The Netherlands had a population of about 8.8 million in 1940. Germany's was about 70 million before annexing Austria. For comparison, France's was about 40 million, the UK's about 48 million, and Belgium's about 8.4 million. A rule of thumb is 1% of population is about the maximum sustainable peacetime miliitary. Unless there was a NATO-like alliance, the Netherlands didn't stand a chance.