The Patriots, 1780-1795 Kingdom of Holland
1806-1813






The Batavian Republic, 1795-1806



The French revolutionary armies had defeated the Prussians and Austrians; the theatre of war had moved into southwestern Germany and northern Italy. In this situation, on January 18th 1795, a Revolutionary Committee lead by Schimmelpenninck took over government in Amsterdam. Soon afterward, French troops arrived. In other Dutch cities, similar committees were formed; the Estates, and finally the Staten Generael turned revolutionary. The Dutch Republic was renamed Batavian Republic.
On May 16th 1795, the Batavian and French republics signed the Treaty of Den Haag, according to which both states formed a defensive alliance; the Batavian Republic ceded Dutch Flanders, Maastricht and Venlo to France.
In 1796, the provinces of Drente and Noord Brabant, hitherto without representation in parliament (one too thinly populated, the other with a Catholic majority) were given seats in Parliament. Constitutional changes separate church and state; the Jews were given equal rights as citizens (Sept. 2nd 1796). Coup d'etats on Jan. 22nd 1798 and June 12th 1798 reflect similar developments in France.
The Dutch fleets had been destroyed by the British in 1797. In 1799, the Russians invaded the country; the Dutch navy refused to fight against the orange (Imperial Russian) flag. However, Dutch patriots organized the defense, and both the Russians and British withdrew. In 1801, a third coup d'etat under French general Augereau. In 1804, Napoleon negotiated with Schimmelpenninck to introduce an administration headed by a single person. Schimmelpenninck was appointed Raadspensionaris. A number of reforms were passed. Napoleon, in 1806, demanded the dismissal of Schimmelpenninck and the invitation of his brother, Louis Napoleon, as king of Holland, thus ending the Batavian Republic.

The Batavian Republic was the attempt to continue the revolution abruptly ended by the invading Prussian forces in 1787. However, France's influence, be it it's demand for soldiers, subsidies, territory or it's demand for the Batavian Republic to follow French policies, was disruptive.
Frequent coups, frequent changes of the constitution had the effect that the situation could not stabilize. While a number of the reforms undertaken lasted, as did some non-political institutions, the Batavian Republic was nothing more than an episode in Dutch history.
The population of the Batavian Republic rose from 1,880,000 in 1795 to 2,178,000 in 1806.





EXTERNAL
FILES
Article Batavian Republic, from infoplease
De belangrijkste gebeurtenissen uit de periode 1796 - 1849, from geschiedenis.com, detailed chronological list, in Dutch
Den Helder Campaign, 1799, from Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth
Dutch vessels at Kamperduin, 1797, by V.P. van Deventer; Camperdown, from cleverley.org
The 1795 Revolution, from Amsterdam Heritage
Herman Willem Daendels (1762-1818) en Het Bataafse Legioen, by Frank Mooijman
Nederlandse Held begraven in het Pantheon, Jan Willem de Winter 1750-1812, by Ger Verhoeve, in Dutch, illustrated
DOCUMENTS Maps : Northern Netherlands, districts 1798, Batavian Republic in 1801, Batavian Republic in 1805 from Museum voor Vaderlandse Geschiedenis, from Mees, Historische Atlas, 1865
De Staatsregeling van 1798, bronnen voor de totstandkoming, from Koninglijke Bibliotheek (The constitution of 1798, sources regarding its creation, in Dutch, extensive)
Verfassung der Batavischen Republik, 1798 (Constitution of the Batavian Republic, 1798), posted by Verfassungen.de, in German
Verfassung der Bataviaschen Republik, 1801 (Constitution of the Batavian Republic, 1801), posted by Verfassungen.de, in German
Verfassung der Bataviaschen Republik, 1805 (Constitution of the Batavian Republic, 1805), posted by Verfassungen.de, in German
Coins of the Batavian Republic, from Numismania
Treaty of May 24th 1806 between France and the Batavian Republic, from napoleonseries.org
Treaty of June 5th 1806, from French Heraldry, in French
French map of Holland 1795, from Napoleon Online, features the entire northern Netherlands, no borders; has places, chaussees, coastline etc.
Maps on the siege of s'Hertogenbosch, Siege of Venlo , Siege of Maastricht, Siege of Nijmegen (1794), from Napoleon Online
Portrait of R.J. Schimmelpenninck, by P. Prud'hon 1802, from Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, click artists, p, prud'hon, thumbnail picture
Silhouettes of members of Batavian R. Assembly 1796, from Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1250 major exhibits, encyclopedia, b, batavian republic, thumbnail picture
Population Statistics Batavian Republiv 1795-1806, from The Netherlands : historical demographical data for the whole country, from Jan Lahmeyer, Population Statistics
Il Quadro Statistico della Repubblica Batava (Description of the Batavian Republic, in Italian, 1799), from Napoleon Series
Medal : Battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin), from Blackwatch
Medal : Capture of (den) Helder Point, from Blackwatch
Netherlands - Batavian Republic, Warflags, from warflag.com
Republique Batave, Arme Batave, from Annuaire 1789-1815, in French
REFERENCE Simon Schama, Patriots and Liberators : Revolution in the Netherlands, 1780-1813, reprint 1992
H.P.H. Jansen, Kalendarium. Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen in Jaartallen. Calendarium. History of the Low Countries by Years), Utrecht 1979



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 4th 2002, last revised on May 8th 2006

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