Patriottentijd

The Patriottentijd (Dutch, literally "Patriot Period") was a period of political upheaval in the Dutch Republic between approximately 1780 and 1787. The period takes its name from the radical political faction known as the Patriots (Patriotten, pronounced [paːtriˈjɔtə(n)]), led by Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, gaining power from November 1782. They were inspired by Enlightenment ideas. The Patriots opposed the Orangists and the rule of William V, Prince of Orange. In 1787, the Patriots were defeated by a Prussian army and many were forced into exile.

The term Patriot (from Greek πατριώτης, "fellow country(wo)man") had previously been used in the 17th century by anti-Orangists, but when French troops invaded the Republic in 1747, "Patriots" demanded the return of the Orange stadtholderate, which ended the Second Stadtholderless Period (1702–1747). From 1756 onwards, however, republican regenten once again began styling themselves "Patriots". The Orangist party did try to reappropriate the term, but it was forced on the defensive, which became apparent when it renamed one of its weekly magazines to De Ouderwetse Nederlandsche Patriot ("The Old-Fashioned Dutch Patriot"). Patriotism and anti-Orangism had become synonymous.

The Patriots can be divided into two separate groups: aristocrats and democrats. The aristocratic Patriots (also called oudpatriotten or "Old Patriots"), initially the strongest, can be viewed as oppositional regenten, who either sought to enter the factions in power, or tried to realise the so-called "Loevesteinian" ideal of a republic without Orange; they came from the existing Dutch States Party. The democratic Patriots emerged later, and consisted mainly of non-regent members of the bourgeoisie, who strove to democratise the Republic.

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