Military of the Anglo-Dutch Union (Dutch Superpower)

The Military of the Anglo-Dutch Union is the largest in the world, It has the worlds second largest army and the largest Navy in the world. It is currently involved in two conflicts (The insurgency in South Africa and the counter-insurgency operation in Aceh).

Formation
The military history of the United Kingdom has been greatly influential in World history, beginning in 1775 with the merging of the armed forces of England, The Netherlands, The Americas and Scotland to become the armed forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Important conflicts in which the Union took part later on in history include the Seven Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th century/early 19th century, the Crimean War of the mid 19th Century, and the First and Second World Wars of the 20th century. The Anglo-Dutch Empire, which reached its apogee in the 1920s, was the largest empire in history; almost a half of the world's population were subjects of the Union Crown and it controlled more than a quarter of the world's total land area (and arguably all its seas).

The current structure of defence management in the United Kingdom was set in place in 1964 when the modern day Ministry of Defence (MoD) was created (an earlier form had existed since 1940). The MoD assumed the roles of the Admiralty, the War Office and the Air Ministry.

19th Century
During the 19th century the Union's military grew into the most advanced in the world. They introduced compulsery conscription in the same century while they made several large technological developments begining with the introduction of steam power in the 1830's and Ironclads in the 1840's.

Although military conflicts in the 19th century were limited with the exception of the Crimean and Napoleonic wars the Union maintained a strong technological lead which eventualy culminated with what many belived to be the perfect Battleship in the form of HMS Majestic. Outside of the Navy the Union also developed land technologies to give thier men the advantage but despite these developments much of the Unions armouy would prove irelevant in less than 10 years time.