Netherlands

[bk6583]

I haven't seen anything in the manual that references any special rules about the Netherlands. Yet regardless of which side I play, even when the AI doesn't send any diplomats there, and even after numerous turns of diplomatic 'missions', I can't get the Netherlands into the war. The dial will stay firmly planted all the way to the left or right, but it never enters the war. Is there a special rule I'm missing that doesn't permit the Netherlands from joining either side?

[calvinus]

If you examine the Diplomacy Window of Netherlands, you can see (diplomatic thresholds) that Netherlands cannot enter the war by diplomacy. Ambassadors can influence the attitude of Holland in order to make her grant/deny the food support to Germany, but no way to make her intervene the conflict!

The only way is to declare war to Holland, but so you can only have a new enemy!