Franco-Batavian victory
145-616: The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (or Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland , or Helder Expedition ) was a military campaign from 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition , in which an expeditionary force of British and Russian troops invaded the North Holland peninsula in the Batavian Republic . The campaign had two strategic objectives: to neutralize
290-502: A British transport fleet under Admiral Home Riggs Popham sailed to Reval to collect the Russian contingent, the mustering of the British troops progressed smoothly. It was therefore decided not to wait for the return of Popham but to send a division under Abercromby to establish a bridgehead on which it was hoped the Russian troops and a second division under the designated supreme commander of
435-716: A British-Turkish invasion. Alerted to the political and military crisis in France, he returned, leaving his army behind, and used his popularity and army support to mount a coup that made him First Consul , the head of the French government. Napoleon sent Moreau to campaign in Germany, and went himself to raise a new army at Dijon and march through Switzerland to attack the Austrian armies in Italy from behind. Moreau meanwhile invaded Bavaria and won
580-561: A better chance of success. In sum, neither side made any territorial gains in this battle. The losses in personnel were substantial on both sides, and appear to have been about equal. After the surrender of the Batavian squadron on 30 August, the British fleet had become master not just of the North Sea, but also of the Zuider Zee. Remarkably, the British had not made use of this advantage (and of
725-471: A cease-fire, the terms of which included the rebel cantons merging into a single one, thus limiting their effectiveness in the central government. However, the French failed to keep their promises in respecting religious matters and before the year was out there was another uprising in Nidwalden which the authorities crushed, with towns and villages burnt down by French troops. No general agreement existed about
870-474: A deep drainage canal, and on the other side the many ditches in the land also hindered easy deployment. The road led to the village of Oudkarspel where the 1st Batavian division of General Daendels had built some fieldworks (the Dutch complained that Brune had prohibited the full development of fortifications, which made the defence more difficult). The first attack on this strongpoint by Pulteney ended in disaster with
1015-561: A defeat at Castricum , the Duke of York , the British supreme commander, decided upon a strategic retreat to the original bridgehead in the extreme north of the peninsula. Subsequently, an agreement was negotiated with the supreme commander of the Franco-Batavian forces, General Guillaume Marie Anne Brune , that allowed the Anglo-Russian forces to evacuate this bridgehead unmolested. However,
1160-727: A great battle against Austria at Hohenlinden . He continued toward Vienna and the Austrians sued for peace. The result was the Armistice of Steyr on 25 December. In May 1800, Napoleon led his troops across the Alps through the Great St. Bernard Pass into Italy in a military campaign against the Austrians. He conducted the Siege of Fort Bard against the Sardinian and Austrian armies for two weeks, after which he
1305-464: A hidden dune valley. The French cavalry was now routed in its turn. They drew along the exhausted Franco-Batavian troops that had only shortly before retaken Castricum and a disorderly retreat was about to start The advance of the British was broken by a counter-attack of the Batavian hussars under Colonel Quaita . This turned the tide in the battle. The Anglo-Russian troops in their turn now broke and retreated in disorder to Bakkum and Limmen, pursued by
1450-621: A landing from the Wadden Sea or an incursion from the East. Daendels indeed was positioned in the northern part of North Holland, with headquarters at Schagen . The French troops (only 15,000 of the full complement of 25,000 troops that the Treaty of The Hague called for) were divided between Zeeland (another logical landing spot, where in 1809 the Walcheren Expedition took place), and the middle of
1595-421: A large dike defends the hinterland against flooding). Next to the dunes is a band of high land that can easily be traversed by a marching army. Further east, the terrain changes to former bogland and other low-lying areas consisting of former lakes that had been drained by the Dutch in the 17th century. These low-lying areas were criss-crossed by ditches and larger drainage canals, needed in the water-management of
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#17328522099531740-482: A member of the First Coalition that opposed the revolutionary French Republic after 1792. In 1795, at the end of their Flanders Campaign , the forces of stadtholder William V of Orange , and his British and Austrian allies were defeated by the invading French army under General Charles Pichegru , augmented with a contingent of Dutch Patriot revolutionaries under General Herman Willem Daendels . The Dutch Republic
1885-530: A minority at the conciliation conference, known as the "Helvetic Consulta", Bonaparte characterised Switzerland as federal "by nature" and considered it unwise to force the country into any other constitutional framework. On 19 February 1803, the Act of Mediation abolished the Helvetic Republic and restored the cantons. With the abolition of the centralized state, Switzerland became a confederation once again, called
2030-586: A new working state. In 1799, Switzerland became a virtual battle-zone between the French, Austrian, and Imperial Russian armies, with the locals supporting mainly the latter two, rejecting calls to fight with the French armies in the name of the Helvetic Republic. Instability in the Republic reached its peak in 1802–1803; it included the Bourla-papey uprising and the Stecklikrieg civil war of 1802. By then,
2175-638: A preliminary treaty signed at Paris on 9 October 1801, the Treaty of Paris of 25 June 1802 ended the war between France and the Ottoman Empire, the last remaining member of the Second Coalition. The peace treaties ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France and recognized the independence of the Cisalpine , Batavian and Helvetic republics. Thus began the longest period of peace during the period 1792–1815. American historian Paul W. Schroeder (1987) claimed that, at
2320-645: A secret of their preparations. The authorities in France and the Batavian Republic were therefore aware of them. The intended landing location was not known to them and they were therefore forced to spread their forces thinly to guard against all eventualities. The Batavian army at the time consisted of two divisions (each of about 10,000 men), one commanded by Lieutenant-General Daendels, the other by Lieutenant-General Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau . The latter had taken up positions in Friesland and Groningen to guard against
2465-520: A shot being fired. Later, the Prince went aboard Story's flagship, Washington to receive the accolades of the mutineers. The Dutch land forces were less amenable to the Prince's powers of persuasion, and neither was the civilian population in North Holland. If anything, the effect of the invasion was to unify the divided Republic against the invader. The Prince's arrogant proclamation, peremptorily ordering
2610-551: A small detachment of the Batavian National Guard, proving that the invaders had to do the work themselves. Other Orangist incursions in the eastern Netherlands and Friesland met with even less success. Nevertheless, the Uitvoerend Bewind of the Batavian Republic declared martial law and under these emergency measures an aristocratic partisan of the stadtholder, the freule (baroness) Judith Van Dorth tot Holthuizen
2755-472: A specific canton. The Helvetic Republic reduced the formerly sovereign cantons to mere administrative division, though keeping the denomination of cantons, while also raising to such status unrepresented territories previously ruled as subjects of the Confederation. In order to weaken the old power -structures, it defined new boundaries for some cantons. The Act of 1798 and subsequent developments resulted in
2900-424: A sudden dash in the dunes, but got too far ahead of the remainder of Essen's column, which followed far more slowly, and the French launched a spirited counter-attack from Bergen in two columns under Generals Gouvion and Boudet to exploit the gap. They were driven back with some difficulty, but managed to retain the village of Bergen for the remainder of the day, despite continued Anglo-Russian attacks. Meanwhile,
3045-544: A threatened French invasion of England or Ireland. The First Coalition broke up in 1797, but Britain soon found a new ally in Emperor Paul I of Russia . The new Allies scored some successes in the land war against France, especially in the puppet Cisalpine Republic and Helvetic Republic where the armies of the Second Coalition succeeded in pushing back the French on a broad front in early 1799. The British, especially
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#17328522099533190-413: A time in the harbour, in accordance with the island's neutrality. Napoleon immediately ordered the bombardment of Valletta, and on 11 June 1798, General Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers directed a landing of several thousand French troops at strategic locations around the island. The French Knights of the order deserted, and the remaining Knights failed to mount a successful resistance. Napoleon forcibly removed
3335-459: A withdrawal in the form of an orderly rear-guard action of the troops of York and Dundas. They also eventually returned to their starting positions. The third column, with Generals Pulteney, Don and Coote , likewise found the terrain difficult. This column was forced to use the road on a dike, called the Langedijk (long dike) that divides several polders. This dike was flanked on the right hand by
3480-439: Is seen as a time of national weakness and loss of independence. For cantons such as Vaud, Thurgau and Ticino , the three who in 1898 celebrated the centenary of their independence, the Republic was a time of political freedom and liberation from the rule of other cantons. However, the period was also marked by foreign domination and instability, and for the cantons of Bern, Schwyz and Nidwalden it signified military defeat. In 1995,
3625-587: The Acts of Union of July/August 1800, Ireland was a separate kingdom, with its own parliament , held in a personal union with Great Britain under the Crown. In response to the 1798 United Irishmen revolt , it became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , effective 1 January 1801. The Austrians signed the Armistice of Treviso on 16 January, ending the war in northern Italy. On 9 February, they signed
3770-555: The Federal Assembly chose not to celebrate the 200 year anniversary of the Helvetic Republic but to allow individual cantons to celebrate if they wished. The Federal Councilors took part in official events in Aargau in January 1998. The Helvetic period represents a key step toward the modern federal state . For the first time, the population was defined as Swiss, not as inhabitants of
3915-510: The Swiss Confederation . Before the advent of the Helvetic Republic, each individual canton had exercised complete sovereignty over its own territory or territories. Little central authority had existed, with matters concerning the country as a whole confined mainly to meetings of leading representatives from the cantons: the Diets . The constitution of the Helvetic Republic came mainly from
4060-585: The Treaty of Lunéville for the entire Holy Roman Empire , basically accepting the terms of the previous Treaty of Campo Formio . In Egypt, the Ottomans and British invaded and compelled the French to surrender after the fall of Cairo and Alexandria . Britain continued the war at sea. A coalition of noncombatants including Prussia, Russia, Denmark-Norway , and Sweden joined to protect neutral shipping from Britain's blockade, resulting in Nelson's surprise attack on
4205-503: The War of the First Coalition (1792–97), France fought against most of the states with which it shared a border, as well as Great Britain, Portugal and Prussia. The Coalition forces achieved several victories at the outset of the war, but were ultimately repulsed from French territory and then lost significant territories to the French, who began to set up client republics in their occupied territories. Napoleon Bonaparte 's efforts in
4350-474: The canton of Säntis . Due to the instability of the situation, the Helvetic Republic had over 6 constitutions in a period of four years. The Helvetic Republic did highlight the desirability of a central authority to handle matters for the country as a whole (as opposed to the individual cantons which handled matters at the local level). In the post-Napoleonic era, the differences between the cantons (varying currencies and systems of weights and measurements) and
4495-441: The "new citizens", who were generally poor. The compromise solution, which was written into the municipal laws of the Helvetic Republic, is still valid today. Two politically separate but often geographically similar organizations were created. The first, the so-called municipality, was a political community formed by-election and its voting body consists of all resident citizens. However, the community land and property remained with
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland - Misplaced Pages Continue
4640-407: The 1791 Haitian Revolution . This included over 30,000 troops with many experienced and elite veterans, but ended in catastrophic failure; by the end of 1802, an estimated 15,000–22,000 had died of disease and yellow fever , among them Napoleon's brother-in-law General Charles Leclerc . On 25 March 1802, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens , ending British involvement in the war. After
4785-606: The Army in Northern Italy, the Army of Britain, and the Egyptian expedition. Jourdan assiduously documented these shortages, pointing out in lengthy correspondence to the Directory the consequences of an undermanned and undersupplied army; his petitions seemed to have little effect on the Directory, which sent neither significant additional manpower nor supplies. Jourdan's orders were to take
4930-427: The Batavian fleet and to promote an uprising by followers of the former stadtholder William V against the Batavian government. The invasion was opposed by a slightly smaller joint Franco-Batavian army. Tactically, the Anglo-Russian forces were successful initially, defeating the defenders in the battles of Callantsoog , Krabbendam and Alkmaar , but subsequent battles went against the Anglo-Russian forces. Following
5075-445: The Batavian lines on a mission to the Batavian government. As on the Batavian left wing the battle had clearly started, Daendels considered this an abuse of the flag of truce. Besides, Don turned out to have papers on his person that could be considered to be of a seditious nature. Daendels therefore arrested Don as a spy and sent him to Brune's headquarters. Don was incarcerated in the fortress of Lille and only years later exchanged for
5220-679: The Bourbon monarchy, because Vienna was too selfish and too greedy for territorial expansion. Schroeder argued it was not that simple: while Austria's primary war aim was not to overthrow the French Republic, it was reasonable for Vienna to set its own conditions for entering a war with France. The enormous financial debt it still had from the War of the First Coalition jeopardised not just the Habsburg Monarchy's ability to field an army capable of defeating
5365-639: The British and Russians retreated after a defeat at Castricum , and in Switzerland, where after initial victories an Austro-Russian army was completely routed at the Second Battle of Zurich . These reverses, as well as British insistence on searching shipping in the Baltic Sea , led to Russia's withdrawal from the Coalition. Napoleon invaded Syria from Egypt, but retreated after a failed siege of Acre , repelling
5510-418: The British fleeing in panic until they could be rallied behind another dike that gave some cover against the Dutch artillery fire. Several other British frontal attacks were also repulsed with great loss, and an encircling movement proved impracticable due to the canal. General Daendels made the mistake of ordering an under-strength sally from his redoubt by 100 grenadiers. Not only was this easily repulsed, but
5655-530: The British officials and the women had only the time to escape to Sicily . In Europe, the allies mounted several invasions, including campaigns in Italy and Switzerland and an Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands . Russian general Alexander Suvorov inflicted a series of defeats on the French in Italy, driving them back to the Alps. The allies were less successful in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, where
5800-520: The British reserve to join Essen. The fight intensified against the evening when Abercromby returned and tried to attack but Gouvion held his line. On the Batavian right wing of General Daendels, absolutely nothing happened that day, as the inundations made his lines impenetrable. There was a strange incident when the British General Don , under cover of a flag of truce, tried to get permission to cross
5945-552: The British. In view of this numerical superiority, and the fact that reinforcements for the British were expected any day, Brune decided to attack Abercromby's position. The British prevailed at the Battle of Krabbendam near Alkmaar on 10 September, where the Batavians and French were routed. This defeat was partly due to sloppy staffwork that allocated one narrow road to the columns of both Batavian divisions that were supposed to converge on
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland - Misplaced Pages Continue
6090-580: The Danish fleet in harbour at the Battle of Copenhagen . France and Spain invaded Portugal in the War of Oranges , forcing Portugal to sign the Treaty of Badajoz (1801) . Russia formally made peace with France through the Treaty of Paris on 8 October, signing a secret alliance two days later. In December 1801, France dispatched the Saint-Domingue expedition to recapture the former colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti ), which had been independent since
6235-520: The Dutch people to rally to Orange, was also not calculated to convince the Dutch of the wisdom of a restoration of the Stadholderate. It was therefore not surprising that the call for an uprising by the old Stadtholder himself from Lingen met with indifference by the people. A motley band of Orangist émigrés at the Westervoortsche Bridge near Arnhem, was easily put to flight on September 4 by
6380-407: The First Coalition as early as April 1795) to join in. Neither were Britain and Austria able to formalise an alliance, due to lack of an agreement on the loan convention that would cover Austria's outstanding debt to Britain from the previous war, let alone British subsidy to Austria for the upcoming war; they resorted to ad hoc cooperation without formal agreement. Next, Russia allied itself with
6525-544: The Franco-Batavian army the greater part of the North Holland peninsula was now in Anglo-Russian hands, at least theoretically. Large parts of the country, the former lakes of the Beemster , Schermer , and Wormer , had been flooded, depriving the British of their rich farmland and the supplies that might have been obtained there. In consequence, most supplies had to be landed at Den Helder and then brought forward with much difficulty across roads that were almost impassable because of
6670-415: The Franco-Batavian cavalry. Only the quickly falling darkness ended the slaughter. All this time the French of General Gouvion and the British column of Abercromby had been fighting a separate battle near the beach and in the dunes. Apart from an artillery duel, in which the Batavian artillery of Gouvion inflicted heavy losses on the British, this remained rather static, especially after Abercromby left with
6815-541: The French General Balthasar Alexis Henri Antoine of Schauenburg marched out of occupied Zürich to attack Zug , Lucerne and the Sattel pass . Even though Reding's army won victories at Rothenthurm and Morgarten , Schauenburg's victory near Sattel allowed him to threaten the town of Schwyz . On 4 May 1798, the town council of Schwyz surrendered. On 13 May, Reding and Schauenburg agreed to
6960-782: The French Republic in 1801. Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, followed by the Ottomans in June 1802 , which brought an interval of peace in Europe that lasted several months until Britain declared war on France again in May 1803. The renewed hostilities culminated in the War of the Third Coalition . On 20 April 1792, the French Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria. In
7105-470: The French army of occupation in the Batavian Republic. These locations had as a severe drawback the dangerous shoals before the Dutch coast that made it difficult to navigate these waters. The extreme north of the North Holland peninsula did not have this drawback and a landing here could thus be supported by British sea power in the North Sea . It also recommended itself to the planners of the invasion, because
7250-669: The French forces there, called the Army of Observation because its function was to observe the security of the French border on the Rhine. Once there, he assessed the forces' quality and disposition and identified needed supplies and manpower. He found the army woefully inadequate for its assignment. The Army of the Danube and its two flanking armies, the Army of Helvetia and the Army of Mayence , or Mainz, were equally short of manpower, supplies, ammunition, and training; most resources were already directed to
7395-426: The French, but had also caused hyperinflation and internal instability that risked a revolution inside Austria itself. The Habsburg monarchy's very survival was at stake, and so Emperor Francis II and Thugut resolved not to enter a war in order to defeat France at all costs, but to make Austria come out stronger than it went in. Moreover, Schroeder reasoned that all the other great powers that were negotiating to form
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#17328522099537540-717: The Helvetic Republic represents an early attempt to establish a centralized government in the country. During the French Revolutionary Wars of the 1790s, the French Republican armies expanded eastward. In 1793, the National Convention had imposed friendship with the United States and the Swiss Confederation as the sole limit while delegating its powers in foreign policy to the Committee of Public Safety , but
7685-413: The Helvetic citizens. The Republic's name Helvetic , after the Helvetii , the Gaulish inhabitants of the Swiss Plateau in antiquity, was not an innovation; rather, the Swiss Confederacy had occasionally been dubbed Republica Helvetiorum in humanist Latin since the 17th century, and Helvetia , the Swiss national personification , made her first appearance in 1672. In Swiss history ,
7830-417: The Irish rebel James Napper Tandy . Though on the night of 6 October the two armies were back in their starting positions (though the outposts in Bakkum and Limmen remained in British hands), and the Anglo-Russian losses had not been devastating (though they were about double the Franco-Batavian losses), the Duke of York now convened a council of war with his lieutenants-general. The outcome of this conference
7975-401: The Opposition, Richard Brinsley Sheridan severely castigated the government in a speech, delivered on 9 February 1800, in the House of Commons For the Batavian Republic the material losses sustained during the expedition were severe. The Batavian navy lost 16 ships-of-the-line, five frigates, three corvettes, and one brig, out of a total of 55 ships. This surrender technically was accepted in
8120-423: The Orangist mutineers were granted an undisturbed evacuation, which had to be completed before 1 December. There would be an exchange of 8,000 prisoners of war, including Batavian seamen, that had been captured at the Battle of Camperdown (Admiral De Winter , who had been paroled earlier, was specifically included). The British promised to return the fortresses at Den Helder with their guns in good order. Except for
8265-428: The Ottoman Empire (23 December) and Great Britain (26 December) while attacking the French Ionian Islands . By 1 December, the Kingdom of Naples had signed alliances with both Russia and Great Britain. The preliminary military action under the alliance occurred on 29 November when General Karl Mack , an Austrian serving Naples, occupied Rome, wishing to restore Papal authority with the Neapolitan army. King Ferdinand
8410-405: The Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , were eager to maintain this momentum by attacking at other extremes of the French "empire". The Batavian Republic seemed an opportune target for such an attack, with the Prince of Orange lobbying hard for just such a full military effort to reinstate him, and with Orangist agents leading the British to believe that France's hold over the Batavian Republic
8555-424: The Republic was 12 million francs in debt, having started with a treasury of 6 million francs. This, together with local resistance, caused the Helvetic Republic to collapse , and its government took refuge in Lausanne . At that time, Napoleon Bonaparte , then First Consul of France, summoned representatives of both sides to Paris in order to negotiate a solution. Although the Federalist representatives formed
8700-428: The Russian losses. The Duke of York did not press the attack for about two weeks because of bad weather, and this afforded an opportunity to the defenders to complete their inundations and other defences. The Langedijk now became a narrow "island" in a shallow lake with the now-improved fortifications of Oudkarspel acting as an impenetrable " Thermopylae ." The 1st Batavian division of Daendels still defended this part of
8845-434: The Russian right wing already started at 3 AM in pitch darkness. Though they gained an early advantage against the surprised French troops on the Franco-Batavian left wing, they also suffered needless losses through friendly fire, as the troops were unable to distinguish friend from foe. They eventually gained Bergen, but were counter-attacked by French reinforcements marching north from Egmond aan Zee . These threatened to turn
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#17328522099538990-478: The Russian right wing by marching along the beach. The Russians, driven out of Bergen, retreated in some disorder to their starting positions because of this threat of being out-flanked. In the confusion general Hermann was made a prisoner of war. The attack of the right-wing pincer therefore was a dismal failure. The column of General Dundas (accompanied by the commander-in-chief, the Duke of York) made only slow progress after it started its advance at dawn, because of
9135-545: The Second Coalition French-allied victory Second Coalition: [REDACTED] Holy Roman Empire (until 1801) [REDACTED] United Kingdom [REDACTED] Russia [REDACTED] Ottoman Empire [REDACTED] Naples (until 1801) [REDACTED] Portugal [REDACTED] Sardinia [REDACTED] French Republic [REDACTED] Spain French client republics : [REDACTED] 200,000 killed and wounded 140,000 captured The War of
9280-439: The Second Coalition ( French : Guerre de la Deuxième Coalition ) (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war targeting revolutionary France by many European monarchies, led by Britain , Austria , and Russia and including the Ottoman Empire , Portugal , Naples and various German monarchies. Prussia did not join the coalition, while Spain supported France. The overall goal of Britain and Russia
9425-400: The Second Coalition failed to overthrow the revolutionary government, and French territorial gains since 1793 were confirmed. In the Franco–Austrian Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801, France held all of its previous gains and obtained new lands in Tuscany , in Italy. Austria was granted Venetia and the former Venetian Dalmatia . Most other allies also signed separate peace treaties with
9570-558: The Second Coalition – Russia, Prussia (which ultimately remained neutral), Britain, and the Ottoman Empire – were duplicitous: each was afraid of and scheming against the others to make sure it gained the most from the war and the others would gain little or actually grow weaker with the new postwar balance of power. Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic ( République helvétique ( French ) , Helvetische Republik ( German ) , Repubblica Elvetica ( Italian ) , Republica helvetica ( Romansh ) )
9715-402: The Swiss people failed to respond to the calls of their politicians to take up arms. On 5 March 1798, French troops completely overran Switzerland and the Old Swiss Confederation collapsed. On 12 April 1798, 121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic, "One and Indivisible". On 14 April 1798, a cantonal assembly was called in the canton of Zürich , but most of the politicians from
9860-404: The agreement. The French demanded additional territory not mentioned in the Treaty. The Habsburgs were reluctant to hand over designated territories, much less additional ones. The Congress at Rastatt proved inept at orchestrating the transfer of territories to compensate the German princes for their losses. Republicans in the Swiss Cantons , supported by the French Revolutionary Army , overthrew
10005-411: The area of Langedijk with the hamlets of Oudkarspel and Heerhugowaard . Finally, the fourth column, 9,000 infantry and 160 cavalry under Lieutenant-General Abercromby, was intended to turn the Franco-Batavian right flank, by first attaining Hoorn and then thrusting southward to Purmerend . The plans of the Anglo-Russian troops were lacking. The attack was supposed to start at dawn on the 19th, but
10150-430: The area was only lightly fortified; a large part of the Dutch fleet (an important objective of the expedition) was based nearby and might be at least dislocated, if the landing was successful; and the terrain seemed to promise the possibility of an easy advance on the important strategic objective of the city of Amsterdam . The area south of Den Helder was therefore selected as the landing place. The British did not make
10295-413: The area, that formed serious impediments to manoeuvring forces, even when they were not inundated. Such inundations were increasingly performed by the Dutch engineers the more the campaign progressed, to deny more and more freedom of movement to the Anglo-Russian forces. At the time of the Battle of Bergen that commenced on 19 September, most of those inundations were not yet completed, so that at that time
10440-469: The army into Germany and secure strategic positions, particularly on the southwest roads through Stockach and Schaffhausen , at the westernmost border of Lake Constance . Similarly, as commander of the Army of Helvetia (Switzerland), André Masséna would acquire strategic positions in Switzerland, in particular the St. Gotthard Pass , the passes above Feldkirch , particularly Maienfeld (St. Luciensteig), and hold
10585-476: The battle. The British made very good use of the support their gunboats could offer from close inshore. The naval gunfire inflicted heavy losses on the Dutch. Daendels then concluded that the Helder fortresses were untenable and evacuated their garrisons, thereby offering the invaders a fortified base. This decision proved disastrous for Dutch morale: the sight of the flag of the hereditary stadtholder , who soon joined
10730-600: The beach. The Anglo-Russian centre advanced slowly but steadily, much hindered by the difficult terrain of the dunes on the right and the water-course-ridden plain between the dunes and the Alkmaar canal on the left. The Franco-Batavians fought a steady rear-guard action, falling back on Bergen (the French) and Koedijk (the Batavians), where they made a stand. In the afternoon the British brigade in Essen's column (General Coote) seemed to make
10875-532: The central government in Bern and established the Helvetic Republic . Other factors contributed to the rising tensions. In the summer of 1798, Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt and Syria . On his way to Egypt , he had stopped at the heavily fortified port city of Valletta , the capital city of Hospitaller Malta . Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim , who ruled the island, allowed only two ships at
11020-473: The central plateau in and around Zürich and Winterthur . These positions would prevent the Allies of the Second Coalition from moving troops back and forth between the northern Italian and German theatres, but would allow French access to these strategic passes. Ultimately, this positioning would allow the French to control all western roads leading to and from Vienna. Finally, the army of Mayence would sweep through
11165-420: The column next to Abercromby's under the new Russian commander, General Ivan Essen . The fourth column (between Pulteney and Essen) was made up of British troops under General Dundas. York intended to have all three columns on the right wing converge on the Franco-Batavian left wing, which consisted of the French division of Vandamme near the coast (the 2nd Batavian division of Dumonceau -now commanded by Bonhomme-
11310-414: The column of General Abercromby made very slow progress along the beach, mostly because the tide was coming in again, which narrowed the beach to a very small band, consisting of loose sand. The troops and horses were suffering severely from fatigue and thirst. In the course of the afternoon they were observed by the French who brought up sharpshooters at first, who caused a number of casualties, especially of
11455-421: The columns of Dundas and Abercromby, the latter personally bringing up his reserve-brigade to attack Castricum late in the afternoon Brune then ordered a bayonet attack which drove back the British and Russians in disorder. They were pursued in the direction of Bakkum by French cavalry under General Barbou and a rout might have ensued had not the light dragoons of Lord Paget intervened in a surprise charge from
11600-551: The conduct of the British troops. Both Admiral Mitchell and General Abercromby were voted the thanks of Parliament and both received honorary swords, valued at 100 guineas , from the City of London . Mitchell was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). When the failure of the expedition had sunk in and its cost had become clear, popular sentiment changed. In Parliament, the leader of
11745-509: The country, strung out between the coast and Nijmegen . The entire Franco-Batavian army was placed under the command of the French General Brune. The invasion met with early success. The depleted Dutch fleet, under Rear-Admiral Samuel Story , evaded battle, leaving the disembarkation of the British troops near Callantsoog on 27 August 1799, unopposed. General Daendels was defeated in the Battle of Callantsoog when he tried to prevent
11890-594: The days after the Battle of Bergen when the British belatedly occupied the undefended ports of Medemblik , Enkhuizen , and Hoorn, at the same time mastering the West Friesland region between these ports. A number of islands in the Zuider Zee were also occupied, but by then the window of opportunity to capture Amsterdam had closed. On land, the initiative still lay with the expeditionary force, that received new Russian reinforcements after 19 September that made up for at least
12035-419: The debacle on the British right wing had been communicated to Pulteney, who therefore was already withdrawing to his starting position. The British therefore made no net territorial gains, but they had dealt the Batavians heavy losses in casualties and prisoners. Finally, the long march of the fourth column under General Abercromby went completely unopposed. He reached Hoorn without mishap and managed to surprise
12180-415: The debacles of the surrender at Saldanha Bay in 1796, and of the Battle of Camperdown in 1797. At Camperdown the Batavian navy behaved creditably, but this did not lessen the material losses, and the Republic had to start its naval construction programme all over again. This programme soon brought the Batavian navy up to sufficient strength that Great Britain had to worry about its potential contribution to
12325-494: The depleted Franco-Batavian army. The Duke of York decided to exploit this numerical superiority as soon as possible. He therefore prepared for an attack on a broad front. To understand the problems this attack encountered one needs to understand the peculiar nature of the terrain. The North Holland peninsula is bordered on the North-Sea side by a beach and a broad band of dunes (except for a short stretch south of Petten , where only
12470-658: The design of Peter Ochs , a magistrate from Basel . It established a central two-chamber legislature which included the Grand Council (with 8 members per canton) and the Senate (4 members per canton). The executive , known as the Directory , comprised 5 members. The Constitution also established actual Swiss citizenship , as opposed to just citizenship of one's canton of birth. Under the Old Swiss Confederacy , citizenship
12615-447: The dunes; to his right Boudet around Castricum; and the 2nd Batavian division, still commanded by Bonhomme, around Uitgeest. In front of this entrenched line there were French outposts, in Bakkum and Limmen , commanded by brigadier-general Pacthod . On the morning of 6 October these were attacked by the now-familiar three columns: Abercromby along the beach, Essen in the middle and Dundas on
12760-409: The establishment of a bridgehead by the division under General Abercromby. This was due to the fact that he was forced to divide his forces, because of the nature of the field of battle, a narrow band of dunes, bordered by the North-Sea beach on one side, and a swamp on the other. Due to communication problems, his right wing was never fully engaged, and the forces of his left wing were fed piecemeal into
12905-497: The expedition partly succeeded in its first objective, capturing a significant proportion of the Batavian fleet. In the 1780s, a pro-French Patriot rebellion failed to establish a democratic Dutch republic without the House of Orange-Nassau , when the latter's power was restored following the 1787 Prussian invasion of Holland . The Dutch Republic , again ruled by the Orangists , had been
13050-618: The expedition, further undermined the already questionable loyalty of the Dutch fleet in the Zuyder Zee . When Admiral Story belatedly decided to engage the British fleet, he had a full-fledged mutiny on his hands, where the Orangist sailors were led by their own officers, Captains Van Braam and Van Capellen . This led to the Vlieter Incident , the surrender on 30 August of the fleet with 632 guns and 3700 men to Admiral Andrew Mitchell , without
13195-449: The expedition, the Duke of York , could easily be disembarked. The question was where this amphibious landing could best take place. Several locations on the Dutch coast were considered. Many strategists preferred either the mouth of the Meuse river, or the vicinity of Scheveningen , both of which offered an opportunity to quickly deploy the attacking forces and threaten the supply lines of
13340-477: The expeditionary force and that henceforth operations would be limited to the relatively narrow band, consisting of the beach, dunes and the plain directly adjacent to them, roughly the area between Alkmaar and the sea. The weather improved in early October and the Duke of York then made his plan for what was to become known as the Battle of Alkmaar of 2 October 1799 (though "Second Bergen" would seem more appropriate, as
13485-411: The forces of the Coalition to the last man and that its Republic would collapse under the barest pressure." Ultimately, these expectations were disappointed. The British forces were assembled in the vicinity of Canterbury under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby . They were mostly made up of volunteers from the militia who had recently been permitted to join regular regiments. While
13630-417: The former city never was involved, and the latter village again became the centre of the battle). The Duke of York's former left wing, under General Abercromby, was moved over completely to the extreme right wing, with the other columns moving to the left to make room. This had the effect of placing exclusively-British formations on both wings (Pulteney and Abercromby) and having mixed Anglo-Russian formations in
13775-540: The former local citizens who were gathered together into the Bürgergemeinde . After an uprising led by Alois von Reding in 1798, some cantons were merged, thus reducing their anti-centralist effectiveness in the legislature. Uri , Schwyz , Zug and Unterwalden together became the canton of Waldstätten ; Glarus and the Sarganserland became the canton of Linth , and Appenzell and St. Gallen combined as
13920-417: The front, but Brune was able to shift large parts of that division (especially its cavalry units) to his other wing. The eastern seaboard of the peninsula was made even more impenetrable by inundations, and a secondary line of entrenchments was prepared between Monnickendam and Purmerend . The main effect of these defensive preparations was, that the low-lying eastern part of the peninsula became impassable to
14065-557: The future of the Swiss. Leading groups split into the Unitaires , who wanted a united republic, and the Federalists , who represented the old aristocracy and demanded a return to cantonal sovereignty. Coup attempts became frequent and the new régime had to rely on the French to survive. Furthermore, the occupying forces insisted that the accommodation and feeding of the soldiers be paid for by
14210-538: The hamlet of Krabbendam. This hamlet sat astride one of the few entry roads to the Zijpe polder in which Abercromby had set up an armed camp. The polder formed a natural redoubt with its dike acting as a rampart and its circular drainage canal as a moat . The straight and narrow road through Krabbendam formed one of the few easy entries, but it was easily defensible also. The original plan had this entry point attacked by both Batavian divisions, but because Daendels' division
14355-459: The incessant rains. Beside the troops, the hungry mouths of about 3,000 deserters and mutineers that the Hereditary Prince hoped to form into a Dutch Brigade , but that were not employed by the British, had to be fed. Provisions were running short. The Duke of York (now headquartered in Alkmaar, which city had opened its gates to him on 3 October) wasted as little time as possible in pressing
14500-425: The latitude of Bergen, so theoretically the French were outflanked there. Though he did not have the strength to exploit this position at the time, General Brune felt sufficiently threatened by this that he decided to order a general strategic retreat from Bergen, and from his other positions of 2 October, on the next morning. Both the French and the Batavians now fell back on their secondary line. Daendels retreated to
14645-460: The latter was more easily impressed (or feigned this; Krayenhoff also darkly mentions a gift of a number of "magnificent horses" by the Duke to Brune as a possible deal-clincher) and soon agreed to a convention that was very favourable to the Anglo-Russians. In this Convention of Alkmaar that was signed on 18 October no more mention was made of the return of the ships. The Anglo-Russian troops and
14790-543: The left, while Pulteney still rather uselessly masked Daendels. The Anglo-Russians of Essen's column easily drove out the French outposts. The Duke of York appears to have had nothing more in mind than an armed reconnaissance, but their early success tempted the Russians to attack Castricum in force and this village was tenaciously defended by Pacthod. The village changed hands several times that day as Brune had Boudet bring up reinforcements. The fighting attracted reinforcements from
14935-582: The local populace, which drained the economy. The treaty of alliance of 19 August with France, which also reaffirmed the French annexation of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel and imposed French rights over the Upper Rhine and the Simplon Pass for evident strategic reasons towards Germany and Italy, also broke the tradition of neutrality established by the Confederation. All this made it difficult to establish
15080-692: The main obstacles were still the watercourses. The Duke of York drew up a daring plan of attack that amounted to an attempt at double envelopment of the Franco-Batavian army. He divided his forces over four columns. The rightmost column, under the Russian Lieutenant-General Hermann, with 9,000 Russians and 2,500 British troops, starting from Petten and Krabbendam, had as objective the village of Bergen . Next to it marched an Anglo-Russian force of 6,500 troops under Lieutenant-General Dundas with as objective Schoorldam . The next column, 5,000 men under Lieutenant-General Pulteney had as objective
15225-559: The more devout citizens. In response, the Cantons of Uri , Schwyz and Nidwalden raised an army of about 10,000 men led by Alois von Reding to fight the French. This army was deployed along the defensive line from Napf to Rapperswil . Reding besieged French-controlled Lucerne and marched across the Brünig pass into the Berner Oberland to support the armies of Bern. At the same time,
15370-659: The name of the Stadtholder by the British, a conceit they adopted for diplomatic reasons, but a number of the ships were later "purchased" from the Stadtholder by the Royal Navy. In France the expedition may have contributed (together with the initial French military reversals in Switzerland) to the fall of the Directoire . They were driven from power in the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire by Napoleon Bonaparte . War of
15515-446: The new alliance, the Dutch started a programme of naval construction. Manning the new ships was a problem, because the officer corps of the old navy was staunchly Orangist. People like the "Hero of Doggerbank" Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen honourably withheld their services. The new navy was therefore officered by people like Jan Willem de Winter , who were of the correct political hue, but had only limited experience. This directly led to
15660-447: The north, blocking further access to and from Vienna from any of the northern Provinces, or from Britain. The Second Coalition took several months to form, starting with Naples allying itself with Austria (19 May 1798) and Russia (29 November), after which British Prime Minister Pitt and Austrian State Chancellor Thugut (the latter only on the condition that Russia also joined the coalition) failed to persuade Prussia (which had left
15805-675: The northern Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars pushed Austrian forces back and resulted in the negotiation of the Treaty of Leoben (18 April 1797) and the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797), leaving Britain to fight on alone against France, Spain and the Netherlands. From October 1797 until March 1799, France and Austria, the signatories of the Treaty of Campo Formio, avoided armed conflict but remained skeptical of each other, and several diplomatic incidents undermined
15950-569: The obstacles of the canal and the dike behind it, that protected the British troops. Vandamme therefore failed to turn Abercromby's right flank as planned. With Britain having naval superiority, both on the North Sea and the Zuider Zee , British reinforcements under the Duke of York (who assumed supreme command) and Russian troops under general Ivan Ivanovitch Hermann von Fersen could easily be landed at Den Helder. The combined forces soon achieved numerical superiority with 40,000 men against 23,000 of
16095-403: The offensive. He knew that Brune had been reinforced with six French battalions, brought up from Belgium. His own forces were in steady decline, especially because of sickness. By the start of the next phase of the campaign: the Battle of Castricum of 6 October, his effective force amounted to no more than 27,000. Brune had divided his left wing into three divisions: Gouvion near Wijk aan Zee in
16240-513: The officers. The French sent more and more substantial reinforcements through the dunes and eventually General Vandamme brought up a substantial cavalry force which he led personally in a charge against the British horse-artillery batteries that temporarily fell into French hands. This cavalry attack was eventually repulsed by a counter-attack led by Lord Paget , who drove the French all the way back to Egmond aan Zee . By then night had fallen and major operations stopped. Abercromby had by then passed
16385-521: The old Prince-Bishopric of Basel . The Swiss Confederacy, which until then had consisted of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance (and ruling over subject territories such as Vaud ), was invaded by the French Revolutionary Army and turned into an ally known as the "Helvetic Republic". The interference with localism and traditional liberties was deeply resented, although some modernizing reforms took place. Resistance
16530-701: The other Knights from their possessions, angering Emperor Paul I of Russia , who was the honorary head of the Order. Moreover, the French Directory was convinced that the Austrians were conniving to start another war. Indeed, the weaker the French Republic seemed, the more seriously the Austrians, Neapolitans, Russians and British actually discussed this possibility. Napoleon's army got trapped in Egypt, and after he returned to France (October 1799), it eventually surrendered (September 1801). Military strategists in Paris recognized
16675-514: The perceived need for better co-ordination between them came to a head and culminated in the Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 . The Republic's 5-member Directory resembles the 7-member Swiss Federal Council , Switzerland's present-day executive. The Helvetic Republic is still very controversial within Switzerland. Carl Hilty described the period as the first democratic experience in Swiss territory, while within conservatism it
16820-451: The prepared positions at Monnickendam and Purmerend, after which Krayenhoff completed the inundations in front of this line. Bonhomme and Vandamme occupied a new line between Uitgeest , Castricum and Wijk aan Zee . This guarded the narrowest part of the North Holland peninsula, as in those days the IJ still bisected the province. Here they awaited the next move of the enemy. With the retreat of
16965-486: The previous assembly were re-elected. The new régime abolished cantonal sovereignty and feudal rights. The occupying forces established a centralised state based on the ideas of the French Revolution . Many Swiss citizens resisted these " progressive " ideas, particularly in the central areas of the country. Some of the more controversial aspects of the new regime limited freedom of worship , which outraged many of
17110-457: The psychological consequences of the surrender for Batavian morale) to force the issue, for instance by making an amphibious landing near Amsterdam. General Krayenhoff , who at the time was in charge of improvising the defences of that city, points out that for a few days Amsterdam lay quite defenseless against such an attack. In his opinion the campaign might have ended then and there. The British fleet had remained strangely passive. This changed in
17255-421: The retreat of the other columns Abercromby received orders to evacuate Hoorn and likewise go back to his starting position. The citizens of Hoorn quickly took down their orange flags again. Abercromby's work had therefore been completely in vain, and would have been so even if the attack on the right wing had been successful. His route was simply too circuitous to be successful. A more direct route might have offered
17400-418: The return of the captured Batavian squadron. The Duke of York countered with a threat to breach the dike near Petten, thereby inundating the countryside around the Zijpe polder. Though General Krayenhoff was not impressed by this threat (after all, he had spent the previous weeks flooding most of the peninsula himself, and knew that the process could be reversed without too much difficulty) and so advised Brune,
17545-577: The return of their prisoners of war, the Batavians thought they had got the worst of this exchange, but they were powerless to get a better deal. An armistice went into force immediately and the evacuation was completed on 19 November, when General Pulteney left with the last British troops. The Russians sailed along the British coast until they reached the Channel Islands where they spent the winter, returning to St.Petersburg in August 1800. The capitulation
17690-406: The rout of the grenadiers enabled the pursuing British, following hot on their heels, to penetrate the Dutch entrenchments and rout the entire group of defenders. This rout could only be stopped at the end of the Langedijk . The retreating troops suffered very heavy losses due to British artillery fire. Daendels finally personally led a counter-attack with only one battalion of grenadiers, but by then
17835-499: The situation changed when the more conservative Directoire took power in 1795 and Napoleon conquered Northern Italy in 1796. The French Republican armies enveloped Switzerland on the grounds of "liberating" the Swiss people, whose own system of government was deemed feudal , especially for annexed territories such as Vaud . Some Swiss nationals, including Frédéric-César de La Harpe , had called for French intervention on these grounds. The invasion proceeded largely peacefully since
17980-603: The strategic significance of the Upper Rhine Valley, the southwestern German regions, and Switzerland for the defense of the Republic. The control of the Swiss passes was crucial as they provided a key route to northern Italy. Therefore, the army that maintained control over these passes could swiftly deploy troops between the northern and southern theaters of operations. Toward this end, in early November 1798, Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan arrived in Hüningen to take command of
18125-476: The time of his writing, most historians – exemplified by Piers Mackesy (1984) – had all too simplistically blamed the Second Coalition's failure on the requirement of "Britain and Russia to trust Austria, when it was obvious that Austria could not be trusted". These historians had assumed that Austria failed to act in accordance with the Coalition's common goal of invading France, ending the Revolution and restoring
18270-532: The transport and naval-escort vessels. From the outset, the joint expedition that was now planned should not be a purely military affair. Pitt assumed that, like the Italian and Swiss populations, the Dutch would enthusiastically support the invasion against the French. According to the British historian Simon Schama : "Once the Orange standard had been raised, he seems to have believed that the Batavian army would go over to
18415-425: The watercourses it encountered that were difficult to cross, as the defenders had removed the bridges. While they were slowly advancing on Schoorldam, the defender of that position, General Dumonceau with the 2nd Batavian division, had time to launch a diversionary attack on the Russians attacking Bergen, which contributed greatly to the confusion in the Russian ranks. When Dundas finally arrived at Schoorldam, Dumonceau
18560-447: The weak garrison at this city. Hoorn was occupied and briefly the locals displayed the colours of the stadtholder. The planned march south from Hoorn, which was the point of the entire manoeuvre, as it would have enabled Abercromby to turn the right flank of the Franco-Batavian army, proved impossible because of the obstacles the defenders had prepared (This explains why Abercromby had not encountered opposition on his march to Hoorn). After
18705-478: Was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars . It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy , marking the end of the ancien régime in Switzerland . Throughout its existence, the republic incorporated most of the territory of modern Switzerland, excluding the cantons of Geneva and Neuchâtel and
18850-410: Was able to cross the Alps and enter Italy. He narrowly defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo . While the Austrians had a much larger force, Napoleon was able to organise a hurried retreat from the village before returning with reinforcements. The French successfully charged the Austrian flank with cavalry and Napoleon negotiated for Austria to evacuate Piedmont, Liguria and Lombardy. Prior to
18995-501: Was completed on 8 October, though Prince William of Gloucester , retreating from Hoorn, fought a rearguard action against Daendels in the following days. By mid-October, the situation of before 19 September had been restored, the Anglo-Russians ensconced in their natural redoubt and the Franco-Batavians besieging them. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and early winter gales made provisioning by sea difficult. The Duke of York
19140-461: Was convicted of sedition and executed. Meanwhile, the Franco-Batavian forces on the North Holland front were being reinforced. General Brune brought up a French division under General Dominique Vandamme and ordered General Dumonceau to bring up the main part of his 2nd Batavian division in forced marches from Friesland. The latter arrived on 9 September at Alkmaar . The Franco-Batavian army now had about 25,000 men available against about 20,000 for
19285-486: Was favourable to the British and their Russian allies. They extracted their troops unharmed so that these could fight again in other theatres of war. The initial British reports about the conduct of the Russian troops had been highly unfavourable, reason for Czar Paul to dishonour them. The Duke of York thought this too harsh, and he sent a letter to Paul specifically exculpating a number of the Russian regiments. The British public and Parliament at first were well pleased with
19430-406: Was forced to take a more easterly route, only the division of Dumonceau was brought to bear. This division could not be fully deployed due to the nature of the terrain and the Batavian forces were therefore again fed piecemeal into the battle. They were unable to prevail over the valiant defence of the British 20th Foot. Elsewhere, the French division of General Vandamme was likewise unable to overcome
19575-456: Was further detailed in an agreement of 22 June 1799, whereby Paul promised to furnish a force of seventeen battalions of infantry, two companies of artillery, one company of pioneers , and one squadron of hussars for the expedition to Holland; 17,593 men in total. In return, Britain promised to pay a subsidy of £88,000, and another £44,000 a month when the troops were in the field. Great Britain would itself furnish 13,000 troops and supply most of
19720-543: Was granted by each town and village only to residents. These citizens enjoyed access to community property and in some cases additional protection under the law. Additionally, the urban towns and the rural villages had differing rights and laws. The creation of a uniform Swiss citizenship, which applied equally for citizens of the old towns and their tenants and servants, led to conflict. The wealthier villagers and urban citizens held rights to forests, common land and other municipal property which they did not want to share with
19865-416: Was now faced with the prospect of a winter siege in a situation in which his troops might well face starvation (on 13 October provisions for only eleven days were still available). He therefore decided to approach Brune with a proposal for an honourable capitulation transmitted by general Knox on 14 October. The following negotiations were short. Brune at the behest of the Batavian government at first demanded
20010-415: Was overthrown; the stadtholder fled the country to London; and the Batavian Republic was proclaimed. Despite the conquest of the old Republic in 1795, the war had not ended; the Netherlands had just changed sides and now fully participated in the continuing conflagration, but its role had changed. France did not need its army so much as its naval resources, in which France itself was deficient. In 1796, under
20155-416: Was placed in the Franco-Batavian center). The division of Pulteney was used as a screening force of the left wing, to deter Daendels. The plan of attack could now be characterized as one of "single envelopment," with Abercromby's column intended to turn the French left wing by marching along the beach. To this end the start of the advance had to be delayed until 6.30 AM, when low tide allowed Abercromby to use
20300-473: Was pushed by his angry Austrian wife Queen Maria Carolina , Marie Antoinette 's sister, and by Horatio Nelson through his secret lover, the British Ambassador's wife Emma, Lady Hamilton . All these companions became reckless gamblers when the poorly equipped and led Neapolitan army was not only soon defeated outside Rome and pushed back, but Naples itself was occupied by France on January 23. The king,
20445-435: Was strongest in the more traditional Catholic cantons, with armed uprisings breaking out in spring 1798 in the central part of Switzerland . The French and Helvetic armies suppressed the uprisings, but opposition to the new government gradually increased over the years, as the Swiss resented their loss of local democracy, the new taxes, the centralization and the hostility to religion. Nonetheless, there were long-term effects to
20590-558: Was that the Anglo-Russian army withdrew completely to the original bridgehead of the Zijpe polder, relinquishing all terrain that had been gained since 19 September. The cities of Hoorn, Enkhuizen and Medemblik were also evacuated and the following Batavian troops could only just prevent the burning of the warehouses with naval stores in those cities by the British. The retreat was executed in such haste that two field hospitals full of British wounded were left in Alkmaar, together with 400 women and children of soldiers. The strategic withdrawal
20735-402: Was to contain the expansion of the French Republic and to restore the monarchy in France, while Austria – weakened and in deep financial debt from the War of the First Coalition – sought primarily to recover its position and come out of the war stronger than when it had entered. In large part because of the difference in strategy among the three major allied powers,
20880-416: Was weak and that a determined strike by the British towards Amsterdam would lead to a massive uprising against the French. An added incentive was that a combined campaign against the Dutch had been a condition of the agreement with the Russians of 28 December 1798. In that agreement, Emperor Paul I had placed 45,000 Russian troops at the disposal of the Coalition in return for British subsidies. This convention
21025-402: Was wounded by grapeshot. What exactly happened on the Dutch side after that is unclear as his replacement, General Bonhomme, failed to make an after-battle report. The upshot was that the division fell back in some disorder on Koedijk . The British failed to exploit this retreat, due to a counter-attack from the Dutch, but mainly because the rout of the Russian troops on the right wing also forced
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