Water as a weapon of war

Whereas once the New Dutch Waterline was used for the deliberate flooding of the polders as a way of halting enemy invasion, these days it is a beautiful area for a walk or cycle ride.

The Water Line Museum tells the unique story of how water was used as a means of defence.

Do a parachute jump with virtual reality glasses and discover a New Dutch Waterline that has been flooded

The Water Line Museum can be found at Fort Vechten, the second largest fort in the Netherlands. Here, you can go back to a time when connected polders were flooded as a means of defending the country. The Water Line was impossible for the enemy to walk through while under heavy fire and it was also too shallow to sail across. A fifty-metre-long scale model shows exactly how the water line worked. If you’d like a bird’s eye view of the water line, you can virtual reality parachute jump.

Hey, did you know?

The Water Line as an idea thought up by army commander Maurits van Nassau in 1589 who had been commissioned to find the best way of defending the country. In 1672 the line proved to be a success when it held back French forces. After 1815, the line was extended to form the New Dutch Waterline which would also protect Utrecht.