Batavian Revolution and French Intervention in the Dutch Republic

Background. William V had joined the First Coalition against Republican France in 1793, and his troops fought in the Flanders Campaign, but in 1794 the military situation deteriorated and the Dutch Republic was threatened by invading armies. In the severe winter of 1794/95 a French army under General Charles Pichegru, with a Dutch contingent under General Herman Willem Daendels, crossed the great frozen rivers that traditionally protected the Netherlands from invasion, after revolutionary forces exploited the freezing of rivers in December 1794.

The Revolution of January 1795. In early 1795, intervention by the French Republic led to the downfall of the old Dutch Republic. William V was forced to flee to England on a fishing boat on 18 January 1795, and the Batavian Republic was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution. French troops entered Amsterdam on 19 January 1795 to stay there over the winter.

Aftermath and Consequences. The capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder on the night of 23 January 1795 was a rare interaction between warships and cavalry, with a French Revolutionary Hussar regiment reaching a Dutch fleet frozen at anchor in the Nieuwediep just east of Den Helder. In February 1795 a massive mutiny broke out among unpaid Dutch sailors who believed the old Republic's naval discipline no longer applied. The status of the ships was clarified in May 1795 under the Treaty of The Hague, when the Batavian Republic officially became a French ally.