Battle of Turnhout ( 1789 ) The Battle of Turnhout ( October 27 , 1789 ) was a battle which took place at Turnhout between the Archduchy of Austria and Belgian revolutionaries which led to the Brabant Revolution and led to a brief period independence for Belgium , known at the time as the Southern Netherlands . Context . The Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II created a Belgian Office in Vienna to manage the Austrian rule of Belgium and led a wide - reaching programme of reforms . He impose his own policies in the internal affairs of the Church . Furthermore , he published a number of edicts reforming the law and administration of the territory with the aim of re - enforcing the power of the state . These laws were received reluctantly by the people and the church , the bourgeois however saw them as an attack on their democracy and civil rights . In response , a movement of protests against Austrian rule appeared . In January 1789 , the states of Brabant and Hainaut refused to pay imperial taxes . The Imperial response was an occupation of the County of Hainaut and a suspension of the rights guaranteed to the Duchy of Brabant on 18 June 1789 . Resistance . In May 1789 , the secret society " Pro aris et focis " was founded in Brussels with the aim of gathering resistance against the emperor . At the same time , the " Brabançons " gathered an army in the United Provinces commanded by Jean - André van der Mersch . The army moved into Hoogstraten in Belgium without meeting severe Austrian opposition . In the town , Henri Van der Noot read the " Manifeste du peuple brabançon " proclaiming the end of Austrian control of the Southern Netherlands . Van der Noot proclaimed that the attack on southern Netherlands was a reaction to the Austrian Emperor who had not complied with the rights guaranteed by the Joyeuse Entrée . Battle of Turnhout . In October 1789 , one of the two " divisions " of the patriotic army marched towards Brabant . It arrived in , and easily captured , Turnhout on the 25th . They had just left the town when they were informed that an Austrian force was moving towards them . Van der Mersch knew that a battle in open country would be futile and decided that his best chance would be to hold the town and fight in the streets , reducing the numerical advantage of the Austrian forces . With the help of Emmanuel - Joseph Van Gansen , son of a brewer in Westerlo , the inhabitants of the town threw up baracades in the streets . A group took position in the square and another at the entrance to the town near a mill . The town of Turnhout was besieged by the Austrians on the 27th October and a violent combat took place . As van der Meersch had hoped , the Austrian forces were not well prepared for fighting in the town itself and , after five hours of fighting , they were forced to retreat . Aftermath . News of the victory at Turnhout spread over the Flanders and Brabant and resistance increased . The Brabant Revolution became a reality . The towns of Ghent , Diest , Tirlemont and Brussels fell to the rebels . Austrian forces withdrew to the Duchy of Luxembourg . On December 31 , Brabant declared its own independence and was joined , in January 1790 , by many other Belgian states leading to the creation of the United States of Belgium . Commemoration . Each year in the Turnhout battle is commemorated with a spectacle in the " Gasthuisstraat " , the location where the fighting was fiercest . A memorial by P . Brozius in the Market of Turnhout recalls this battle . The stone dates from 1889 , on the occasion of the celebration of 100 years Battle of Turnhout .