“The cap of the soldier on the left is very striking,” says director John Sijmonsbergen of the National Military Museum. “On his cap is the text ‘For King and Fatherland’ and we may think that it is now quite normal that you fight for your homeland, but that was special at the time. The kingdom had only just been founded. And then came again that threat from Napoleon, who wanted to conquer the Netherlands again. So the term ‘For King and Fatherland’ was a completely new concept at that time.”
National Military Museum unveils ‘Nightwatch of Soesterberg’
