Abstract All Dutch rift basins that formed during Jurassic and Early Cretaceous extension have been inverted during the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary. Several inversion pulses occurred more or less simultaneously in all basins. Analysis of vitrinite reflectance data, in combination with fission track and fluid inclusion data show that the magnitude of uplift and erosion generally did not exceed 2 km. Inversion was strongest in the Broad Fourteens, Central Netherlands and West Netherlands basins. The direction of maximum compressive stress was generally not at right angles to the pre-existing fault trends, and resulted in transpressional movements. Within the NW-SE striking basins, dextral strike-slip movements can often be interpreted, which is consistent with a general N-S to NNW-SSE direction of maximum compression related to Alpine structural events. Where no Zechstein salt is present, trends of flower structures formed through reverse reactivation of pre-existing faults. Where the Zechstein salt is thick, re-activated faults could not breach the salt, and a broad uplift of the post-salt succession resulted, while faulting below the salt caused acceleration of halokinesis. In areas where the Zechstein salt was thin, and where the offsets of reverse faults exceeded the thickness of the salt, impressive thrusts with the Zechstein salt as detachment horizon developed. The later Tertiary inversion pulses did not affect all basins, and caused broad basin uplift in the West and Central Netherlands basins while individual faults were no longer reactivated. It appears that due to crustal thickening during the first inversion pulses the crust could become stabilised such that further compression could only be accommodated by broad basin uplift.