Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt
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Jonkheer (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...
Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt (
Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
, 13 October 1776—
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 ...
, 23 March 1835) was a Dutch lieutenant-general of cavalry who headed the Dutch heavy cavalry brigade at the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
.


Biography


Family life

Trip was the son of Jonkheer Jan Louis Trip van Zoudtlandt and Anna Wilhelmina, countess of Limburg-Stirum. He first married Cornelia Gijsberta Smit, and after her death, Elisabeth Gratiana, countess of Limburg-Stirum (a cousin) at The Hague on 16 August 1826.


Career

Trip entered the service 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 ...
on 1 July 1791 as a
cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...
in an infantry regiment. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1792, and promoted to first lieutenant on 8 July 1795. By then the
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 ...
had replaced the Dutch Republic. As an officer in the Batavian army, and subsequently the army of the
Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Emperor ...
he saw action in its campaigns as an ally of the imperial French army in Germany and (then Swedish)
Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
. During this career he switched to the cavalry and became commander of a regiment of cuirassiers. When the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by the
First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...
in July 1810, all Dutch army units were incorporated in the French army under new names. Trip's regiment became the 14th Regiment Cuirassiers. With this regiment Trip took part in the
French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
in 1812. His regiment distinguished itself (like other Dutch regiments) at the Battle of Berezina, during the harrowing retreat of the French army from Moscow. Trip subsequently took part in the final campaigns of the French army before
Napoleon I of France Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's first abdication in 1814. He distinguished himself again at the
Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
. After the fall of the Empire the Dutch contingents in the French army were demobilized. Trip left French service as a colonel on 14 April 1814. He entered the service of the new Dutch army (the Netherlands having regained its independence at the end of 1813) in June 1814 with the same rank, and became aide de camp of the Sovereign Prince,
William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...
. He was promoted to major-general on 16 April 1815 and given the command of a brigade of heavy cavalry, composed of the 1st and 3rd (Dutch) and 2nd (Belgian) regiments of (mounted)
carabiniers A carabinier (also sometimes spelled carabineer or carbineer) is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine. A carbiniere is a carabiniere musket or rifle and were commonplace by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is deri ...
of the new Netherlands Mobile Army of the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...
.


Battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo

This brigade took part in the
Battle of Quatre Bras The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between ele ...
and the subsequent Battle of Waterloo as part of the Netherlands Cavalry Division (lt.-gen. J.A. Baron de Collaert) of the First Netherlands Corps under the
Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...
. This Corps formed the center of the
Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...
's Anglo-Allied army at Waterloo. Trip's brigade was initially placed astride the Nivelles road, but when Trip noticed the French preparations for Marshal Ney's great cavalry attack after d'Erlon's failed assault on the Allied left wing, he repositioned his brigade to counter that attack to a position south-west of Mont St.-Jean. When Ney attacked the British artillery Trip's brigade joined
Lord Edward Somerset General Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset (19 December 17761 September 1842) was a British soldier who fought during the Peninsular War and the War of the Seventh Coalition. Life Somerset was the third son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufo ...
's Household Brigade in its counterattack. Both the French cuirassiers and the Dutch/Belgian carabiniers charged. The French horses (already tired from their previous exertions) could not make sufficient speed, due to the heavy ground they had to traverse, and Trip's carabiniers shattered their formation through the sheer impact of their assault. This caused a rout of the left wing of the French cuirassiers, which was exploited by other allied cavalry units. During this encounter Trips's brigade suffered severe casualties. Despite these casualties, the brigade soon had to renew its attacks. The 2nd (Belgian) Regiment was led by the Prince of Orange personally in a charge, where he encouraged them with the cry: 'Allons, mes camarades, sabrons ces Francais, la victoire est à nous' (Come on, comrades, let's put our sabres to these Frenchmen, the victory is ours). The brigade again routed the opposing cavalry and pursued them past the road to Ohain. During these exploits the commanders of both the 1st (lt.-col. Coenegracht) and 3rd (lt.-col. Lechleitner) regiments were mortally wounded. Nevertheless, the brigade took part in the pursuit of the French army after the failed attack of Napoleon's Guard divisions finally caused its defeat, until Wellington called off the pursuit around 10 pm. Trip was mentioned in Wellington's dispatch of 19 June 1815 for the contribution his brigade had made to the Allied victory. Trip himself was made a knight-commander in the
Military William Order The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William (Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Oran ...
on 8 July 1815.


The Siborne controversy

In 1844, almost thirty years after the battle, a British military historian, William Siborne, published a book based on a survey he had made of a number of British officers, who had attended the Battle of Waterloo. In this book Siborne accused Trip personally, and the brigade as a whole, of refusing to advance when ordered, on the basis of allegations made by Lord Uxbridge, the British cavalry commander at Waterloo, and Captain Horace Seymour. According to this account, Uxbridge had tried to order the brigade forward in a charge at the time Somerset made his charge. According to Uxbridge and Seymour, Trip had refused this order, even though Uxbridge had given him a severe reprimand (presumably in English). After Uxbridge had disgustedly ridden away (still to the testimony of the British eyewitnesses) the whole brigade had retired, even disturbing the preparations of other allied cavalry units. Uxbridge stated in his account that “I have the strongest reason to be excessively dissatisfied with the General commanding a Brigade of Dutch Heavy Cavalry, and with a Colonel commanding a young Regiment of Hanoverian Hussars.” Captain Horace Seymour also stated “as to the conduct of the Dutch Brigade of Heavy Cavalry, the impression still on my mind is that they did show a lamentable want of spirit,”. This account is at variance with the above account of the battle, which is based on Dutch after-battle reports. Siborne has two eye-witness accounts. These allegations caused a furore in the Netherlands and Belgium. Dutch general
Willem Jan Knoop Willem Jan Knoop (2 May 1811 in Deventer – 24 January 1894 in The Hague) was a Dutch lieutenant-general, military historian, and politician. As a young captain of the Dutch General Staff he wrote a rebuttal of the British military historian Will ...
soon published a semi-official refutation as did his Belgian colleague general Alexis-Michel Eenens. The latter is especially scathing in his destruction of Siborne's argument pertaining to the Trip brigade, probably because the honor of the 2nd (Belgian) regiment of carabiniers was directly insulted. (1879) "Dissertation sur la participation des troupes des Pays-Bas à la campagne de 1815 en Belgique", in: Societé royale des beaux arts et de littérature de Gand, '' Messager des sciences historiques'', pp. 131–198


Later career

Trip was promoted to lieutenant-general of cavalry on 24 November 1816. He was appointed commander-in-chief of Dutch cavalry on 22 March 1831. During the Ten days campaign in the course of the
Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...
of 1830 he was wounded during the attack on
Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
on 12 August 1831. Shortly afterward, he received the Grand-Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Trip died, still in office, on 23 March 1835 in
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 ...
.


References


Sources

* (1901) "Elisabeth Gratiana, gravin van Limburg Stirum", in: ''Adelsarchief: jaarboek van den nederlandschen adel. 1900-1904 (2e jaargang)'', pp. 201–202 (contains short biography of her husband, A.D. Trip van Zoudtlandt)


External links


Cavaleriehistorie, Quatre-Bras and Waterloo



Trip van Zoudtlandt
by Michel Damiens on Larousse.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Trip Van Zoudtlandt, Albert Dominicus 1776 births 1835 deaths People from Groningen (city) Dutch military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Dutch nobility Knights Commander of the Military Order of William Dutch generals