How did Russian troops end up… in Holland?
For them the military campaign there had achieved absolutely nothing.
It happened in 1799, during the War of the Second Anti-French Coalition. Great Britain proposed that it and Russia carry out a joint military expedition to the Netherlands, where the pro-French Batavian Republic was located at the time.
The allies intended to drive the French out of the region and establish a strategic foothold there, which threatened Paris with great trouble. Russian Emperor Paul I provided 17,500 soldiers, while the British deployed about 30,000.
London, meanwhile, assumed responsibility for all supply and transportation matters. Prince Frederick, Duke of York, was in overall command.
The first units landed on the Dutch coast on August 27 and immediately engaged in battle with the republican army. By September 18, the entire corps was in the Netherlands.
The allies had a numerical advantage, but the fall mud significantly slowed their advance. They also experienced acute problems with logistics and coordination.
The corps fought several battles against the Franco-Dutch forces and failed to achieve a decisive victory in any of them. Moreover, during the ‘Battle of Bergen’, General Ivan Hermann von Fersen, commander of the Russian forces, was captured along with his entire staff.
In October, it became clear that the expedition had failed. The Duke of York negotiated with the French General Guillaume Brune for the unhindered evacuation of the corps. In return, he released all prisoners and left part of the artillery behind.
The British, however, took with them the entire Dutch navy, which they had captured at the very beginning of the invasion. For the Russians, however, the military campaign had achieved absolutely nothing.
