Blockade of Maastricht (1814)

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Blockade of Maastricht (1814)
Part of the War of the Sixth Coalition
Date18 January – 5 May 1814
Location
Maastricht
Result Coalition victory
Belligerents
 French Empire Austrian Empire Austrian Empire
 Prussia
Russia Russia
Sweden Sweden
 United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
First French Empire Pierre Hugues Victoire Merle[1] Sweden Charles XIV John
Sweden Carl Henrik Anckarsvärd[1]
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The Blockade of Maastricht of 1814 was a military blockade of the then

General Bernadotte
. The blockade took place from late January to early May 1814 during the War of the Sixth Coalition between France and the other European powers, ending on May 5 of that year with the capitulation of Maastricht and the departure of the French.

Wallpapers

Maastricht had become a French city since the successful

Nedermaas, Maastricht was a quiet provincial town that attracted little attention from Paris. After 1800 the economy flourished somewhat. The abolition of the medieval system of crafts made free entrepreneurship possible and the many vacant monastery buildings provided cheap accommodation for new businesses.[2]

In November 1799,

Sint-Pietersberg
and inspected the fortifications.

After Napoleon's catastrophic campaign to Russia in 1812, the tide turned for the French. From October 16 to 19, 1813, the

Sixth Coalition pursued the French and set their sights on the capture of Paris
and the return of all occupied territories.

One month after the Battle of the Nations, the proclamation of the

30 May 1814 that France would cede the Southern Netherlands to the Sovereign Principality in the Treaty of Paris, from 1815 onwards United Kingdom of the Netherlands
called.

On December 13, 1813, due to the impending threat from the Coalition Army, martial law was proclaimed in Maastricht by Commander General Louis Charbonnier, French fortress commander of Maastricht under General Pierre Hugues Victoire Merle.[1]

The blockade

At the end of January 1814, army units of the Sixth Coalition Army completely enclosed the fortified city of Maastricht, occupied by the French. In the villages around Maastricht, troops from Austria, Prussia, Russia (Cossacks), Sweden, the United Kingdom and also some army units of the Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands. There was hardly any shelling, so that in fact there was no question of a siege, but rather a blockade. However, some skirmishes took place when the French tried to break out of the fortress. The blockade caused great hardship in the city during the cold winter months.[3] An outbreak of typhoid broke out among the French garrison, which considerably weakened the strength of the garrison.[1] The ex-soldier Frederich Ludwig Behr did a very good job in the sick bay.

On March 31, 1814, the allied armies conquered

Louis XVIII subsequently became king of France. The French garrison in Maastricht swore loyalty to the new king. On April 19, the armistice was signed between the German-Estonian-Russian major general Georg Andreas von Rosen and the French general Pierre Hugues Victoire Merle.[1] Within a few weeks the French troops left Maastricht. The first Dutch troops arrived on May 3 and on May 5, Lieutenant General Dupont took over military command of the fortified city. The official Christiaan Bangeman Huygens
took possession of the city on behalf of King Willem I, although this did not officially happen until August 1.

The commander of the Allied army that had surrounded Maastricht for more than three months was an old acquaintance for the people of Maastricht: [[Charles the army of

Crown Prince of Sweden in 1810. He then turned against Napoleon and in 1814 he led the Allied troops that set up the blockade of Maastricht. In 1818 he would be crowned as Charles [4]

Maastricht in the United Kingdom

On August 1, 1814, Maastricht, together with several other places on the left bank of the Maas, was transferred to the sovereign prince of Orange. A few weeks later, on September 24 and 25, the king visited Maastricht, where he attended, among other things, a ball in the Bonbonnière. A year after the lifting of the blockade, on June 6 and 7, 1815, he was back in the city, this time to inspect the fortifications, including the Fort Sint Pieter and the under construction Fort Willem I. William I would maintain a special bond with the city. In 1841 he married the

Catholic
, Maastricht-born countess Henriëtte d'Oultremont de Wégimont.

The relief after Napoleon's abdication and his exile to Elba was only short-lived. In February 1815 he managed to escape his place of exile and raise a large army. The so-called Hundred Days only came to a definitive end with the Battle of Waterloo on June 18 1815. Napoleon's Hundred Days also led to some panic in Maastricht. The garrison was put on high alert and work immediately began on the construction of the Fort Willem I on the Caberg, a plan that had already been discussed several times. milling had been postponed.

When the

Charles de Brouckère, who resided in the old Government Palace on the Bouillonstraat. Commander-in-chief of the fortress was Guillaume Anne de Constant Rebecque de Villars. This started a difficult process of integration for the partly frenchized Maastricht, a process that could only be considered completed a century later.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Flament, p. 150.
  2. ^ Ubachs/Evers (2006), p. 171.
  3. ^ Ubachs/Evers (2005), p. 80, 'Blockade 1814'.
  4. ^ Ubachs/Evers (2005), p. 67, 'Bernadotte'.
  5. ^ Jaspar, p. 281.
  6. ^ Ubachs/Evers (2006), pp. 233-237.

Sources

  • Morreau, L.J. (1979): Bolwerk der Nederlanden. Van Gorcum, Assen.
    ISBN 90-232-1698-9
  • Ubachs, Pierre J.H., and Ingrid M.H. Evers (2005): Historical Encyclopedia Maastricht. Walburg Press, Zutphen / Regional Historical Center Limburg, Maastricht.
    ISBN 90-5730-399-X
  • Ubachs, Pierre J.H., and Ingrid M.H. Evers (2006): Two thousand years of Maastricht. An urban history. Walburg Press, Zutphen.
    ISBN 90-5730-441-4
  • Jaspar, Edmond (1968): Kint geer eur eige stad? Maastricht (online tekst)
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