Editing Battle of Turnhout (1789)

{{short description|Battle during Brabant Revolution}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Battle of Turnhout
|partof=the [[Brabant Revolution]]
| image= BATAILLE DE TURNHOUT (01).jpg
| image_size = 250
|caption=The battle depicted in ''Fastes militaires des Belges, ou Histoire des guerres, sièges, conquêtes, expéditions et faits d'armes, qui ont illustré la Belgique'' (1836)
|date=27 October 1789
|place=[[Turnhout]], [[Austrian Netherlands]]
|result=Belgian victory
* Austrian withdrawal from Belgium<ref name=KMLA1/>
* Creation of the [[United Belgian States]]<ref name=BLN471>{{cite book|last=Various|title=Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands|year=2010|publisher=Marshal Cavendish|pages=471}}</ref>
|combatant1={{flagicon|Holy Roman Empire}} [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Austria]]
* {{flagicon image|Austrian Low Countries Flag.svg}} [[Austrian Netherlands]]
|combatant2={{flagicon image|Flag of the Brabantine Revolution.svg}} [[Brabant Revolution|Belgian rebels]]
|commander1={{flagicon|Holy Roman Empire}} [[Count Richard D'Alton]]<br>{{flagicon|Holy Roman Empire}} [[Johann Gottfried Freiherr von Schröder|Gottfried von Schröder]]
|commander2={{flagicon image|Flag of the Brabantine Revolution.svg}} [[Jean-André van der Mersch]]
|strength1=2,500
|strength2=2,000
|casualties1=108 killed<br />60 wounded<br />23 missing<br />3 cannons lost
|casualties2=87 killed or wounded
}}

The '''Battle of Turnhout''' (27 October 1789) was a decisive military engagement between Belgian revolutionary and Austrian forces at [[Turnhout]] in the [[Austrian Netherlands]] (modern-day [[Belgium]]). It was the first engagement of the [[Brabant Revolution]] and took place shortly after the revolutionary (patriot) army of [[Jean-André van der Mersch]] crossed the border from the [[Dutch Republic]] where it had previously been in exile. Their unlikely victory in the engagement led to the rapid collapse of Austrian rule across the [[Southern Netherlands]] and the temporary withdrawal of Austrian forces in the region to [[Fortress of Luxembourg|Luxembourg]].

==Context==
The [[Holy Roman Emperor]], [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]], was an important figure of [[Age of Enlightenment|European Enlightenment]] and a believer in reforming institutions he believed to be outdated. As the head of Habsburg Austria and ruler of the [[Austrian Netherlands]], he decreed a wide-reaching programme of reforms:<ref name=KMLA1>{{cite web|title=The Southern Netherlands, 1789–1795|url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/lowcountries/brabrev.html|publisher=World History at KMLA|accessdate=16 February 2013}}</ref>  [[Josephinism]].  He imposed his own policies in the internal affairs of the Church. Furthermore, he published a number of edicts reforming the law and administration of the territory with the aim of re-enforcing the power of the state.

These laws were received reluctantly by the people and the church, the bourgeois however saw them as an attack on their democracy and civil rights. In response, a movement of protests against Austrian rule appeared. In January 1789, the states of [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] refused to pay imperial taxes. The Imperial response was an occupation of the County of Hainaut and a suspension of the rights guaranteed to the Duchy of Brabant on 18 June 1789. The Austrian military governor Count [[Richard d'Alton]] judged it useful to concentrate his troops in [[Campine|De Kempen]] and around [[Liège]], leaving much of the remainder the Austrian Netherlands thinly protected.

===Resistance===
In May 1789, the secret society ''[[Pro aris et focis#Secret society|Pro aris et focis]]'' was founded in [[Brussels]] with the aim of gathering resistance against the emperor. At the same time, the ''Brabançons'' gathered an army in the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] commanded by Jean-André van der Mersch. The army moved into [[Hoogstraten]] in Belgium without meeting severe Austrian opposition. In the town, [[Henri Van der Noot]] read the ''[[Manifesto of the People of Brabant]]'' proclaiming the end of Austrian control of the Southern Netherlands. Van der Noot proclaimed that the attack on southern Netherlands was a reaction to the Austrian Emperor who had not complied with the rights guaranteed by the [[Joyous Entry of 1356]].

==Battle of Turnhout==
[[File:Lybaert 3.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of a Patriot, symbol of the Battle of Turnhout'', (1902) by [[Théophile Lybaert]]]]
In October 1789, one of the two "divisions" of the patriotic army marched towards Brabant. It arrived in, and easily captured, [[Turnhout]] on the 25th. They had just left the town when they were informed that an Austrian force was moving towards them. Van der Mersch knew that a battle in open country would be futile and decided that his best chance would be to hold the town and fight in the streets, reducing the numerical advantage of the Austrian forces.

With the help of Emmanuel-Joseph Van Gansen, son of a brewer in Westerlo, the inhabitants of the town threw up barricades in the streets. A group took position in the square and another at the entrance to the town near a mill. The town of Turnhout was besieged by the Austrians on 27 October and a violent combat took place. As van der Meersch had hoped, the Austrian forces were not well prepared for fighting in the town itself and, after five hours of fighting, they were forced to retreat, leaving behind five cannons.<ref name=traugott2010>{{cite book|last1=Traugott|first1=Mark|title=The Insurgent Barricade|date=2010|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0520266322}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
News of the victory at Turnhout spread over the [[Flanders]] and [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and resistance increased. The Brabant Revolution became a reality. The towns of [[Ghent]], [[Diest]], [[Tienen]], and [[Brussels]] fell to the rebels. Austrian forces withdrew to the [[Duchy of Luxembourg]].<ref name=KMLA1/>

On 31 December Brabant declared its own independence<ref name=BLN471/> and was joined, in January 1790, by many other Belgian states leading to the creation of the [[United Belgian States]].

==Commemoration==
Each year in the Turnhout battle is commemorated with a spectacle in the Gasthuisstraat, the location where the fighting was fiercest. A memorial by P. Brozius in the Market of Turnhout recalls this battle. The stone dates from 1889, on the occasion of the celebration of 100 years Battle of Turnhout.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Conflicts in 1789|Turnhout 1789]]
[[Category:Military history of the Austrian Netherlands|Turnhout]]
[[Category:Turnhout]]
[[Category:Brabant Revolution]]
[[Category:1789 in the Habsburg monarchy]]
[[Category:1789 in the Holy Roman  Empire]]
[[Category:History of Antwerp Province|Battle]]