The Dutch Case: The Kingdom of Holland and the Imperial Departments

Abstract

The Napoleonic era is traditionally not a very popular epoch in Dutch historiography. Most older studies have treated the period of Incorporation into the Empire in 1810 as only a prelude to the establishment of the Orange Monarchy in 1813. Indeed, there is still no general monograph on the Incorporation (Inlijving) of the Dutch provinces. The reasons for this neglect are twofold. Firstly, the Napoleonic period has been perceived as one of national decline; political independence was under threat and finally lost entirely in 1810. Instead of returning to the glories of the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, the economy shrank, cities depopulated and young men were conscripted for the Napoleonic army. Indeed, immediately after the collapse of the Empire in the Dutch departments in October 1813, many pamphlets were published describing the atrocities committed by the French. Secondly, and probably more damaging for the Dutch remembrance of Napoleonic rule, was the official policy of forgetting by King William I (r. 1813–40). According to this policy of oubli, the Napoleonic period was simply not to be mentioned, whether positively or negatively. Thus, the years 1795–1813 were draped in silence during the Restoration. 1