. Anonymous 1780 copy of a portrait painted in 1777 or earlier by
Johann Georg Ziesenis The ultimatum issued on 9 September 1787 by the Prussian ambassador
Thulemeyer to the
States of Holland mentioned only one
casus belli: It asked In other words, the Prussian war aims were quite limited, and intentionally so, firstly to avoid being seen as unreasonable by the other European
Great Powers, and secondly, because the Prussian king had at this stage no intention of overturning the Holland government, possibly obligating him to engage in a lengthy and costly occupation. The matter was supposed to be resolved in a fortnight, and therefore the troops were only provisioned for a campaign of short duration. The command of the invading troops was entrusted to
Generalfeldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, coincidentally a nephew of
Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the old mentor of William V. His army consisted of about 20,000 Prussian soldiers, in three divisions, commanded by the generals
Lottum,
Gaudi and
Knobelsdorff,
Romberg and
Kalckreuth. After the ultimatum had expired (the States of Holland had not replied to it, at the counsel of
pensionary Adriaan van Zeebergh) they marched on 13 September 1787 from their starting line at
Zyfflich to
Nijmegen, where they were joined by the troops of the garrison of the
Dutch States Army in that city under command of the
stadtholder. The Prussian government had asked permission from the States of
Gelderland,
Utrecht and
Overijssel for the march through those lands, as their conflict was with Holland only. After entering the Netherlands, the Prussian army split in its three components, which marched in three columns: Knobelsdorff, together with the Duke, took the Southern route along the river
Waal to the fortress city of
Gorinchem. Gaudi's division split in two detachments after
Arnhem, and marched on both banks of the river
Rhine towards Utrecht. Finally, Lottum's division, mainly cavalry, moved North-West from Arnhem to the
Veluwe and ultimately the coast of the
Zuiderzee toward the Eastern border of Holland, and the
Hollandse Waterlinie. In theory they could expect resistance from the Patriot troops in the city of Utrecht and in fortifications along the Rhine near
Jutphaas and
Vreeswijk (mostly members of
Free Corps and the "Legion of Salm") and the States Army garrisons of a number of fortress cities (
Woerden, Gorinchem,
Naarden,
Weesp), and the capital in those days, The Hague, who had been withdrawn in October 1786 from the command of the stadtholder by the States of Holland. But the loyalty of these mercenary troops was very doubtful, in view of the wholesale desertions during the preceding months. Besides the Nijmegen garrison of the States Army, the Prussian troops could count on the support of the States Army garrisons of
Amersfoort and
Zeist, who were more or less besieging Utrecht from a distance.
Utrecht pen and auxiliary troops in Utrecht on September 2, 1787. Depiction of the Rhinegrave of Salm as commander-in-chief in the middle (K) The Gaudi division was supposed to attack Utrecht and the fortifications South of that city, but this proved unnecessary. The Rhinegrave was very aware of the strategic danger that the two-pronged attack (north and south of the city) posed. It was likely that the Prussians simply would pass him by and encircle the city, in which case his main force would become entrapped, and the Hague would become endangered. For that reason he asked the Defense Council in Woerden, that was in nominal command of the Holland troops in Utrecht, on 14 September for permission to evacuate Utrecht the next day, and to retreat to Amsterdam where he proposed to make a stand. The only hope of the Patriots appeared to be to hold out until they could be relieved by a French army that was rumored to stand ready in
Givet on the border of France and the neutral
Prince-Bishopric of Liège to march to the Netherlands, so if the Patriots could defend Amsterdam long enough for the French to arrive, they might still be saved. The permission was given and the evacuation started the next day and soon degenerated into total chaos. The Free Corps became totally demoralized and threw away their arms. Only the Legion of Salm maintained its composure and reached the outskirts of Amsterdam on the 16th. But the Prussians were able to occupy Utrecht unopposed the same day, and move on to The Hague. The fortress city of Gorinchem (the only garrison south of Amsterdam still in a position to offer resistance, after the Woerden Defense Council had ordered all other troops to retreat to Amsterdam on 15 September) was ordered to surrender by Knobelsdorff on 17 September. The town was commanded by Alexander van der Capellen, a brother of the Patriot leader
Robert Jasper van der Capellen. He recognized that his position was hopeless due to the lack of preparations for a siege. Furthermore, a few weeks earlier the two States Army regiments that had been garrisoned in the city had been bribed by one of Harris' agents to defect wholesale, taking their cannon with them. The only defenders left were Free Corps. He therefore capitulated after a token bombardment by the Prussians, and he and his troops were made prisoners of war and transported to
Wesel, where he was treated so badly, that he died in December 1787. The road to Dordrecht and Rotterdam lay now completely open for the Prussians. The divisions of Gaudi and Knobelsdorff now marched together to
Schoonhoven where the defense line proved to be evacuated, so that the Prussian troops and their States-Army companions could march unhindered to The Hague. In that city a revolution had meanwhile taken place. On 15 September the "triumvirate" of the
pensionaries Zeebergh,
de Gijselaar, and
van Berckel had proposed to the States of Holland that they also should move to Amsterdam, as The Hague was no longer safe. However, a few Holland cities that still were in
Orangist hands, and the Holland
ridderschap (College of Nobles) opposed the move, so that only the delegations of the Patriot cities actually moved to Amsterdam the next day. The rump-States of Holland that remained in The Hague then assumed power and started on 19 September to repeal all Patriot-tinged legislation of the previous years, starting with the reinstatement of the stadtholder in his offices of Captain-General of the States Army and Admiral-General of the Navy. William V returned to The Hague on 20 September at the head of his States-Army troops, and the Hague garrison, that up to that moment had nominally opposed him, fell immediately in line. The Hague Orangist mob started looting Patriot homes, and the soldiers heartily joined in. One of the consequences of the reconstitution of the States of Holland in The Hague was that this body could order the States-Army garrisons of a number of the fortress towns behind the
Hollandse Waterlinie to offer no resistance to the advancing Prussians. Naarden, under the command of the Patriot leader
Adam Gerard Mappa, surrendered for that reason on 27 September, as did nearby Weesp. This enabled Lottum, who had up to that moment made little progress, to approach Amsterdam closely from the East. The main Prussian force of Gaudi and Knobelsdorff under personal command of the Duke had reached
Leimuiden on the 23rd. The next day he had
Amstelveen reconnoitered, where there was a strong defensive line of the Patriot forces in Amsterdam. The entire region had been
inundated, so that the city could only be approached along a number of narrow dikes and dams that could easily be defended. The defensive line formed a crescent from
Halfweg, West of Amsterdam, via Amstelveen to the South, to
Muiden, East of Amsterdam. But the commanders of the troops in Amsterdam realized that they could not expect to survive a Prussian assault. They desperately tried to temporize by asking for a
ceasefire and negotiations. An Amsterdam delegation consisting of Abbema, Gales, Goll and Luden arrived in Leimuiden on 26 September to offer terms, but the Duke replied to their request with the remark that they could best adhere to the resolution that the rump-States of Holland were about to adopt in which they meekly asked the Princess what she required to satisfy her honor. The deputation returned to the Amsterdam
vroedschap with this answer and a new deputation was sent to The Hague on the 29th to do this. The Duke visited the Princess incognito on the 28th to urge her to accept the overtures of the Amsterdam delegation, because he had little desire to attack Amsterdam, whose defenses he considered too formidable. However, he was met at the stadtholder's residence not only by the Princess and her husband, but by a cabal of Orangists, including the British ambassador
Sir James Harris; the
Grand Pensionary of Zeeland,
Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel; the author of the
declaratoir (proclamation) of the stadtholder of May 1787, and tutor of the stadtholder's sons,
Herman Tollius; the Zeeland Orangist
Willem Aarnoud van Citters; and another protégé of Harris, A.J. Royer, the secretary of the States of Holland; who all advised that it would be tactically better to put more pressure on the Amsterdam delegation, so as to elicit not so much the required apology to the Princess, as the total submission of the Patriots, in Amsterdam and elsewhere. It was agreed that the Duke would end the ceasefire with Amsterdam at 8 PM on 30 September, and attack the city's defenses on 1 October.
Amstelland at
Amstelveen, 1787 bridge, 1 October 1787 in 1787 Up to this moment the Prussian campaign had been a
militärischer Spaziergang (military promenade), but things were not going to be so easy from now on. First of all, the terrain between Leimuiden and the defense line around Amsterdam was very difficult. On the left-hand side there was the
Haarlemmermeer, a large lake that shielded Amsterdam on the South-West flank. The terrain to the East of the lake was mainly
peat bog, suitable only for
animal husbandry and crisscrossed with creeks and ditches. In addition, large sections were intentionally flooded closer to Amsterdam, and could only be traversed across dikes and dams that were protected with
sconces and other earthworks. The area was bisected by the meandering
Amstel river, that was only spanned by a few bridges, so that troops marching from the South were forced to divide in two columns that could not easily support one another. The defenders of Amsterdam were mainly elements of Free Corps from all over the Netherlands, who had been forced to retreat to the Amsterdam
redoubt as a last resort. Besides the remnants of the Utrecht defense force, that had so hastily retreated on 16 September, there were also Frisian Patriots, who had lost the Frisian civil war between the rival
Leeuwarden and
Franeker "
States of Friesland" earlier in the month, with
Johan Valckenaer and
Court Lambertus van Beyma (at this time still on speaking terms) in the van. Both groups had little military value, especially as they were very demoralized.
Rhinegrave Salm withdrew from Utrecht by night. He was replaced by the French veteran of the
American Revolutionary War,
Jean Baptiste Ternant, who had been seconded by the French government, together with a few hundred gunners. He had tried in vain to organize the Patriot defenses in Overijssel, but that province went over to the Orangists without a fight. The most credible part of the defenders consisted of the Amsterdam
schutterij and the Free Corps. Colonel
Isaac van Goudoever was still in charge of the "white" regiment of the
schutterij, but just around this time he had been forced to take to bed, because of a leg injury. Salm left Utrecht on Saturday evening, 16 September, and hurried to
Uithoorn and
Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, without giving battle. On Thursday, September 20, 1787, the Stadtholder and his wife arrived in The Hague. In Amsterdam Salm's escape was very resented, and if he had arrived there he would certainly have been harmed. This city, to which the Defense Commission had hastily retreated at Salm's request, closed the gates to Salm's troops. The Prussian operational plan for the attack on 1 October consisted of a five-pronged approach. The most audacious part was an amphibious landing by 2,000 troops, transported from
Aalsmeer on flat-bottomed boats across the
Haarlemmermeer to
Sloten. This landing circumvented the earthwork at Halfweg, that otherwise might have been a major obstacle, because it dominated the narrow isthmus between the
Haarlemmermeer and the
IJ river. The defenders were surprised, and the road to Amsterdam from
Haarlem lay open. The Prussian troops then turned South toward
Amstelveen where they arrived just in time to support the main frontal attack by a force of 4,000 Prussians earlier in the day. Amstelveen had until it was attacked in the rear by the Prussians from Sloten, valiantly held on under the command of Colonel count Guillaume de Portes, but the defenders had to retreat in the direction of
Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, thereby opening the way to Amsterdam from the South. The village of Ouderkerk itself had been the target of two other attack prongs that morning. It was an important strategic object, because the village had the only bridge across the Amstel river outside Amsterdam, which was essential for the communications between the Prussian troops on either side of the river. The village was occupied by Amsterdam
schutters under the command of colonel George Hendrik de Wilde after it had been evacuated by States Army troops on the Holland
repartitie who had previously been positioned there, on 23 September. The
schutters manned several batteries of 3-pdr. and 6-pdr. field guns on the banks of the Amstel and the Holendrecht (a creek that flows into the Amstel just upstream of where the bridge was located). This enabled them to oppose two Prussian columns that approached the village along the West bank of the Amstel from
Uithoorn, and along the Holendrecht from
Abcoude. The murderous
shrapnel fire of the Patriot guns repelled several attacks by both columns, causing relatively heavy Prussian casualties. The village remained in Patriot hands until the troops were withdrawn the next day, because the fall of the Amstelveen outpost had opened the way to the inner defenses of Amsterdam for the Prussians anyway. The final attack-prong was an assault, again launched from Abcoude, along the Gein and Gaasp rivers to
Duivendrecht, on the Eastern approaches to Amsterdam. Here the Prussians were also repelled by a battery of Amsterdam
schutters. In the next days the Prussian soldiers ransacked the summer residence of the Amsterdam Patriot
burgemeester Hendrik Daniëlsz Hooft. In any case, the road to the Muiden Gate in the Amsterdam inner defenses remained closed.
Amsterdam Those
inner defenses remained a formidable obstacle. They consisted of fortifications, completed in 1663, according to the
bastion fort-model perfected in the 17th century. They consisted of 26
bastions that completely encircled the city behind a deep moat (now the
Singel canal). There was plenty of artillery available, though trained gunners were in short supply (despite the addition of 200 French gunners, seconded by the French government). The Prussian army lacked a proper
siege train, though it of course had its field artillery, that it now could bring within close enough range to bombard the inner city, if necessary. But the Prussian supply of artillery shot had grown rather sparse: only 200 were remaining for the moment. The Duke therefore was rather pessimistic about the prospect of a lengthy siege. He decided not to press the attack immediately, also because he wanted to avoid desperate measures by the defenders like the so-called "large inundation": a breach of the sea dikes at
Sloterdijk and
Zeeburg, which would devastate the countryside, but certainly would force the Prussians to withdraw. But he need not have worried. The Amsterdam city government decided to ask for a ceasefire in the evening of 1 October, which the Duke granted on 2 October. The same day a deputation of the city government left for The Hague to start negotiating with the Orangist States of Holland. At first it tried to bluff its way out of giving in to demands for total adherence to the resolutions of 19 September. It insisted on keeping the current city government in power and maintaining the right of the people to elect its representatives. But on 3 October it became clear that all hope of French intervention was lost. The city government therefore acceded to all Orangist political demands, but attempted to get favorable terms for the surrender from the Duke. Indeed, he agreed not to occupy the city, but to limit himself to a symbolic occupation of the Leiden city gate. The French soldiers, and the remnants of the Legion of Salm and the "flying brigade" of Mappa were given
safe conduct to the
Generality Lands, and left on 7 October. The same day the Patriot members of the
vroedschap stayed at home, and the members they had replaced in May occupied their seats again. On 9 October
burgemeesters Dedel and Beels assumed their posts again, while Hooft stayed home. The situation before 21 April had been restored. On 10 October the restored city government signed the capitulation of the city, and 150 Prussians occupied the Leiden Gate. The new city government was not safe until the Free Corps and the
schutterij had been disarmed. This happened in the following weeks, while 2,000 States Army troops garrisoned the city to help keep order. The Patriot press was suppressed, and the expression of Orangist sentiments again encouraged (by repealing the prohibition against wearing orange colors in public; now the wearing of the black Patriot
cockades was prohibited). Meanwhile, in The Hague, the final formalities of the Orange Restoration were taken care of. On 8 October the Princess indicated that her honor would be satisfied if "the authors" of her humiliation in Goejanverwellesluis would forever be barred from holding public office (she supplied a list); the Free Corps in the entire country would be disarmed; and all
regenten that had replaced Orangists in the preceding months would be removed again. At the suggestion of British Ambassador Harris she added that the criminal prosecution of the dismissed persons should remain a possibility. Harris wrote in his diary: "‘It is necessary to hold a rod of terror over the heads of these factious leaders, though it may, perhaps, not be to make use of it." If the States of Holland acceded to these wishes, she would ask her brother the Prussian king to remove his troops. Of course, the States did as asked: the people on her list were proscribed on 11 October. The Princess now was ready to do as she had promised, but the Prussian king had incurred great expenses that he wanted to be recompensed for. The Duke and the Princess negotiated him down from his initial demand of several million guilders, but he insisted on a "douceur" for the troops of exactly 402,018
guilders and 10
stuivers, to be paid by Amsterdam alone. But the States of Holland generously rounded this up to half-a-million guilders, to be paid by the entire province, and the king acquiesced. As invasions go, this was a bargain: the victorious revolutionary French forces in 1795 demanded an
indemnity of 100 million guilders for their "liberation" of the Netherlands from the stadtholder's dictatorship. ==Aftermath==