Now this is a story to tell…You see, in our history we have had numerous such occasions, which just sound so utterly ridiculous, we wouldn’t even believe if the thing we’ve heard is true. Well, this time I can assure you that this event, that I am about to tell you about, is not a fiction, but a rather forgotten part of our unusual history.

The action takes place during the War of the First Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars.

To grossly oversimplify for those, who are not aware of what these wars were all about, basically during the French Revolution several other European Powers, such as the Dutch Republic (our main protagonist in the story today), Great Britain, Prussia, Austria etc. felt threatened by the rapidly spreading revolutionary ideas in France. They feared that the revolts there would spark the revolutionary flame back home as well and ultimately destroy the European countries’ monarchic character, de facto the old European system. That’s why these countries (mainly Austria and Prussia) issued an ultimatum to the French to return King Louis XVI to the throne, to which the French Revolutionaries (the radical Jacobines) responded with the execution of the king. This led to the declaration of war by the other European powers with the goal of eradicating the revolutionary threat. I would argue that these wars are a very complicated and interesting topic so maybe in the future I would try to discuss them in another article, but for now let’s stick to our main story.

Now imagine this, it is January of 1795 and the weather conditions are extreme. The winter of 1794-1795 was exceptionally cold, causing the Zuiderzee, an important shallow bay of the North Sea, to freeze. The Dutch, who were involved in the previously mentioned military conflict against the French, happened to have some 14 ships of their fleet frozen in the bay, near the city of Den Helder, located at the tip of the North Holland peninsula. The fleet contained five ships-of-the-line, there frigates and a couple of smaller military and merchant ships, equipped with more than 850 guns in total.

In the fall of 1794, general Jean-Charles Pichegru commanded the French forces during the conquest of the Dutch Republic.

When the French entered the city of Amsterdam, general Pichegru was informed, that a Dutch fleet was anchored near the city of Den Helder. He immediately saw the opportunity and ordered General of Brigade Jan Willem de Winter (who was Dutch but sympathized the French) to lead an attack against the ships.

The general decided to use the squadron of the 8^th Hussar. He chose cavalry, since the units were quicker and more efficient for the selected operation, than soldiers-on-foot would have been.

On the night of 23 January 1795, the Dutch fleet was spotted as expected. It was estimated, that the most efficient way the ships could be taken is by a silent horse charge. If a direct attack was to be executed, the French forces would have been simply annihilated, since they had not brought any heavy artillery for additional support. Moreover, the Dutch ships were very close by one another and could easily defend themselves with their canons against the approaching enemy.

All in all, the plan was executed perfectly. The Hussars silently approached the ships and boarded them, while covered by the darkness of the winter night. The Dutch were caught unprepared and without much of a choice, surrendered before general Winter. There were no casualties during the confrontation.

This historic even is one of a kind. A fleet, captured by men on horses. Soon, the ships were returned to the Batavian Republic, a French-created allied state, in May 1975 under the Treaty of The Hague.

There you have it. I hope this little article was interesting, and if so, be sure to check some of my other writings and enjoy the unusual history.