Between 1793 and 1815, the Netherlands were closely involved in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. When the Dutch Kingdom collapsed in 1795 as a result of the successful winter campaign by the French revolutionary army, the Batavian Republic which replaced it became an ally of France, formalized by the Treaty of The Hague.

This treaty regulated mutual military assistance, which in practice meant a supply of Dutch troops to support the French war effort. From then on, Dutch troops fought in every theater of operations. They took part in the Austerlitz campaign, and when Louis Napoleon became King of Holland in 1806, were sent to Germany and Spain. In 1799 and 1809 they had to defend their own coast, when British and Russian troops invaded Holland.

In 1810 Napoleon annexed Holland because his brother refused to close the Dutch coast to English contraband. The Dutch army thus became part of the French army. In 1812 it almost wholly disappeared in Russia. The survivors, supplemented by new conscripts, fought for France in the 1813 and 1814 campaigns.

After Napoleon's first abdication, many returned to Holland, to serve the new king, William. William had become sovereign of Holland in 1813, when most French troops had left the Netherlands. He faced many problems because the wars had stripped the country of soldiers, weapons and money. But with British equipment, by 1815 he had an army of approximately 50,000 men. With them he fought at Waterloo, while on the other side there were Dutchmen still in French service.

Many relics of this dramatic period have been lost, but in the Dutch Army museum some very interesting items are on display. The museum was founded in 1913 by F.A. Hoefer, a retired officer of artillery. The first location of the museum was Doorwerth Castle, near Arnhem. In 1944, during the battle of Arnhem, the castle was heavily damaged. Luckily, part of the collection was already safely stored in the Leiden Pesthuis which was a hospital in the age of Napoleon. The items that survived the bombardment also moved to Leiden. In 1956, the museum reopened there for the public.

The Armamentarium in Delft, a group of 17th Century weapon storehouses, the study collection of weapons of the Dutch Army was established about the same time. In 1959 this became property of the Army Museum. When the buildings in Leiden began to crumble, the items moved again. During the 1980's the historical collection joined the study collection. Today, part of the collection is on display in the Armamentarium while the rest is stored in a depot in Delft, in former 17th Century cavalry barracks.

In a building of the Armamentarium, dating from 1692, you can find the historical exposition, ranging from the Stone Age to United Nations operations. Part of the first floor is dedicated to the Napoleonic era. A diorama shows the relative ease in which the French under Pichegru invaded Holland in 1794. The traditional defense line, consisting of many rivers, was frozen. Pichegru's soldiers walked across the rivers into Holland, causing panic among the defenders.

In several glass cases are shown objects from the Batavian period. A little further are several paintings. The largest one is a full length portrait of Jean Baptiste Dumonceau, commander in chief of the Dutch forces from 1803 to 1810. It was painted in 1809 by J. B. Couvelet and P. A. Hennequin. Another picture shows a portrait of his son, as a major of the 6th Dutch hussars. One of the regiments in which Jean Francois Dumonceau served during his long career was the famous Red Lancers. His memoirs are still a valuable source for the study of Napoleonic military history.

A rare portrait is that of Abraham Calkoen, who also served in the Red Lancers. In this picture he is portrayed in his uniform of Louis Napoleon's Cuirassier Guards, which precedes his service in the Imperial Guard. Also very special are three paintings by J. Hoynck van Papendrecht (1858-1933). He is by far the most famous artist to choose the Dutch Army and its history for his subjects. The paintings in the Napoleonic section depict the crossing of the Beresina, the Dutch Horse Artillery at Waterloo, and the meeting of Dutch and Prussian troops after that battle.

The Print Room has a wealth of drawings, especially of uniforms. Almost all uniforms of the Napoleonic era are depicted in water colour by Hoynck van Papendrecht, M. H. van Tilburg (1877-1957) and F. J. G. ten Raa (1851-1926). There are also contemporaneous prints, like those of J. E. Markus (1774-1826).

The Print Room is part of the library, which with 300,000 books is the largest on military history in the Netherlands. The collection is a combination of books originally bought by the museum, the library of the former Ministry of War, and the military books of the Royal Archives. It contains many books on Napoleonic history, and is the more valuable because another large collection, of the Military Historical Archive in The Hague, was destroyed during a bombardment in 1944.

Returning to the items on display, we come to a series of original coats. The Dutch Army museum possesses the coats of a lieutenant of infantry (9th line) of the Kingdom of Holland, a lieutenant of hussars (3rd) from the same period and a chasseur a cheval. Very rare are two grenadier coats, one from the Royal Guards of Louis Napoleon, another from the third regiment of the Imperial Guard.

A special relic, which at the moment isn't on display, is the saddle of R. D. Tindal, commander of the 3rd Grenadier Guards during the Russian campaign. He used the saddle in 1812. Through Tindal's grandson it came into the possession of the 19th Century militaria collector J. C. Snouckaert van Schauburg.

Most of the Napoleonic items in the Army museum are brought together by Snouckaert. He was a close friend of Victor de Stuers, founder of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Between 1890 and 1900 Snouckaert gave his private collection to the Rijksmuseum. His books went, unfortunately, to the Military Historical Archive where they were destroyed during World War II. When F. A. Hoefer founded the Army Museum, the Rijksmuseum loaned him many items. In that respect, the Army museum is partly an annex to the Rijksmuseum.

The display on Waterloo is somewhat disappointing and messy. Nevertheless there are some interesting things to be seen. There are the colors of the Nassau regiment, and two Dutch/Belgian chasseur battalions. You can also see the uniform of a Boreel Hussar, and the coats of a chasseur and a hussar trumpet player. Finally, in a series of glass cases are shown firearms and edged weapons of the period.

From 1813 to 1821 the Dutch Army used the British Brown Bess, because the country was stripped of all French weapons. But the 1777 corrige, used from 1795-1812, was considered a much better weapon, so in 1821 the Dutch Army adopted a slightly modified version, the Model 1815. Special items on display include the swords of honor of J. F. Dumonceau and W. K. de Perponcher.

If you want to visit the Netherland's Army Museum, contact: Koninklijk Nederlands Leger en Wapenmuseum "General Hoefer" Korte Greer 1 2623 ME Delft The Netherlands (with special thanks to Mr. J. P. Puype, curator).