ANNEXATION (OF 1810)

After the enforced abdication of Louis Napoleon, the Kingdom of Holland was “reunited with France,” as Emperor Napoleon I put it, in July 1810. As a province of France, it was governed by Charles Francois Lebrun, Duke of Plaisance. French administration, courts, and codes of law were introduced. Many Dutch collaborated more or less voluntarily with the occupiers. After the Battle of Leipzig (16–19 October 1813), Allied forces in November 1813 liberated the Netherlands, which became an independent monarchy under William I.