense. The so-called “Old Dutch Fortress System” according to which Naarden was build, was replaced with the ‘New Dutch Fortress System”. Most important adherent of this system was General Menno, Baron van Coehoorn. Fortress designer D’Yvoy was given the assignment of constructing the new defenses of Naarden. He used the Improved Old Dutch System for part of Naarden. From 1678 onwards French engineer Jean Baptiste Bombelle took charge and Naarden was further constructed according to the New Dutch System. Van Coehoorn wasn’t very much pleased with this design. In 1685 the main wall was constructed, the second wall, the so-called envelope, was only finished in 1730. During the Napoleonic era (1795 – 1814) Naarden was again captured without a fight, this time by the French General MacDonald. The French occupiers didn’t do much to strengthen Naarden. They just build a bombproof hospital in one of the bastions. After Napoleon had lost the Battle of Leipzig, October 1813, the Kingdom of Holland did choose for the House of Orange again. French troops withdrew everywhere, except from Naarden. The garrison was strengthened and prepared for a long siege. Dutch troops and irregulars commanded by General Krayenhoff (later the planner of the New Dutch Water Line) lay siege to Naarden and commenced bombarding the town. The French commandant, General Guétard de la Porte, notwithstanding the heavy shelling, didn’t surrender. Only after Napoleon had abdicated , De la Porte did surrender Naarden on 12 May 1814 and left town with military honors with 1100 men. Starting in 1830 Naarden again was modernized according to new insights in military techniques. Specially after the Franco-German War of 1870-1872 with developments like the rifle barreled gun and high-explosive grenades, Naarden was extensively rebuild. In spite of all these modernizations, Fortress Naarden became obsolete in 1885 by the invention of high explosive shells. None of the existing buildings could withstand these shells. Therefore new concrete reinforced shelters and ammo dumps were build. During World War One, the Netherlands stayed out of the conflict, but mobilized its armed forces and prepared the Water Line defenses. Naarden was garrisoned again and armed with machine guns and mortars, but the main defensive line was put further east. Called “the Offensive in front of Naarden” its consisted of trenches and concrete bunkers In 1926 Naarden lost it’s military status. No longer would the old fortress town be a part of the defenses of Amsterdam and Holland. Many towns and cities from 1874 (Fortress Law) onwards demolish their defensive works to prevent an enemy to use them. In Naarden this threat was countered by the Menno van Coehoorn Foundation, which strived for maintaining historic forts and fortresses. In the case of Naarden, they succeeded! The Interbellum, World War II and the reconstruction period after the war interrupted restoration of the fortress Naarden. Only in 1964 a start was made with the intensive restoration of the neglected defensive works after lobbying by the Menno van Coehoorn Foundation. Today Naarden is beautiful again, an text book example of both the Old and New Dutch Fortress System, a unique ‘living’ monument in which work, recreation, culture, beauty and history are entwined.