The Battle of Hasselt was fought on 8 August 1831 during the Ten Days' Campaign. It was an important defeat for the outnumbered

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

Army of the Meuse and a victory for the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

invasion force.

Battle

The Dutch planned to encircle the Belgians with three divisions with no option to retreat because doing so would leave the Dutch city

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

undefended for a possible Belgian counterattack. The Belgians, outnumbered and with little to no artillery, misled one of the Dutch divisions by spending too much time in attacking the small town of

Kuringen Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

just outside

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

and left a small force behind in Hasselt to buy some time and cover their retreat to

Tongeren Tongeren (; french: Tongres ; german: Tongern ; li, Tóngere ) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the onl ...

. During this retreat they were under constant attack of the chasing Dutch cavalry. At

Kortessem Kortessem (; li, Kotsoeve) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. On January 1, 2006, Kortessem had a total population of 8,074. The total area is 33.90 km² which gives a population density of 238 inhabit ...

the Belgians put up a few artillery guns and the Dutch ended the chase leaving the Meuse army in a state of chaos, the remaining rebels fled to

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

escaping the pocket the Dutch tried to enforce. The Dutch took about 400 prisoners. The rebels suffered heavy casualties while the Dutch losses were said to be very small but numbers are unknown.

References

Sources

* Kolenbrander, H.T. (1936) ''De afscheiding van België'', Amsterdam: J.M. Meulenhoff. * Nater, J.H. (1980), ''De tiendaagse veldtocht; de Belgische opstand 1830/1831'', Bussum: Unieboek b.v. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017

Ten Days' Campaign Hasselt 1831 in Belgium 1831 in the Netherlands August 1831 events

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...