Prince William V's final demise as Stadtholder began in 1793 when he joined the First Coalition against the newly-emerged French First Republic, participating in a struggle which had already begun in the previous year and continued until 1795 when the French Army, assisted by the Patriots who had been exiled in France and various revolutionaries who had remained in the Netherlands, finally marched into Amsterdam on 19 January, and Prince William V and his household fled into exile in Britain around midnight the day before.