Batavian Revolution

Last updated
Batavian Revolution
Part of the Atlantic Revolutions
Krayenhoff Daendels 1795.jpeg
Patriot troops, 18 January 1795.
Date1781–1795
Location
Caused by Authoritarianism of William V
Goals
Resulted in Batavian Republic established
Parties

Statenvlag.svg Patriots

Supported by:
Flag of France official.svg  France

Prinsenvlag.svg Orangists

Supported by:
Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1750-1801).svg  Prussia
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg  Great Britain
Lead figures

The Batavian Revolution (Dutch : De Bataafse Revolutie) was a time of political, social and cultural turmoil at the end of the 18th century that marked the end of the Dutch Republic and saw the proclamation of the Batavian Republic.

The initial period, from about 1780 to 1787, is known as the Patriottentijd or "Time of the Patriots". The power of the "Patriots" grew until the stadtholder, William V felt he had to flee the country in 1785. He asked his brother-in-law Frederick William II of Prussia for help, and in 1787 a relatively small Prussian army restored the Orangists to power with little fighting.

But after the French Revolution began in 1789, "Patriot" dissent grew, and in the severe winter of 1794/95 a French army with some "Patriot" Dutch units invaded over the frozen frontier rivers, leading to the Batavian Revolution and the proclamation of the Batavian Republic in 1795. The period of Dutch history that followed the revolution is also referred to as the "Batavian-French era" (17951813) even though the time spanned was only 20 years, of which three were under French occupation under Napoleon Bonaparte.

Background

The exercitiegenootschap of Sneek. Exercitiegenootschap Sneek by Hermanus van der Velde.jpg
The exercitiegenootschap of Sneek.

By the end of the 18th century, the Netherlands found themselves in a deep economic crisis, caused by the devastating Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. [1] [ full citation needed ] During this time, the banks of the Dutch Republic held much of the world's capital. The government-sponsored banks owned up to 40% of Great Britain's national debt. The people of the Netherlands grew increasingly discontent with the authoritarian regime of the stadtholder, William V. This concentration of wealth led to the formation of the Dutch Patriots by a minor Dutch noble named Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, who were seeking to reduce the amount of power held by the stadtholder.

Thus, a division emerged between the Orangists, who supported the stadtholder, and the Patriots who, inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, desired a more democratic government and a more equal society. The Patriots built support from most of the middle-class, and founded militias ( Exercitiegenootschappen ) of armed civilians which between 1783 and 1787 managed to take over several cities and regions in an effort to force new elections which would oust the old government officials. [2] [ full citation needed ] The Patriots held Holland and the city of Utrecht, while the Orangists held the states of Guelders and Utrecht (outside of its capital city).

In 1785, stadtholder William V fled his palace in the west of the country for Nijmegen in the east, as the States of Holland were not willing to send their troops to fight the Patriots. In May 1787, the stadholder's troops were defeated by the militia of Utrecht near Vreeswijk. When Princess Wilhelmina was stopped by patriot militia near Goejanverwellesluis on June 28, 1787, she applied to her brother Frederick William II of Prussia for help. On September 13 a Prussian army of 20,000 men under the command of Duke of Brunswick crossed the border. The fortress of Vianen was deserted, and the city of Utrecht opened its gates. At the fortress of Woerden preparations for defense were made, but there was no actual resistance when the Prussians arrived. In Amsterdam several houses of patriot regents were plundered by mobs. The stadholder returned to The Hague, and Amsterdam, the last city to hold out, surrendered on October 10.

The Patriots continued urging citizens to resist the government by distributing pamphlets, creating "Patriot Clubs" and holding public demonstrations. The government responded by pillaging the towns where the opposition was concentrated. Most Patriots went into exile in France, while Orangists strengthened their grip on Dutch government chiefly through the Grand Pensionary Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel.

Proclamation of the Republic

Beginning of the revolution in Amsterdam, 19 January 1795 Beginning of the revolution in Amsterdam, 19 January, 1795.jpg
Beginning of the revolution in Amsterdam, 19 January 1795
Solumn inauguration of a liberty tree on Dam Square in Amsterdam on 4 March 1795. Feest der Vrijheid op de Dam te Amsterdam, 4 maart 1795 Vreugde-Feest, ter inwyding van de Vryheids-boom in Amsterdam, Gevierd den 4.den Maart 1795. het eerste Jaar der Bataafsche Vrijheid (titel op object), RP-P-OB-86.446.jpg
Solumn inauguration of a liberty tree on Dam Square in Amsterdam on 4 March 1795.

The restoration was temporary, however. Only two years later, the French Revolution began, which embraced many of the political ideas that the Patriots had espoused in their own revolt. [4] The Patriots enthusiastically supported the Revolution, and when the French revolutionary armies started spreading it, the Patriots joined in, hoping to liberate their own country from its authoritarian yoke. The Stadtholder joined the ill-fated First Coalition of countries in their attempt to subdue the suddenly anti-Austrian French First Republic. This War of the First Coalition also proceeded disastrously for the Stadtholder's forces, and in the severe winter of 1794/95 a French army under general Charles Pichegru, with a Dutch contingent under general Herman Willem Daendels, crossed the great frozen rivers that traditionally protected the Netherlands from invasion. Aided by the fact that a substantial proportion of the Dutch population looked favourably upon the French incursion, and often considered it a liberation, [5] [ full citation needed ] the French were quickly able to break the resistance of the forces of the Stadtholder, and his Austrian and British allies. However, in many cities revolution broke out even before the French arrived and Revolutionary Committees took over the city governments, and (provisionally) the national government also. The States of Holland and West Friesland, for instance, were abolished and replaced with the Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland. [6]

Aftermath

The Batavian Revolution ended with the proclamation of the Batavian Republic in 1795. William was forced to flee to England, [7] where he issued the Kew Letters proclaiming that all Dutch colonies were to fall under British rule, as they had declared war on the Batavian Republic. Several coups followed in 1798, 1801 and 1805 which brought different groups of Patriots to power. Though the French presented themselves as liberators, [8] many disagreed. The Batavian Republic saw its end in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was founded, with Napoleon's brother, Louis Napoleon as King of Holland. In 1810, the area was annexed into the First French Empire. In 1813, the Netherlands regained their independence, with William's son William Frederick as sovereign prince.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William I of the Netherlands</span> King of the Netherlands from 1815 to 1840

William I was king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batavian Republic</span> Dutch predecessor state, 1795–1806

The Batavian Republic was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the Dutch throne. From October 1801 onward, it was known as the Batavian Commonwealth. Both names refer to the Germanic tribe of the Batavi, representing both the Dutch ancestry and their ancient quest for liberty in their nationalistic lore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch Republic</span> Predecessor state of the Netherlands (1581–1795)

The United Provinces of the Netherlands, officially the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, and commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands and the first independent Dutch state. The republic was established after seven Dutch provinces in the Spanish Netherlands revolted against Spanish rule, forming a mutual alliance against Spain in 1579 and declaring their independence in 1581. It comprised Groningen, Frisia, Overijssel, Guelders, Utrecht, Holland and Zeeland.

<i>Stadtholder</i> Low Countries governing official from 14th to 18th centuries

In the Low Countries, a stadtholder was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The stadtholder was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William V, Prince of Orange</span> Prince of Orange

William V was Prince of Orange and the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death in 1806. In that capacity he was succeeded by his son William.

<i>Patriottentijd</i> Period of violence and sociopolitical instability in the Netherlands between 1780 and 1787

The Patriottentijd was a period of political instability in the Dutch Republic between approximately 1780 and 1787. Its name derives from the Patriots faction who opposed the rule of the stadtholder, William V, Prince of Orange, and his supporters who were known as Orangists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Gogel</span> Dutch politician

Isaac Jan Alexander Gogel was a Dutch politician, who was the first minister of finance of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of Holland. He married Catharina van Hasselt in 1800, and had three children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter Vreede</span> Dutch politician

Pieter Vreede was a Dutch politician of the Batavian Republic in the 18th century. Vreede was born in Leiden and died in Heusden. He was a prominent critic of stadholderian misrule and of the urban patriciate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Gerard Mappa</span> Dutch type-founder, Patriot and colonel

Adam Gerard Mappa was a Dutch type-founder, Patriot and active colonel in a local militia. In 1794 he became the agent for the Holland Land Company in New York (state) and three years later supervisor in the recently set up village of Barneveld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter Paulus</span> Dutch jurist and politician

Pieter Paulus was a Dutch jurist, fiscal (prosecutor) of the Admiralty of the Maze and politician. He was one of the ideologues of the Dutch Patriot movement and is considered by many Dutch as the founder of their democracy and political unity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Court Lambertus van Beyma</span>

Coert or Court Lambertus van Beyma, son of Julius Matthijs van Beyma and Fokel Helena van Burmania, was a public notary and auctioneer, delegate and representative of the Frisian States, and the radical leader of the Frisian patriots. He was the initiator of a Frisian coup and spent seven years in exile in north-western France. On his return to the Netherlands in 1795, he became a delegate to the National Assembly of the newly established Batavian Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg</span>

Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Bevern was a field-marshal in the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, the elected Duke of Courland (1741). From 13 November 1750 to 1766 he was the Captain-General of the Netherlands, where he was known as the Duke of Brunswick or Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Another brother was Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick who led the Allied Anglo-German army during the Seven Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wybo Fijnje</span> Dutch Mennonite minister, publisher, Patriot, exile, coup perpetrator and politician

Wybo Fijnje was a Dutch Mennonite minister, publisher in Delft, Patriot, exile, coup perpetrator, politician and – during the Batavian Republic and Kingdom of Holland – manager of the predecessor of the Staatscourant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelis Rudolphus Theodorus Krayenhoff</span>

Corneli(u)s Rudolphus Theodorus, Baron Krayenhoff was a physicist, artist, general, hydraulic engineer, cartographer and – against his will and for only a short time – Dutch Minister of War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orangism (Dutch Republic)</span> Supporters of the Princes of Orange

In the history of the Dutch Republic, Orangism or prinsgezindheid was a political force opposing the Staatsgezinde (pro-Republic) party. Orangists supported the Princes of Orange as Stadtholders and military commanders of the Republic, as a check on the power of the regenten. The Orangist party drew its adherents largely from traditionalists – mostly farmers, soldiers, noblemen and orthodox Protestant preachers, though its support fluctuated heavily over the course of the Republic's history and there were never clear-cut socioeconomic divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam</span>

The Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam refers to the transfer of power in the city of Amsterdam on 18 January 1795 to a Revolutionary Committee of the new Batavian Republic. The same day the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, William V, Prince of Orange fled the country. Amsterdam was the first city that declared itself in the Batavian Revolution that brought about the Batavian Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prussian invasion of Holland</span> Prussian military campaign in 1787 in the Dutch Republic

The Prussian invasion of Holland was a military campaign under the leadership of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, against the rise of the democratic Patriot movement in the Dutch Republic in September–October 1787 with the aim of disempowering the patriots and disarming the Free Corps, as well as reinstating the William V of Orange as hereditary stadtholder in the Dutch Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Act of Guarantee</span>

The Act of Guarantee of the hereditary stadtholderate was a document from 1788, in which the seven provinces of the States General and the representative of Drenthe declared, amongst other things, that the admiralty and captain-generalship were hereditary, and together with the hereditary stadtholderate would henceforth be an integrated part of the constitution of the Dutch Republic. Moreover, members of the House of Orange-Nassau would have the exclusive privilege to hold the office. The Act was in force until the Batavian Republic was established in 1795.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland</span>

The Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland was the name given to the supreme governing body of the province of Holland, instituted after the Batavian Revolution, during the period in which the Netherlands was transitioning from the constitution under the Dutch Republic to the new constitution of the Batavian Republic. After the States General of the Batavian Republic had been replaced by the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic, in 1796, the Provisional Representatives, and similar bodies, in all Dutch provinces were abolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adriaan van Zeebergh</span>

Adriaan van Zeebergh was a Dutch politician during the Patriottentijd.

References

  1. De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 126
  2. Schama, pp. 77, 131
  3. From mid January 1795 the weather was extremely cold with a lot of snow according to J. Buisman, deel, 6, p. 844
  4. Schama, ch. 3 and 4
  5. Schama, p. 187; Israel, p. 1120
  6. Schama, pp.188–190
  7. Schama, p. 191
  8. Schama, p. 195

Further reading