General Jan Willem Janssens
Dutch Generals
Of The Napoleonic Wars
The Final Years, 1812-38
by Geert van Uythoven, The Netherlands
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After giving his word of honour not to fight against the British and their allies until exchanged properly the British brought Janssens back to France, putting him ashore at Morlaix on 11 November 1812. On 15 January 1813 he was appointed Commander of the 31st Military Division at Groningen, in the former Kingdom of Holland. Two months later, on 5 march 1813, he was ordered to go to Coevorden, situated on the southern border of his Military Division, to prepare this fortress for defence. On 24 March he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Military Division at Mézières. On 30 March Janssens was exchanged properly, but for the time being stayed as Commander at Mézières. On 5 March 1814 he received orders from Napoleon to collect all available troops of the Ardennes fortresses to attack Blücher’s rear at Laon, and then to join the army in Champagne. On 14 March he reached the army near Reims with 3,000 men, and two days later was incorporated with the troops commanded by Marshall Ney. During the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube on 20 March Janssens was wounded, and received permission to leave the army and to go to Paris, to be employed again by the Minister of War. However, on 9 April Janssens asked and received his dismissal from the French Army. Leaving France for the Netherlands, on 9 May 1814 Janssens joined the Netherlands army in the rank of Lieutenant-General, the same rank he held in the French army, and was by William of Orange charged with the direction of personnel with the Department of War. This gave him a lot of trouble. Many officers tried to obtain a position in the new Netherlands army. Aged Orangist officers who saw no service since 1795, former Batavian and former French officers, and officers and civilians which only experience was their conduct during 1813, in the ‘liberation war’ of the Netherlands. In addition, Janssens was asked to ‘lobby’ with William of Orange by a number of officers that had fought with distinction in the French army under Napoleon, to receive a place in the Netherlands army. Among these were the Generals Daendels and Dumonceau. Not surprisingly, in these cases, Janssens did nothing, in order not to compromise himself, and also to keep all able possible rivals far away from his own position. As a result, his relations with many officers were worsening, making his position even more troublesome. Furthermore, bringing the Netherlands army on full strength was a problem. On 3 July 1814, of the 53,607 men that were needed to bring the army at full strength, only 34,097 were present. And of these many had to send away because they were unfit for duty. But that is another story… On 8 July, Janssens was also appointed President of the Commission for the Organisation of the Colonial Army. On the 24th of the same month, Janssens became President of the Commission for the Organisation of the Netherlands Army. Already four days later, on the 28th, he became provisional Commissary-General of War. For the third time, Janssens was ordered to create an army! On 31 August, he was appointed Commissary-General of War of the Southern Provinces. However, Janssens had other plans for himself. A new Governor-General for the Dutch East Indies was needed, and Janssens was highly interested in this profitable position. However, the loss of Java during his leadership and the problems he had in the relations with the natives were the cause that he was not chosen for this important position. [8]
Angered by this, on 19 September Janssens asked for his dismissal, which was ignored by William of Orange. Asking for his dismissal again on 8 December, it was again refused; the young Kingdom could not do without his experience right now. On 11 December this function was combined with that for the Netherlands, and Janssens was offered to become Commissary-General of the United Departments of War, with
the rank of Secretary of State.
Beginning in this quality on 1 January 1815, Janssens finally received his resignation on 22 May 1815, ending his active duty at the age of 52. Two days later, on 24 May 1815, Janssens was appointed President of the Commission for the Design of the Regulations of Administration and Discipline for the Militaire Willemsorde (‘Military Order of William’). On 8 July he was distinguished by being made a knight of the Grand Cross of the Militaire Willemsorde, and appointed Chancellor of the Order. On 7 November 1816 he was authorized to
wear his decoration of grand officier de la Légion d’honneur, to be confirmed by the King of France on 6 October 1817.
Finally, Janssens became also a member of the Netherlands nobility when he was made a Jonkheer by Royal Order of 24 November 1816. On 10 November 1828 he was also promoted to General of Infantry, the highest rank existing in the Netherlands army. On 9 January 1834
Janssens was charged with the function of Chancellor of the Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw (‘Order of the Netherlands Lion’). This would be his last appointment; he died on 23 May 1838 in The Hague, 75 years old.
Jan Willem Janssens was a soldier his whole life. Although brave, his qualities on the battlefield were mediocre. Doing his best on Java he
was not able to withstand the British invasion with the troops he had at his disposal. A job I think Daendels would have done much better. Since Janssens relieved Daendels as Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, relations with him were - not surprisingly - very bad.
Janssens, however, served much better in administrative duties This was duly recognised by Louis Bonaparte - who also needed all the Dutch support he could get - and later also by William of Orange. William gave him the task to create the Netherlands army, something even more difficult to accomplish because of the incorporation of the ‘Belgians’ and the problems already described. That Janssens succeeded in creating a useful military force out of the scarce resources, with so many men trying to obtain the best for themselves, with or without the right capabilities, became clear during the Waterloo Campaign. During this campaign, and looking at the circumstances, the green Netherlands army gave a very good account of themselves.
It was characteristic however that Janssens held no field command during this campaign, and already in May received his dismissal. Rather strange, one of the most experienced Dutch officers was not present with the army during the most critical moment of the existence of the Netherlands nation.
[1] First Empire No. 39 (Feb/March 1998).
Aa, A.J. van der Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden (Haarlem 1855)
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