Austrian Netherlands

Last updated
Austrian Netherlands
Österreichische Niederlande (German)
Pays-Bas Autrichiens (French)
Oostenrijkse Nederlanden (Dutch)
Belgium Austriacum (Latin)
1714–1797
Austrian Netherlands 1789.svg
The Austrian Netherlands in 1789
  •   Austrian Netherlands
Map of Austrian Netherlands 1789.svg
Status Personal union of Imperial fiefs within Empire
Capital Brussels
Common languages
Religion
Roman Catholic
Government Governorate
Governor  
 1716–1724 (first)
Eugene Francis
 1793–1794 (last)
Charles Louis
Plenipotentiary  
 1714–1716 (first)
Lothar Dominik
 1793–1794 (last)
Franz Karl  [ de ]
Historical era Early modern
7 March 1714
8 November 1785
1789–1790
18 September 1794
17 October 1797
Currency Kronenthaler
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg Spanish Netherlands
French First Republic Flag of France.svg
United Belgian States Flag of the Brabantine Revolution.svg
Today part of

The Austrian Netherlands [nb 1] was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the Austrian acquisition of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714 and lasted until Revolutionary France annexed the territory during the aftermath of the Battle of Sprimont in 1794 and the Peace of Basel in 1795. Austria relinquished its claim on the province in 1797 by the Treaty of Campo Formio.

Contents

History

Silver coin: 1 kronenthaler Maria Theresa, 1767 1 kronenthaler Maria Theresa - 1767.png
Silver coin: 1 kronenthaler Maria Theresa, 1767
Silver coin: 1 kronenthaler Francis II, 1793 1 kronenthaler Francis II - 1793.png
Silver coin: 1 kronenthaler Francis II, 1793

Under the Treaty of Rastatt (1714), following the War of the Spanish Succession, the surviving portions of the Spanish Netherlands were ceded to Austria. The Circle continued to give a single seat to the Reichstag to its owner, now the emperor himself as Duke of Burgundy. Administratively, the country was divided into four traditional duchies, three counties and various lordships.

Brabant Revolution

In the 1780s, opposition emerged to the liberal reforms of Emperor Joseph II, which were perceived as an attack on the Catholic Church and the traditional institutions in the Austrian Netherlands. Resistance, focused in the autonomous and wealthy Duchy of Brabant and County of Flanders, grew. In the aftermath of rioting and disruption, known as the Small Revolution, in 1787, many of opponents took refuge in the neighboring Dutch Republic where they formed a rebel army. Soon after the outbreak of the French and Liège revolutions, the émigré army crossed into the Austrian Netherlands and decisively defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Turnhout on 27 October 1789. The rebels, supported by uprisings across the territory, soon took control over much of the territory and proclaimed independence. Despite the tacit support of Prussia, the independent United Belgian States, established in January 1790, received no foreign recognition and soon became divided along ideological lines. The Vonckists, led by Jan Frans Vonck, advocated progressive and liberal government, whereas the Statists, led by Hendrik Van der Noot, were staunchly conservative and supported by the Church. The Statists, who had a wider base of support, soon drove the Vonckists into exile through terror. [1]

Naval jack of Flanders in the 18th century Austrian Netherlands national flag - Marko de Haeck.png
Naval jack of Flanders in the 18th century

By mid-1790, Habsburg Austria ended its war with the Ottoman Empire and prepared to suppress the rebels. The new Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, was also a liberal and proposed an amnesty for the rebels. After defeating a Statist army at the Battle of Falmagne (22 September 1790), the territory was soon overrun and the revolution was defeated by December. The Austrian reestablishment was short-lived and the territory was overrun by the French in 1794 (during the War of the First Coalition) after the Battle of Fleurus.

Imperial Councillors of State

The Councillors of state acted as government, and formed the council by imperial consent: [2]

French rule

1794 was the third year of the War of the First Coalition. After the Battle of Fleurus (26 June), the Austrians gave up on contesting the Low Countries, and left it to the French. After three months of pure military occupation, on 15 October an Administration centrale et supérieure de la Belgique was installed. On 1 October 1795 the departments were activated and the definitive annexation started, liquidating the Belgian Governing Council, which ceased on 22 November. France annexed the Austrian Netherlands from the Holy Roman Empire and integrated them into the French Republic. The commissioner of the Directory, Louis Ghislain de Bouteville-Dumetz, finished his work on January 20, 1797, after which no common Belgian authority remained.

Notes

  1. Dutch : Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; French : Pays-Bas Autrichiens; German : Österreichische Niederlande; Latin : Belgium Austriacum.

Citations

  1. Brown, Kevin (2017). "Artist and Patrons: Court Art and Revolution in Brussels at the end of the Ancien Regime". Dutch Crossing: 1–28. doi:10.1080/03096564.2017.1299964.
  2. Almanach de la cour de Bruxelles sous les dominatione autrichienne et francaise, la monarchie des Pays-Bas et le gouvernement belge, de 1725 a 1840 (etc.)

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Lunéville</span> 1801 Treaty during the War of the Second Coalition

The Treaty of Lunéville was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary domains of the House of Austria and on behalf of the Holy Roman Empire. The signatories were Joseph Bonaparte and Count Ludwig von Cobenzl, the Austrian foreign minister. The treaty formally ended Austrian and Imperial participation in the War of the Second Coalition and the French Revolutionary Wars, as well as the Imperial Kingdom of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the First Coalition</span> 1792–1797 battles between French revolutionaries and neighbouring monarchies

The War of the First Coalition was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that succeeded it. They were only loosely allied and fought without much apparent coordination or agreement; each power had its eye on a different part of France it wanted to appropriate after a French defeat, which never occurred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Campo Formio</span> 1797 treaty during the War of the First Coalition

The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 17 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treaty followed the armistice of Leoben, which had been forced on the Habsburgs by Napoleon's victorious campaign in Italy. It ended the War of the First Coalition and left Great Britain fighting alone against revolutionary France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Netherlands</span> Historical region in Belgium

The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain and later by the Austrian Habsburgs until occupied and annexed by Revolutionary France (1794–1815).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habsburg monarchy</span> Monarchy in Europe (1282–1918)

The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm, was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is also referred to as the Danubian monarchy or the Austrian monarchy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belgian nationalism</span>

Belgian nationalism, sometimes pejoratively referred to as Belgicism, is a nationalist ideology. In its modern form it favours the reversal of federalism and the creation of a unitary state in Belgium. The ideology advocates reduced or no autonomy for the Flemish Community who constitute Flanders, the French Community of Belgium and the German-speaking Community of Belgium who constitute Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region which is inhabited by both Walloons and Flemings, and the dissolution of the regional counterparts of each ethnic group within Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Belgian States</span> 18th century republic in the Netherlands

The United Belgian States, also known as the United States of Belgium, was a short-lived confederal republic in the Southern Netherlands established under the Brabant Revolution. It existed from January to December 1790 as part of the unsuccessful revolt against the Habsburg Emperor, Joseph II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Rastatt</span> 1714 treaty between France and Austria

The Treaty of Rastatt was a peace treaty between France and Austria that was concluded on 7 March 1714 in the Baden city of Rastatt to end the War of the Spanish Succession between both countries. The treaty followed the Treaty of Utrecht of 11 April 1713, which had ended hostilities between France and Spain, on the one hand, and Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, on the other. A third treaty at Baden, Switzerland, was required to end the hostilities between France and the Holy Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army of Sambre and Meuse</span> French revolutionary army (1794–1797)

The Army of Sambre and Meuse was one of the armies of the French Revolution. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right wing of the Army of the North. Its maximum paper strength was approximately 120,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabant Revolution</span> 1789–90 event in the Austrian Netherlands

The Brabant Revolution or Brabantine Revolution, sometimes referred to as the Belgian Revolution of 1789–1790 in older writing, was an armed insurrection that occurred in the Austrian Netherlands between October 1789 and December 1790. The revolution, which occurred at the same time as revolutions in France and Liège, led to the brief overthrow of Habsburg rule and the proclamation of a short-lived polity, the United Belgian States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kettle War</span> 1784 military incident in Europe

The Kettle War was a military confrontation between the troops of the Holy Roman Empire and the Republic of the Seven Netherlands on 8 October 1784. It was named the Kettle War because the only shot fired hit a soup kettle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habsburg Netherlands</span> Entire period of Habsburg rule in the Low Countries (1482-1797)

Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austria, died. Their grandson, Emperor Charles V, was born in the Habsburg Netherlands and made Brussels one of his capitals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henri Van der Noot</span> Belgian politician and leader of the Brabant Revolution

Henri van der Noot, in Dutch Hendrik van der Noot, and popularly called Heintje van der Noot or Vader Heintje, was a jurist, lawyer and politician from Brabant. He was one of the main figures of the Brabant Revolution (1789–1790) against the Imperial rule of Joseph II. This revolution led to the short-lived existence of the United States of Belgium with himself as Prime Minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austria–France relations</span> Bilateral relations

Foreign relations exist between Austria and France. Both countries have had diplomatic relations with each other since the Middle Ages. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition</span> 1792–95 campaign of the War of the First Coalition

The Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition, in British historiography better known as the Flanders campaign, was a series of campaigns in the Low Countries conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. As the French Revolution radicalised, the revolutionary National Convention and its predecessors broke the Catholic Church's power (1790), abolished the monarchy (1792) and even executed the deposed king Louis XVI of France (1793), vying to spread the Revolution beyond the new French Republic's borders, by violent means if necessary. The First Coalition, an alliance of reactionary states representing the Ancien Régime in Central and Western Europe – Habsburg Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Hanover and Hesse-Kassel – mobilised military forces along all the French frontiers, threatening to invade Revolutionary France and violently restore the monarchy. The subsequent combat operations along the French borders with the Low Countries and Germany became the primary theatre of the War of the First Coalition until March 1796, when Napoleon took over French command on the Italian front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Peter Beaulieu</span> Walloon military officer (1725–1819)

Johann Peter de Beaulieu, also Jean Pierre de Beaulieu, was a Walloon military officer. He joined the Habsburg army and fought against the Prussians during the Seven Years' War. A cultured man, he later battled Belgian rebels and earned promotion to general officer. During the French Revolutionary Wars he fought against the First French Republic and attained high command. In 1796, a young Napoleon Bonaparte won some of his first victories against an army led by Beaulieu. He retired and was the Proprietor (Inhaber) of an Austrian infantry regiment until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statists (Belgium)</span> Political faction in the United Belgian States

The Statists or aristocrats were a conservative political faction active in the Austrian Netherlands and later the United Belgian States during the Brabant Revolution (1789–1790). They were led by Henri Van der Noot and fiercely opposed to the more radical "Vonckist" faction, led by Jan Frans Vonck. Although they did initially ally with them for the sake of liberating Belgium.

Jean Vesque de Puttelange, born in Brussels, was a government official of the Holy Roman Empire, serving in administrations in the Habsburg Netherlands and Vienna. He belonged to a family originally from Lorraine, the Vesques de Puttelange. He was the father of the diplomat Johann Vesque von Püttlingen, who composed operas and songs under the pseudonym 'J. van Hoven'.

This is a timeline of the 18th century.

The guarantors of the imperial constitution or guarantor powers were those states that were, by treaty, obligated to defend the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire. Starting in 1648 the guarantor powers were Sweden and France, joined by Russia in 1779.