During the French occupation, one percent of the Dutch population died on the battlefield before Napoleon. A huge number, yet there is little recent research on the military apparatus during this period. Did Dutch soldiers slavishly follow the great general Napoleon or did they resist this French occupier?
For a long time it was thought that the Dutch population showed little resistance and followed the French slavishly. Research in recent years has shown that the Dutch were not so quiet at all. Historian Johan Joor even argues that the Netherlands was the most restless country in the French Empire. Military historian Christiaan van der Spek taps into this recent debate about the degree of Dutch independence under powerful France.
Van der Spek will be awarded his doctorate this week for the Dutch army in the French period (1806-1814). He was mainly concerned with the question of how Dutch the army was in this period. Did the unrest among the Dutch population also affect the soldiers? Most studies of the Dutch army between 1806 and 1814 date from the nineteenth century. They give quite a distorted picture of the Dutch role within the French army, according to Van der Spek. He is changing this with his research, which provides a historical overview for the first time.
French king
In 1806, the French Emperor Napoleon lost confidence in the leadership of his northern client state. He proclaimed the Kingdom of Holland and his younger brother Lodewijk Bonaparte was allowed to take the throne. However, the main lines were mapped out in Paris. For example, Lodewijk had to provide enough Dutch troops that Napoleon could summon when the emperor needed them elsewhere in Europe. Conscription had been introduced in France to get enough soldiers, but the Dutch protested at such plans. So the king had to come up with another solution for this.
Between 1806 and 1814, 60,000 Dutch soldiers served under Napoleon. Of these, 20,000 died of injuries, diseases and malnutrition during grueling campaigns abroad. This number is very high compared to earlier and later wars. The high death rates were partly due to the positions in which the Dutch regiments had to fight during the Russian campaign of 1812:they were often placed in the heat of battle. Van der Spek explains:“Nevertheless, they continued to fight, they literally fought themselves to death. They just didn't do this for Emperor Napoleon. Comradeship, fight for your comrades. That's what it was all about. And honor played an important role for the officers.”
That the Dutch troops behaved bravely is apparent from several French sources. Generals wrote that the soldiers were not inferior to the French in courage. “That was kind of the biggest compliment you could get as a foreigner.”
Label personality
Contrary to expectations, this research shows that the Dutch army under Lodewijk still had quite a bit of work to do. The main lines came from Paris, but the king had a free hand in determining the policy and organization of the army. This also included setting up special corps, which he eagerly used. He was quite fond of ceremonial display and his personal Royal Guard was disproportionate. As far as policy is concerned, Lodewijk made quite a mess of it.
Van der Spek:“This has to do with his unstable personality. Lodewijk was quite impressionable and he just as easily reversed decisions made. There was no arrow to raise and that caused a lot of unrest within the army. Reorganizations followed one another at every turn, often before the previous ones had been completed. Everyone was constantly chasing the facts.”
Although the French army and its organization served as an example for all other armies in Europe, Louis did not blindly follow his big brother. For example, he was advised against initiating conscription by his Dutch advisers because of the national character. The Dutch were a 'trading people and forced fighting was not for them'. The king agreed and proposed conscription for orphans as an alternative. In this way he was able to relieve the overcrowded orphanages and supply enough soldiers to Napoleon. However, this resulted in one of the largest citizen protests during his reign for Lodewijk. He had to stay away from the orphans."
God's will
Louis was in charge of the defense of his kingdom, but once out of the country and on the battlefield, the king had no more say over his own troops. Napoleon appointed the generals and his orders to the Dutch troops went through them, much to Louis's frustration. But the tensions between the French and Dutch army command led to dangerous situations:the English were able to enter the country via Walcheren without much resistance.
That was the moment that Napoleon intervened, according to Van der Spek:“Lodewijk did not have the defense of the Netherlands in order and in 1810 Napoleon annexed the kingdom. From that moment on, the freedoms that still existed under Louis were done with. Napoleon immediately introduced conscription. The letters that soldiers wrote home express their dissatisfaction with the harsh conditions. But also a Christian resignation:it is God's will. I think the latter was an important reason for soldiers to resign themselves to the situation.”
“In addition, if you deserted, you not only found yourself but also your family or village:they had to take in regiments at their own expense, pay fines or supply new soldiers. The officers had sworn an oath of allegiance, and it weighed heavily. That is not to say that they were happy with the annexation:during the official inauguration ceremonies there was a grave atmosphere, according to letters and diaries.”
After the annexation of the Netherlands, a lot changed for the Dutch soldiers, and not necessarily for the better. This did little to detract from Napoleon's status. “The Netherlands went along with the imperial cult and, for example, celebrated Napoleon's birthday extensively. When soldiers saw him, even if it was in the distance, they wrote extensively about it in letters. It was only when the odds of war changed and conditions deteriorated, such as during the grueling campaign to Russia in 1812, that admiration for the Great General collapsed. The Dutch were very pragmatic in that regard.” In other words:only if you win do you have friends.
Quota
The image that the Dutch army was a silent extension of the French Grande Armée can be thrown into the trash for good. Under Lodewijk there was room for national initiatives, army organization and policy making. But after the annexation in 1810, the freedoms were over. And with regard to the influence of Dutch unrest within the French Empire, Van der Spek does not want to go as far as Joor:“Civil discontent and protests made little difference to Napoleon, as long as he got his soldiers. And guess what:those quotas were met every year.”
- Christiaan van der Spek is a scientific researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH). His dissertation is also published in book form by Boom publishers Amsterdam under the title:Sous les armes – The Dutch army in the French period 1806-1814.
- Johan Joor, The eagle and the lamb:unrest, sedition and reluctance in the Netherlands during the Kingdom of Holland and the annexation to the French Empire (1806-1813) (Amsterdam:De Bataafsche Leeuw, 2000)