Batavian Revolution In Amsterdam
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The Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam refers to the transfer of power in the city of
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
on 18 January 1795 to a Revolutionary Committee of the new
Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) 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 Bona ...
. The same day the
stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
of the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
,
William V, Prince of Orange William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was a 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 i ...
fled the country. Amsterdam was the first city that declared itself in the Batavian Revolution that brought about the Batavian Republic.


Background

Amsterdam had been a hotbed of
Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...
revolutionary fervor during the Patriot Revolution of 1785–1787. After the Prussian intervention of 1787 and the subsequent Orangist repression, the city reverted to control by the ''ancien regime'' of the stadtholder. The Dutch Republic became an Anglo-Prussian
client state A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...
whose foreign policy was determined in London and Berlin, while the exiled Patriots in
Pas de Calais The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continent ...
and Paris plotted its overthrow. When the revolutionary
First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic on 1 February 1793, the exiles strongly favored the inclusion of the Dutch territory. During the early Flanders Campaign, the exiles formed their own " Batavian Legion" that (like its Belgian equivalent) fought side by side with the armies of general Charles François Dumouriez under command of general Herman Willem Daendels. However, despite an incursion into
North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...
(then part of the non-self-governing
Generality Lands The Generality Lands, Lands of the Generality or Common Lands ( nl, Generaliteitslanden) were about one fifth of the territories of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, that were directly governed by the States-General. Unlike the seven pr ...
), the attack on the Dutch Republic was unsuccessful after the French defeat at Neerwinden. Dumouriez defected to Austria. In 1794, the campaign was more successful for the French and their Batavian allies. North Brabant was again invaded by the French army under general Charles Pichegru and occupied up to the river
Waal WAAL (99.1 FM "The Whale") is a commercial radio station licensed to Binghamton, New York. It airs a classic rock radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media. WAAL is the oldest FM radio station in the Binghamton metropolitan area. It is an ...
. This proved as yet too much of an obstacle for the French. Nevertheless, the French success had emboldened the Patriot partisans that had remained in Amsterdam. Despite the vigilance of the political police of the stadtholder, they had been able to form secret societies, masquerading as "reading clubs" that spread revolutionary propaganda, and prepared for insurrection by secretly amassing arms in an arsenal on the Roeterseiland. Ringleaders were
Alexander Gogel Isaac Jan Alexander Gogel (10 December 1765 – 13 June 1821) 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. Car ...
and
Cornelis Rudolphus Theodorus Krayenhoff Corneli(u)s Rudolphus Theodorus, Baron Krayenhoff ( Nijmegen, 2 June 1758 – Nijmegen, 24 November 1840) was a physicist, artist, general, hydraulic engineer, cartographer and – against his will and for only a short time – Dutch Minister of ...
, the latter acting as Military Officer of the Amsterdam Revolutionary Committee. On 14 October 1794, the stadtholder (aware that something was afoot) ordered the city council of Amsterdam to take measures to ensure that civil order would be preserved. The garrison under General Gabriel Golovkin was reinforced with 4,000 British troops from the British army of occupation. That same day, however, the Patriot insurrection began. The Patriots presented a petition to the city
regents A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
, protesting the billeting of the British troops, and this was supposed to be the signal for the revolt. This did not materialize, due to the intimidation by the garrison troops, that occupied strategic points with cannon and barricades. The petition had inadvertently provided the political police with the names and addresses of the would-be revolutionaries and these were rounded up following 17 October. Gogel and Krayenhoff fled the city; the latter joined the central Patriot Revolutionary Committee at the French headquarters in
's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...
.


Takeover of the city government

During the Winter of 1794 French troops had been on the Waal river, poised to advance. Only when the river froze over, in the severe weather that started mid December, were they able to go forward. They advanced very rapidly due to the collapse of the defensive forces of the stadtholder and his British, Prussian and Austrian allies. A number of important cities fell in rapid succession. On 16 January 1795 general Joseph Souham accepted the surrender of the city of
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
after Prussian troops under general
Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn Ludwig Georg Thedel Graf von Wallmoden (6 February 1769 – 22 March 1862) was an Austrian General of the Cavalry, best known for his training of light infantry and the refinement of the Tirailleur system. As a grandson of George II of Great B ...
had evacuated the province of the same name, and the British occupation troops had left the city "taking with them virtually anything that could be moved." The Batavian Revolutionary Committee followed these developments with mixed feelings. Well aware of the French predilection for annexation (as their Belgian neighbors had experienced the previous year) they deemed it necessary that a big Dutch city should be taken by Dutch efforts next, so as to demonstrate that the pretensions of the committee to exercise independent authority could be validated. Amsterdam was the obvious choice. The news of the fall of Utrecht galvanized the remnants of the Amsterdam Revolutionary Committee into action on 17 January. Posters and handbills appeared on every street corner and rumors started to fly that the revolutionaries would seize power the next day. That next day, Sunday 18 January, the Revolutionary Committee met secretly in their haunt, a tavern by the name of ''Het Wapen van Embden'' ("the Emden Arms") on the
Nieuwendijk Nieuwendijk is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is a part of the municipality of Altena, and lies about 8 km south of Gorinchem. History The village was first mentioned in 1468 as Nyewendijck, and means "new dike". Nieu ...
street, near city hall. A substantial crowd gathered and a deputation, led by Gogel, was sent at the head of this crowd to city hall to demand arms "so as to be able to maintain public order." As in October of the previous year, burgomaster Matthijs Straalman refused to be intimidated and ordered out the garrison. However, differently than in October, General Golovkin now hesitated as he was reluctant to shed blood with the French so nearby. His mind was made up when that same evening Krayenhoff arrived in a French lieutenant's uniform, bearing a commission from the central Revolutionary Committee in Utrecht to remove the "illegal" Orangist city government. The Patriot Revolutionary Committee (with Samuel Iperusz. Wiselius and
Nicolaas van Staphorst Nicolaas van Staphorst (January 1742 – 14 June 1801) was a Dutch banker and financier. Nicolaas and Jacob van Staphorst were involved from 1782-1794 in a total of eleven loans to the United States with a value of 29 million guilders. Van Staphor ...
) deemed it important to liberate an important city itself, without direct French aid, to support its claims to independent authority in the Netherlands. It therefore sent Krayenhoff to Amsterdam, in a French lieutenant's uniform, to organize another insurrection. On Sunday afternoon – at Daendels' instruction – Krayenhoff came to tell Amsterdam's burgomasters that they had better resign the next day. Golovkin unexpectedly went along with this charade and in effect surrendered the city to Krayenhoff then and there. Krayenhoff next proceeded to city hall at the head of an enormous crowd and demanded the surrender of the city from Straalman. The latter tried to stall, but the crowd became threatening, and fearing for his personal safety Straalman transferred command of the garrison to Krayenhoff at midnight. Amsterdam had "fallen" to an unarmed Dutch revolutionary. The next morning, 19 January, the Amsterdam Revolutionary Committee, with
Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (31 October 1761 – 15 February 1825), Lord of Nyenhuis, Peckedam and Gellicum, was a Dutch jurist, ambassador and politician who served as Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic from 1805 to 1806. Education ...
as its president, rode in a triumphant procession of carriages to city hall, where they proceeded to read a proclamation declaring that the incumbent city councilors had forfeited their offices. It also promised democratic elections of a new city government (the first in the history of the city as previously it had always been governed by an
oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
) in the near future. Meanwhile, a provisional government of 22 members was put in charge of the city. This provisional government had as its first order of business the welcome of the French (who had delayed their advance from Utrecht in happy expectation of the outcome). The first French ''
chasseur ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History This branch of the French Army orig ...
s'' arrived that afternoon to general acclaim. On 19 January the population erected a liberty tree in
Dam Square Dam Square or the Dam () is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the best-known and most important locations in the city and the country. Location and description ...
in thick snow.


Aftermath

The previous night, around midnight of 18 January, stadtholder William V followed his wife Wilhelmina, who had left the previous morning, into exile, boarding a fishing vessel at the
Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...
beach. Much of the Pro-British faction of the city of Amsterdam fled along with the Prince of Orange, so there was very little opposition to the change of power. The British armies made no effort to retake Amsterdam, instead, they continued retreating towards
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
– from which they were eventually evacuated in March 1795. The model of the transfer of power in Amsterdam was soon followed in other Dutch cities not yet occupied by the French. Revolutionary committees sprang up left and right, demanding surrender of the ruling city councils to new provisional administrations and the disarmament of the Orangist civic militias and their replacement with "Free Corps" companies from the days of the 1785–1787 Patriot Revolt. In this way
Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...
,
Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
and
Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...
, to mention a few, experienced peaceful revolutions of their own. Only the Orangist stronghold of
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
held out; its Orangist city government sought its own accommodation with the French and it was only replaced on 26 February. The Amsterdam Revolutionary Committee took the initiative to convene a constituent assembly of representatives of the cities that constituted the constituencies of the
States of Holland and West Friesland The States of Holland and West Frisia ( nl, Staten van Holland en West-Friesland) were the representation of the two Estates (''standen'') to the court of the Count of Holland. After the United Provinces were formed — and there no longer was a co ...
on 24 January. This resulted in two days later in the abolition of those States and their replacement with the Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland.Schama, pp. 190–191, 212


References


Sources

* Harvey, Robert. ''War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France 1789–1815.'' London, 2007 * Schama, S. (1977), ''Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813'', New York, Vintage books,


Further reading

* Palmer, R.R. "Much in Little: The Dutch Revolution of 1795," ''Journal of Modern History'' (1954) 26#1 pp. 15–3
in JSTOR
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam 1795 in Europe 1795 in the Batavian Republic Campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars 18th century in Amsterdam