page_title: Siege of Nijmegen (1794)
section_title: Start of the siege
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Nijmegen (1794) / Course / Start of the siege
caption_attribution_description: English: The investment and siege of Nijmegen by the French army in 1794. This map was created by Adam Vandelincourt and first published in Relations des principaux siéges faits ou soutenus en Europe par les armées françaises depuis 1792 (Paris 1806).
context_page_description: The Siege of Nijmegen occurred from 27 October to 8 November 1794 during the Flanders campaign of the War of the First Coalition. It was the last major military confrontation between the forces of the Revolutionary French First Republic and the reactionary First Coalition of European monarchs including William V, Prince of Orange, before the fall of the Dutch Republic in January 1795, which William had ruled as hereditary stadtholder since 1751. As commander-in-chief of the Dutch States Army, his indecision, several changes of mind and lack of coordination with his Anglo-Hanoverian, Hessian, Prussian and Austrian allies contributed to the eventual surrender of Nijmegen to the French revolutionaries.
context_section_description: The cannon on the Nijmegian walls fired for the first time on 27 October at 12.30 pm, and the French army directly shot back at them as well. As a precaution, several houses in Hees were burnt down at 6 pm, in order to prevent the French from garrisoning them. In Ooij, the French installed artillery batteries; Allied bombardments from the Bemmelsedijk tried in vain to prevent this. By this time, it was alleged that all Coalition outposts had been evacuated or captured by the French, who took many Allied POWs. The Prince of Orange changed his mind about his earlier decision on 28 October, and announced that he loved Nijmegen too much to just surrender her to the enemy. Hulst, who showed some pro-French sympathies in his account, called the stadtholder's decision to risk the city to withstand a siege 'nonsensical' because of a lack of supplies, and he claimed that the citizenry would rather capitulate quickly. General Wallmoden would also once again have given the order to evacuate the city, and have left it himself. The well-covered French batteries in Ooij were hard to hit, but they themselves were highly efficient in firing on the eastern walls. The other sides of the city remained quiet. Meanwhile, the shortages in combustibles and flour were increasing, and Allied soldiers began to violently demand food from civilians.
  From 29 October to 1 November, the French did not attack, but carefully prepared for a long-term siege by constructing more trenches and batteries in the ever colder weather. Although the defenders bombarded them with cannons, they had little effect. Several more homes in Hees were shot ablaze from the walls. A number of high-ranking Allied commanders appeared in the city and convened to discuss what to do. It was suggested to make a sortie out of the city in an attempt to frustrate the French preparations. In the end, only a single sortie involving 300 English and 200 Hanoverian soldiers was performed towards a French battery located on the Hunnerberg, but it was beaten back with a loss of 100 men. In the meantime, the wood shortage inside Nijmegen was rapidly becoming serious, and all kinds of things were set on fire to produce warmth. On 2 November, the Coalition forces employed an almost endless barrage on the slowly nearer-digging French troops, who did not return the fire. That evening and night, 3000 men with military wagons and horses are said to have crossed the river while evacuating the city. At night, Hanoverian troops made another sortie and reached the French trenches, but it appeared that they did not achieve more than stealing a few spades whilst incurring 60 deaths and 40 injuries. The next day, the evacuation was resumed. Numerous bombs, cannon and howitzers balls were thrown into the river so that they wouldn't fall into French hands. Moreover,  500 tonnes of flour were dumped overboard, but hungry civilians retrieved much of it from the water for their own use. The situation turned around when the three Princes of Orange came from Arnhem and arrived in Nijmegen in the afternoon to consult with the other military commanders. The result appears to have been to cease the evacuation and to resume the siege, because room was made for 3,600 new English and Dutch soldiers (including 2 companies of Dutch cannoneers), who arrived later that night. Coalition troops on the walls kept firing at the French, who kept digging closer without firing back.
  The artillery on the walls was reinforced on 4 November, and much of the ammunition dumped in the Waal was brought back to the surface to be used. The far-progressed trenches were assailed during a large-scale English sortie, and the first and second line were successfully taken, with many tools and soldiers captured. At the third line, however, they met with fierce French counter-fire of cannons and muskets, suffering heavy losses and breaking ranks, after which they fled back to the city in great disorder. A large number of Scots that tried to climb the Hunnerberg were shot down by French Jäger until they were relieved by a Hanoverian battalion th
caption: Map of Nijmegen during the siege.
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