Brabant Revolution and Battle of Turnhout

Background. After rioting known as the Small Revolution of 1787, many dissidents fled to the Dutch Republic, where they formed a rebel army at Breda. Inside the Austrian Netherlands, Jan Frans Vonck and Verlooy founded the secret society Pro Aris et Focis in April or May 1789 to plan an armed uprising, and a committee agreed the rebellion should begin in October 1789.

Crossing the Border and the Manifesto. On 24 October 1789 the émigré patriot army under Van der Mersch crossed the Dutch border into the Austrian Netherlands, an event historians have compared to Louis of Nassau's invasion of Frisia in 1566. One of the army's two divisions marched towards Brabant and entered Hoogstraten without severe Austrian opposition. There Henri Van der Noot read the Manifesto of the People of Brabant in the city hall, proclaiming the end of Austrian control of the Southern Netherlands.

Battle of Turnhout. On 27 October 1789 the town of Turnhout was besieged by the Austrians and a violent combat took place. The engagement between Belgian revolutionary and Austrian forces proved a decisive victory for the revolutionaries, described by the source as an unlikely one. The triumph led to the rapid collapse of Austrian rule across the Southern Netherlands and the temporary withdrawal of Austrian forces to Luxembourg.