oa Orangisme en Republikanisme

Orangism and Republicanism. Party quarrels after the Revolution, 1800-1806

This article describes the political debates that dominated the Batavian Republic after the Revolution. Following the failed Anglo-Russian invasion in 1799, a new constitution in 1801 and the Peace of Amiens in 1802 – in which Napoleon ended the revolutionary wars and created a new balance of power in Europe – a new form of Dutch national consciousness emerged. This led to a deepening of national cultural-historical awareness, and has been labelled by historians as a ‘nationalization of the revolution’. However, we argue that this process was not always based on political consensus or on an unequivocal apolitical ‘nationalization’. In fact, orangists and radical republicans continued to debate concepts like constitutionalism and sovereignty without showing much inclination towards reconciliation. This article focuses on these debates to show the different shades in organism and republicanism as well as their vividness, development and ongoing presence during the years 1800-1806.