The Dutch During
The Revolutionary Wars
The Prussian Campaign
In Holland 1787
Part IV
The Surrender of Amsterdam
by Geert van Uythoven, The Netherlands
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The Capitulation of AmsterdamAt last, it was clear to all the patriots that now everything was lost. The Prussians were at the gates of Amsterdam, and because of low moral and bad discipline, there could be no serious opposition expected from the patriots present. This was all too clearly illustrated by the behaviour of the Regiment de Vins at Diemen. So on the 10th a capitulation was concluded with the following stipulations:
2. The stadtholder was authorised to garrison Amsterdam with Dutch troops [4].
3. Two Prussian infantry battalions and a detachment of Fussjäger would occupy Overtoom.
4. No Prussian troops would enter Amsterdam, to prevent riots.
5. The municipality would be responsible for protecting and guarding the sluices in the vicinity of Amsterdam, to prevent inundations by patriots.
6. The Duke of Brunswick would receive daily reports on the execution of the decrees of the States-General.
7. The Freecorps would be disarmed, and the progress of it reported daily. As stipulated under No. 4, no Prussian troops would enter Amsterdam. However, to have Prussian troops at hand if this became necessary, some troops were lodged in the vicinity of the Leiderpoort. Both Fussjäger companies were lodged in some houses just outside the gate. At the village Overtoom the Füsilier-Bataillon von Langelair (part of which was forming the guard at the Leiderpoort) was lodged, together with the 1st bat/Rgt von Budberg and the headquarters of the Duke of Brunswick. The artillery was positioned in such a way that it could bombard Amsterdam at any moment. More Prussians were lodged in the vicinities of Amstelveen, Halfweg, Diemermeer, Abcoude, Ouderkerk, and Diemen, while Weesp and Muyden were garrisoned by regular Dutch troops. The End of the CampaignThe capitulation of Amsterdam signalled the end of the Prussian campaign, and now the balance could be made up. In spite of the many actions, the Prussians lost only 211 men killed out of a total of over 26,000 men taking part in the campaign. This low number was mainly the result of the use of the hospital ships, and the medical care organised by the Duke of Brunswick. Only fifteen men deserted -also a remarkably low number for this age. These losses were more than made up by recruiting in the Dutch Republic during the campaign, and persuading prisoners of war to enlist. As can be imagined, the disarming and disbanding of the Freecorps was difficult, and it also took a few weeks before riots between Orangists and patriots ceased to occur. In addition, the reliability of the Dutch army was doubtful, with so many units having fought on patriot side. This was all but made clear by the fact that the States-General asked for 3,000-4,000 Prussian soldiers to remain in Holland until sufficient German troops could have been hired to improve the reliability of the army. [5]
The King of Prussia agreed to this, and even offered to pay the troops himself, if the States-General would take care of their provisions. Major General von Kalkreuth would command the troops that stayed behind, consisting of the following units at the designated locations: (SEE TABLE BELOW)
These troops stayed until the following year when, on 6 May 1788, the last Prussian soldiers left the Dutch Republic.
As this is the end of this series of articles about the Prussian invasion of Holland, I would like to thank the staff of the library of the Royal Dutch Military Academy (KMA) for their help in accessing many invaluable sources to write these articles. Further, I would like to thank Tony Jaques for editing the articles.
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