The Dutch Army at Waterloo

Addressing some lies, mainly propagated by the British, about the Dutch Army at Waterloo.

[FaustsKanaal]

Sources for this video. An analysis with maps and figures for the Dutch:


And a general overview of The Netherlands in the Napoleonic era.

[FaustsKanaal]

Note that for us Dutch, neither French nor Brits treated us well. Had the Coalition not won, we would have been annexed by France. However, The British took most of our colonies, including South Africa.

And the misfortune of the Boers has started since then. Anglo rule led to the Great Trek, the zulu wars and the introduction of liberalism, the Boer Wars and now the genocide on Afrikaners.

[etiennesharp]

I think it's worth noting that those of us UK based with a background in history respect utterly the Netherlands contribution, particularly your solid artillery and infantry which held the line magnificently.

[Timrath]

The English have always been experts at portraying themselves as heroes and their rivals as losers.
They lost the Hundred Years War, so they won't stop making movies and documentaries about Agincourt - one of the few battles that they happen to have won during that war.
They ran away from the Germans while the French army sacrificed itself defending Dunkerque. And to show their "gratitude", they call the French cowards to this day.
They present their monumental blunder at Gallipoli as an epic of heroism.
They wasted their light cavalry at Balaclava, and twist it as a testament of the bravery and professionalism of British cavalry.
So why wouldn't they claim the Battle of la Belle Alliance, which was won by Dutch, German and Prussian troops, as a British victory and change its name to Battle of Waterloo? It's only natural to their character.

[Leon-bchm]

The Dutch saved Wellington and this is now very known fact. No wonder the monument is for the prince of orange.

[ludovic]

Indeed a lot of negative reference in the English language about the Dutch. Not for nothing I can tell you. Jealousy? Possible who says but let's be honest. The most severe defeat of the British Navy was the Dutch Raid on the Medway. Then they needed the Dutch to free themsemves from a Catholic King (Glorious Revolution). Stadholder William of Orange became King William III just because he needed "a bigger bike" to defeat King Louis and not that he had a very warm feeling for the British. He founded the Bank of England, the financial institute that made the rise of the British Empire possible. He changed the possition of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Of all English Kings he has been one of the most important for the Brits but the Brits do not want to know that which is comparable to the story of Waterloo. Than finally the Boer war where the Brits needed more then troops to defeat not even 85000 Boers. They needed concentrationcamps to finally attain their goal. The Boers invented guerilla warfare and Winston Churchill named the special troops after the Boer Commandos. The English were well prepared for the first World War because of their Boerwar experience. So not jealous??? No possibly not but certainly impressed a lot!! By the way, why do you think that the second King of the Netherlands William of Orange I (the first King was a Frenchman, Lodewijk Napoleon) constructed at the battlefield a huge hill with a lion on top? Indeed, because he knew that Wellington would not like that. He seriously disliked the man.
Dutch impact in history is significant. Even the Declaration of Independance of the USA is an nearly exact copy of the "Brief van Verlaetinghe", the Dutch letter of Independance of the Spanish. Finally, freedom of religion in the States was installed by the Dutch. Last but not least the Dutch like the English much more then vice versa. Stupid act to go for a Brexit but possibly history has something to do with that.

[jeroencrabbe]

The "Dutch" were off course Dutch and Belgian in the current sense. And not all of them fought the French, a lot of them stayed "loyal" to Napoleon. One lieutenant colonel Coenraad Duuring even covered Napoleons retreat from Waterloo.

[karinpierson]

My Great Grandfather x 4 played an important role in this battle - Jannes van Wijk

[TheRealJunyao]

Very important and insightful video showing the opposite of what media portrays!

Thank you very much for doing so much research to spread the truth.

[hollandmeester]

The North and South Netherlands troops were NOT the 3th biggest allied force at Waterloo, but actually the 2nd biggest allied force. And after the French and Prussians the 3th force at Waterloo. The battle took place in their country, while the British were busy in the 1812 war against America.
There were between 30, 000-40, 000 Dutch/Nassau troops against 25, 000 English/Scottish/KGL troops. But ofcourse the British lie about this fact too.
The British cavalery commander Uxbridge gave order to attacked the French cavalery but failed. Dutch cavalery under Van Merlen attacked the French cavalery so the British could escape. And then the British lied about the Dutch and Van Merlen.
But there would be NO discussion, if the Dutch had produced a movie about

[hollandmeester]

Great video. Only 20% of all allied troops were actually British, but you see NO North and South Netherlands troops in the fictional 1970 movie Waterloo.
The British blamed the Dutch/Belgians at Waterloo. And the British blamed the Poles at Arnhem in 1944. Same story.
And the reason for this is the Dutch do not produce a Waterloo movie, so the British like Sharpe can lie about the Dutch all they like because the Dutch do not protest and they do not prove

[peterlubbers]

Thanks for this alas all too necessary retelling of the valiant work done by the Dutch- Belgians!👌

¨Glorie zonder Helden¨- by Dr. N. H Vels Heijn which i read as a teenager was on of the first proper (Dutch) attempts to clean up the stain smeared on the Dutch- Belgians initiated by Siborne.. For the truly interested British i can highly recommend ¨Wellington´s hidden Heroes¨ a very well written scholarly work by Veronica Baker Smith which gives credit where credit is due to the Dutch- Belgians whilst still honouring the efforts of the Anglo- Prussian/ German troops!
For those of you who are fluent in the dutch language and interested in the ¨Dutch brigade¨ fighting for the most part as a flying column under General Chasse against the "Guerrilleros" in the peninsular war (talking about a though job) there is the book ¨Duizend miljoen maal vervloekt land¨ written by Scholars H.Ph. Vogel and JA de Moor it is a must read! The Dutch had some fine units under Bonaparte. To name a few the 2nd Light Cavalry Lancers Regiment of the Imperial Guard and let's not forget who (at the very high risk of getting killed in the process) built the bridge over the ice cold Berezina river for the sake of the Grande Armee having a last chance of retreating. The 400 man strong unit had only 40 left after the work ws done.
So i think it is fair to claim that No the real issue here in 1815 lies in the fact that the Dutch troops were former troops of Bonaparte and that made the Brits shall we say, a bit wary?🤔😉..

[Laotzu.Goldbug]

Very solid video; an interesting recounting of the battle and certainly more accurate than what is often portrayed. That said, I think your meta-analysis afterwards might be off by just a little bit.

No doubt there has been historical rivalry between the British and the Dutch, but to put it bluntly, the endurance and magnitude of the British Empire has pretty much put to rest any "jealousy" or potential jealousy about their competing histories.

It's true that the Dutch were one of the first European global maritime powers (at least in the early modern period) and did quite well for themselves in the East Indies, but the British pretty decisively took North America, they took India, and they took Continental Asia ( the part that was open to Europeans), and of course they got a slight jump on the Industrial Revolution on everyone else, which led them to being the first global hegemon (matched by only one other power afterwards). I mean no insult to Hollanders, but saying the Brits are jealous of the Dutch is kind of like saying that the Americans have some latent jealousy towards the Canadians, because they may have lost a couple battles to at the end of the Resolution or in the War of 1812. I don't think there are any Brits born for well over a hundred and fifty years who bear any bitterness or jealousy toward the Dutch.

What you're witnessing here is really just a basic cycle of propaganda. No doubt at the time in the very early early 18th century the British were keen to promote themselves and downplay Dutch accomplishments at the time, since _then_ the rivalry was still fairly fresh, and neither French or German historians will be particularly interested in challenging this, since as you mentioned, sincde.the fact that they were all pretty set to take a bite out of the Netherlands as well), so it kind of just stuck around. And considering that the British speak, well, English, I'm being pretty much the cultural grandfather's of the anglosphere, it's pretty clear why this view became embedded in American, Canadian, Australian, whatever Consciousness. And then you pretty much just have people uncritically consuming this for the next two centuries. And considering that to a small extent British media, and obviously to a larger extent American media is influential around the world, this view continues to reverberate. Not so much because it is any kind of knowing attack on the Dutch - in fact I think most Americans or British today are actually quite favorably disposed towards them - but just because people have become very comfortable consuming history exactly as it is fed to them. (Hell, if we can so readily abide falsity and misinformation about the second world war, only two generations ago, it's not hard to see how even well-intentioned people might continue to misunderstand a singular event _two centuries ago, _ just out of habit).

In short, you guys aren't being victimized so much by the British, as you are the inevitable march of history.

[And before you ask, no I am not a Subject of the Queen]

[owainlloyddavies]

I sought out this video since I couldn't help but feel the sharpe series seemed a little top inaccurate regarding silly billy

[hollandmeester]

These numbers are English numbers. There where not 25, 000 English. These numbers are included KGL and troops from

[jamescritchley]

It’s a bit like how Americans save the world in every ww2 movie ever made in Hollywood. Should serve as a reminder as to the political and social motivations for the creation of film; 95% of the time.

[dutch]

Heh this was probably the first redpill I took.
Anglos lie a lot through out history

[curtis]

Honestly, your presentation about the Dutch contribution during the Waterloo-campaign is... embarrassing...

Ever read a book on the subject, or do you just use it as a (very vague) means to rant about the mistreatment of the Dutch by the British?