A Greater Netherlands - IN Brabant AAR

Hainaut had always been an uncomfortable issue in the United Provinces. Despite remaining a member of the States-General, the duchy continuously resisted joining the other provinces under a single government. During the 16th Century its independence was of little consequence, especially considering the loose nature of the Dutch confederation itself. But as the Dutch border moved steadily southward in the 17th Century, its location became critical to Dutch defensive plans.

France’s historic animosity towards the United Provinces meant that the nation’s defense revolved around protecting against a French invasion from the south. In the wake of the Great War two belts of modern star forts were constructed along the frontier in Artois and Liége. As feats of engineering, the fortress belts were some of the most impenetrable fortifications ever constructed. However, the presence of Hainaut between them left a sixty mile gap in the defenses. A French army would be able to march halfway to Antwerpen through the duchy before encountering Dutch defenses.

Its strategic location threatened to spark a war between the two nations, as neither France nor the Netherlands could allow the other to have it. After much diplomatic negotiation, the situation was defused by a joint guarantee of independence from both the United Provinces and France, preventing either country from forcing the issue as long as Hainaut remained neutral. As an added measure, the Holy Roman Emperor added his signature to the agreement as an impartial arbiter, including the threat of Imperial sanction on whoever broke the treaty. With few changes, this arrangement held for the next century.

Huchtenbroek’s Schemes​

Huchtenbroek was determined to bring Hainaut into the Dutch fold. The Southern Lily Party had a special interest in defending the French frontier, given its proximity to many of its members’ districts. In addition, the seizure of the duchy might offer the opportunity to acquire new territory for those whose estates bordered the province. And so the Stadtholder set out to find a pretext for invasion.

His first inclination was to tempt the French into acting first, giving the Netherlands reason to occupy the duchy “for its protection.” For this reason, as well as to solidify the Southern Lily Party’s base, he moved to establish a seat for the province of Lorraine on the States-General. Lorraine had been liberated from France 150 years ago during the Wars of Religion, but the French crown still considered it part of their patrimony. Making it a part of the United Provinces would be a slap in the face, as well as frustrate their efforts to expand into the Holy Roman Empire. In May 1705 the motion passed, and Dutch rule extended to Lorraine.

Unfortunately the French didn’t bite. While they increased their military presence along the Dutch border, they made no moves towards war. Undeterred, Huchtenbroek looked for a new plan. After considering the terms of the independence agreement, he determined that if he could prove that Hainaut had violated its neutrality in favor of France, the treaty would be void. If such a violation was not forthcoming, his intelligence network could easily “arrange” evidence. Even though the French army outnumbered the Dutch, victory was fairly certain in a one-on-one fight.

As his accomplices set in motion the first steps towards manufacturing a casus belli, Huchtenbroek widened the scope of the plan further and further. No longer content with just Hainaut, he now eyed the French border territories with greed. The provinces of Luxembourg and Valenciennes were particular prizes, lying between Lorraine and the rest of the Netherlands. Annexing them would place the entire right bank of the Maas, or Meuse, River under Dutch control, a vital lifeline between the granaries of Lorraine and cities of the north. French tariffs on Dutch grain shipments down the river would end, lowering the price of food among the common classes and boosting the Stadtholder’s popularity. Despite the misgivings of his advisors, Huchtenbroek approved new revised plans.

Of course, no plan can survive circumstance. Huchtenbroek was at home manipulating the opinions of representatives, foreign dignitaries and the public masses alike, but his talents did not extend to organizing a military build-up in preparation for war. The task fell to the taciturn head of the State Army, Marshal Gerard Brandt, who struggled to meet the constantly changing requirements issued by the Stadtholder’s office. His misgivings went unheeded as the increasing scope of the scheme prompted delay after delay.

Despite the delays, the plan approached fruition in late 1709. Under the cover of new fortification efforts, Marshal Brandt managed to bolster the strength of the State Armies to 90,000 troops, dispersed into three armies and a reserve. The Army of Brabant assembled in Liege under the distinguished General Jan Barhydt, with the goal of marching south along the Maas and capturing Luxembourg and Valenciennes. In the south the smaller Army of Lorraine prepared to defend the territory until Barhydt’s forces could arrive, under command of the German mercenary Count Jakob von Kraichgau. On the western flank the Army of Flanders under General Karel van Atrecht waited impatiently in Artois, ready to be loosed across the frontier towards Paris. The reserve Army of Holland sat outside Antwerp with orders to secure Hainaut itself. A flotilla of Dutch warships was dispatched to Mallorca in the Mediterranean, while the rest of the State Fleet began exercises in the Channel.

With the military ready, in early March Huchtenbroek presented his evidence to the States-General that Hainaut had violated its guarantees, and was secretly aligning with the French. Copies of the testimony were sent to the Imperial Court in Vienna for the Emperor’s perusal, while the Dutch armies made final preparations to invade.

The Emperor would have none of it. Whether the forged evidence failed under Imperial scrutiny or through simple mistrust of the Dutch Stadtholder’s motives, the Emperor sent word by the fastest couriers available that the Dutch were not to enter Hainaut territory, and furthermore sent orders to his armies in Swabia to begin marching for the Rhine. Dutch military preparations came to a crashing halt as Huchtenbroek sought a way to keep the Emperor out of the fight.

As diplomatic messages crawled across Europe at the speed of horse and Dutch troops grew ever more impatient waiting in their billets, further disruption befell the Stadtholder’s plans. Huchtenbroek had critically underestimated the unrest he set in motion with the annexation of Lorraine. The primarily French region had little in common with the Dutch-speakers of the north, and resented the new laws they found themselves under. On April 4 the townsfolk of Metz rose up against the Dutch authorities, and were quickly joined by several hundred rebellious Lorrainer soldiers from the local garrison. General Kraichgau was forced to march his army from its position on the French border to deal with the revolt, which by this time consisted of nearly 10,000 armed rebels.


Huchtenbroek couldn’t wait. Citing the uprising as further evidence of Franco-Hainaut collaboration, he ordered the armies forward. On April 15 the Army of Holland crossed into the duchy. A week later word arrived from Vienna – the Emperor had declared war.

Here's the (gameplay) situation at the start of war:

The Armies of Brabant and Flanders are both 8/18/4, located on either side of Hainaut, while the Armies of Holland and Lorraine are 5/10 apiece and located north of Hainaut and in western Lorraine. Intelligence has been unable to pierce the French command structure, so I can only see the several dozen French regiments located along the frontier in several armies. Overall, however, the French have approximately 50k infantry, 121k cavalry and 20k artillery at their disposal. The Dutch have more advanced troops (Caroline Infantry, Armee Blanche Cavalry, Coehorn Mortars), and a slight advantage in discipline.

The Emperor's armies are just as large, but are further away in Hungary. 84k infantry, 96k cavalry and 11k artillery make up the Imperial Armies, and to make matters worse they're at the same tech level and discipline as the Dutch. So in total, 90,000 Dutch troops are up against 189,000 French and 191,000 Imperial soldiers.

The goal is to knock the French out of the fight as fast as possible, before the Austrians can arrive in force. It remains to be seen whether that can actually be accomplished, especially since I'm making it harder by occasionally reducing the war exhaustion of my enemies. The Netherlands is suffering under the unrest brought about by Huchtenbroek's rise to power, with -3 stability, and the game difficulty has been raised to max to give the AI a bit more edge. This won't be a cakewalk like the last war

EDIT - Also, on the question of fortresses...the southern borders have Level 4 forts, while an inner belt extending along the Maas from Antwerp around and up along the eastern border are Level 3. The innermost coastal territories only have older Level 2 forts.

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and happy holidays. I’ve been at home with family, but in the mean time I’ve got a new chapter here, as a belated Christmas gift . It’s late, so I’ll detail what’s going on ingame tomorrow.

Middelkerke - Unfortunately elected officials are out of the running. Besides, most of the Electors are Catholic, and so aren't too thrilled with the Netherlands in any case.

Qorten - France will definitely be the first target, I can only hope that the Austrians are slow.

Irenicus - The Dutch navy does have are least some bite. Since the British navy is the only one that has any hope of competing with me, the French seaboard is open to my ships. And the Austrians have managed to take Venice and the surrounding areas, as well as Prussia, which both make decent blockade targets.

Winner - Thanks for the complements. Fighting a land power certainly is different, I haven't really fought a major land war since Burgundy way back in the beginning. Too bad first rate ships can't fit on Europe's rivers, I could block the Rhine with ease then.

PrawnStar – You may be on to something there

Cliffracer RIP - I won't be cheating per se, but I will be giving myself handicaps to keep things interesting.

Von Uber - I'd definitely recommend getting EU now that the Complete edition is out. You won't regret it

asd - At least I don't have to march through Holland and Belgium to get to them...I'm already there!

Slinky - At least some of them do...although that would be spoiling to say which ones.

EUR007 - Things to do: 1) March to Paris; 2) Capture Paris; 3) Loot Paris, deface monuments with Dutch insults, moon the Palais du Louvre

Enewald - Technically, if I hadn't made any adjustments I would have won the entire war a few days after crossing the Hainaut border, but that wouldn't be fun.

Jolt – Not only were the Castillians defeated at Bragança, but in the end Portugal gained Galicia (along with some colonial territories) from the war.

Reaction to the Dutch invasion was mixed. By a narrow margin the declaration of war passed through the States-General, despite emphatic objections from the opposition parties. Throughout the provinces pamphleteers both praised and vilified Huchtenbroek’s deeds. A popular Flemish broadsheet in Ghent asked readers to donate for a victory monument in the town’s square, while the chief newsletter of Amsterdam called for the Stadtholder’s immediate resignation. Huchtenbroek himself took it all in stride, scoffing at the Emperor’s threats and declaring that the war would be settled in time for Christmas. Confident in his own predictions, he sent out invitations to his closest friends and allies for a victory gala at his villa.

Marshal Brandt wished he shared the Stadtholder’s enthusiasm. Like Huchtenbroek, Brandt had long believed that Hainaut must be annexed if the Netherlands was to defend its southern borders. As head of the new State Military Academy he had reformed the army’s organization, replacing skill and discipline for lack of manpower. The defense of the United Provinces was his first and foremost priority, and he had dedicated much of his life to ensuring their safety. During the planning stages Brandt harbored growing concerns over Huchtenbroek’s ambitious designs for French conquest, concerns only partially alleviated by the Stadtholder’s assurances. Loathe to the machinations of politics, the career soldier buried his unease and did the best he could to meet the Stadtholder’s requests.

And now the Marshal’s worst fears were being realized. The already outnumbered Dutch army faced twice as many foes as envisioned. Worse, the unrest in Lorraine threatened to tie up almost a fifth of Brandt’s available forces. The plan of battle would have to be drastically altered if the Netherlands had any chance of surviving the coming storm. Brandt could see that the only hope was to defeat France before the armies of the Empire could be brought to bear against the Republic.

First and foremost, the advancing Imperial armies must be delayed for as long as possible, preferably beyond the Dutch frontier. The eastern border was vulnerable to attack – to the north the broad sandy plains of the coast lacked any significant defensive features, while in the south the Rhine River served as a potential highway from Austrian territory. Fortunately the Dutch-governed principalities of Neddersassen provided a buffer along much of the border. While not as well-trained or equipped as the Dutch forces, the local conscripted auxiliaries could provide needed harassment of the approaching Austrians.

There was still the matter of the Rhine. Reports indicated that Imperial forces were already at Baden and marching north along the river and it was only a matter of time before they arrived. The city of Köln, long wary of their powerful neighbor to the north, loudly condemned the sudden “Dutch aggression” and called for Imperial assistance. Huchtenbroek saw an opportunity. Over Marshal Brandt’s objections, he sent last minute orders to General Barhydt and his Army of Brabant, diverting them from their planned march. Köln would be occupied to prevent its use by the Emperor’s forces. Facing little opposition Barhydt reached Köln within a week and began besieging the city. He was still due to relieve Kraichgau’s forces in Lorraine, so rather than delay further Barhydt left a small covering force and marched the rest of his army with haste into Luxembourg. Against the reduced force the city militia held out until mid-June, but not long enough for the hoped for Imperial help to arrive.

To the south, General Kraichgau was facing a deteriorating situation while unaware that his expected support was delayed. The situation in Metz threatened to spiral out of control unless immediate action was taken. Reluctantly he turned his army from the border to deal with the growing rebellion.

The small army raised by the Lorrainer rebels was made mostly of peasants and shop-keepers, armed with the surplus pikes and muskets seized from the Metz garrison armories. Even with the addition of several hundred sympathetic soldiers from the local regiments, the force was untrained and ill-equipped. Nevertheless they posed a significant obstacle to Kraichgau’s limited resources, and he lost over a tenth of his men restoring order in Metz. As his troops were busy executing the captured leaders and mutineers, ominous news arrived from Verdun forcing him to rush his army back towards the Meuse.

Under the original plan, Barhydt and Kraichgau would have already destroyed the French garrisons in the north and blocked the Meuse. But the repeated delays and distractions had given the French time to organize an attack of their own. As Kraichgau approached the Meuse he discovered that a large French army had passed Verdun the previous day heading downriver, with the obvious intention of crossing to besiege the fortress. With no other choice the Army of Lorraine turned north in pursuit.

The German mercenary caught up with the French ten miles downriver, at the village of Consenvoie. Over 40,000 French troops were in the process of fording the river under the cover of artillery, with a third of their number holding a beachhead on the Lorraine side. With only 14,000 men and no artillery of his own, Kraichgau was heavily outnumbered. His only chance was to destroy the French beachhead before the entire French army could cross over. Without waiting he ordered his men to attack.

Under artillery fire from the opposite shore, the Lorrainer army advanced on the beachhead in Consenvoie. The French commander redoubled his efforts to get men across, but the cavalry that comprised the bulk of his army faced difficulty in safely fording the river. The open fields around the village provided little cover for Kraichgau’s men, and the constant bombardment began to take its toll. After sheltering for a moment in the lee of a small rise, the battered attackers launched a charge on the French positions. But with more and more enemies crossing every minute they were fighting a losing battle.

Then word came – Barhydt had arrived. Bypassing the French fortresses of Luxembourg and Sedan, the Army of Brabant had marched for two weeks to relieve the defenders of Lorraine. Receiving word of the French army upriver, Barhydt and his vanguard pushed south along the French bank to intercept them. He arrived just in time, with Kraichgau’s army on its last legs. The Dutch van fell upon the startled French rear. With their forces split and facing two enemies the French organized a fighting retreat, buying enough time for some of their soldiers to cross back over to the main force. Many more were trapped on the far side of the river, where they succumbed to the reinvigorated Lorrainer army. As the rest of the Army of Brabant arrived it crossed over to encamp around Verdun, while Kraichgau withdrew what remained of his army to regroup. For now, Lorraine was safe.

With all the complications to the east, only van Atrecht’s advance on Paris proceeded as planned. A quick march across Cambrai brought them to the outskirts of the French capital. The handful of French regiments encountered on the march presented feeble resistance for the 30,000-strong army, and outriding scouts reported little armed presence to the north and west. Quite pleased with his army’s performance, General Atrecht dispatched bands to raid the countryside while the bulk of his corps settled in to besiege the city. The general commandeered a villa on the slopes of Montmarte overlooking the city, from which he could oversee the reduction of the defenses firsthand.

Three months later, all was going well. The siege proceeded apace, with most of the outlying towns and suburbs under Dutch control. With the help of the army’s new heavy mortars, the outer defenses of Paris were eroding under steady bombardment. Van Atrecht was already preparing his troops for an assault on weakened bastions, which was sure to force the capital’s surrender.

The French had other plans. As the apparatus of the French military rumbled into life, orders were dispatched from the displaced royal court in Lyons. The Royal Army was sent to the relief of the capital, with 41,000 troops under command of General Boisseau. As the host closed on Paris van Atrecht sent out a recall to his troops scattered about the countryside, while he marched those regiments in the vicinity of the capital eastward to meet the French.

Things fell apart quickly. Boisseau’s extensive cavalry formations were took heavy casualties when they tried to charge the close Dutch ranks, but their vastly superior mobility allowed them to sow confusion and disorder throughout the infantry. Breaks in the line were immediately exploited, threatening to break and scatter the army. Several of the Dutch regiments became separated from the main body during the confusion. Realizing the danger, van Atrecht tried in vain to engage the circling French horsemen in an attempt to reunite with the lost units. Too late, the French forces surrounded and annihilated the pockets.

As night fell and with morale plummeting, van Atrecht sounded the retreat. Under cover of darkness what remained of the Army of Flanders withdrew to the east along the Seine. There was no time to wait for any stragglers from the countryside. Through some providence some of the army’s precious artillery was saved by loading it on captured river barges, but the heaviest pieces were spiked and left behind. The defeat had cost both sides dearly, and the French were in no condition to give pursuit. Instead, they settled for hunting down the remaining Dutch forces scattered throughout the countryside, either on raiding parties, isolated sieges or separated during the battle for Paris. Five thousand soldiers remained unaccounted for in the aftermath, but it bought the Army of Flanders enough time to retreat. After several days travel down the Seine van Atrecht’s army reached the Channel, where the States Navy awaited. Encamping in a small bay on the coast, the survivors of Paris were transported to Antwerpen over the next few weeks.

With the defeat of General Atrecht’s army, the border between Calais and Hainaut was now laid bare.