Pieter Cort van der Linden

Pieter Cort van der Linden
27th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office August 29, 1913 – September 9, 1918
Monarch	Wilhelmina
Preceded by	Theo Heemskerk
Succeeded by	Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck
Personal details
Born	Pieter Wilhelm Adriaan Cort van der Linden 14 May 1846 The Hague, Netherlands
Died	15 July 1935 (aged 89) The Hague, Netherlands
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Joanna van Wickenburg (d.1874) Johanna de Koning
Children	4
Religion	Remonstrant

Pieter Wilhelm Adrianus Cort van der Linden (14 May 1846 – 15 July 1935) was a Dutch politician. He served as prime minister of the Netherlands between 1913 and 1918.

He was the last prime minister to lead a pure liberal cabinet and the last liberal to be PM until Mark Rutte in 2010 (92 years later). However, the cabinet held only a minority in parliament and depended on the support of the social democrats (similar to the recent liberal-led Dutch minority cabinet depending on the support of the PVV, although the Cort van der Linden government is considered progressive-liberal).

One of his major achievements was maintaining Dutch neutrality during the First World War, although personally he was pro-German.

He also introduced universal suffrage in the Netherlands. Because of this, the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the Algemeene Bond van RK-kiesverenigingen, a Catholic party, won the 1918 elections. The Catholic Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck took Cort van der Linden's place as Prime minister.

References

Literature

• Minderaa, J.T. (1979), "Linden, Pieter Wilhelm Adrianus Cort van der (1846-1935)", Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 1, retrieved 2008-03-13