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Patriot Rebellion. 1785-95
After the disastrous defeat suffered in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch war a number of citizens began to voice a wish to bring about changes to the government. Among the most influential was Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol who would become a key figure in the coming revolution with the publication of his Aan het Volk van Nederland which called for an end to corruption and a limiting of the powers of the Stadtholder.
Calling themselves Patriots the movement only gained momentum after Herman Willem Daendels attempted to overthrow several town governments and then hold new and fair elections. Though his plot ultimately failed soon the cry of FREEDOM! could be heard throughout the nation as more and more people joined the Patriots cause.
More ground was gained once the reigning Stadtholder William V left the Hague for the quiet town of Nijmegen in Guelders. Word of his flight from the capital caused many otherwise loyal citizens to join the Patriots and soon the countryside practically swarmed with armed militias while the mobs roamed the streets of the major cities.
Things would remain this way for several months until Wilhelmina, wife of the Stadtholder was captured outside the town of schoonhaven by Patriot militiamen while she was on her way to the Hague. The militia held her for some days in a farmhouse before sending her back to Nijmengen.
This served to enrage William who used a Prussian army under the Duke of Brunswick to suppress the rebels. Quickly the militias were crushed, many high ranking members of the rebellion were arrested, and the rule of the Stadtholder was once again secure. Afterwards a small contingent of Prussians remained in the country. They supported themselves largely by looting and pillaging the countryside and caused a fair amount of hate to build up towards the monarch.
However, despite the hatred now felt by most for William there was little anyone could do to stop him. He controlled the cities, his army was unopposed, he had the support of both Prussia and Great Britain (At the time Dutch banks held a sizable portion of the British national debt and William had been largely pro British since the last war) it seemed that his authority was complete.