Dutch Water Defence Lines
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How it came to be
To defend Holland, the heart of the Netherlands, a defence system more than 200 km long was built between 1815 and 1940. It worked by flooding the land in front of an enemy: the water had to be too deep to wade and too shallow for boats. Forts, dikes, sluices, pumping stations, canals and inundation polders made the system work.
The Defence Line of Amsterdam was built between 1880 and 1914, a 135 km ring 15 to 20 km from the capital so that enemy guns could not reach it. It was meant as the National Redoubt, the last refuge of government and army, but was never put into full use.
The Defence Line of Amsterdam was inscribed in 1996. In 2021 the New Dutch Waterline, a system of about 85 km, and other parts were added, and the site was renamed the Dutch Water Defence Lines.
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