

The Battle of the Texel
In the autumn of 1794, the resurgent French Republic was on the march. The royal family had been executed, various attacks on France had been repulsed, and it was time for the revolution to be exported to her neighbours, by force if necessary. After several years of bitter fighting against a coalition of European powers in the low countries, French armies had triumphed. The territory known as the Southern Netherlands (modern day Belgium), then under the rule of Hapsburg Austr