| Native Name: | |
| Conventional Long Name: | Austrian Netherlands |
| Common Name: | Austrian Netherlands |
| Era: | Early modern |
| Life Span: | 1714–1797 |
| Status: | Vassal |
| Status Text: | Personal union of Imperial fiefs within Empire |
| Government Type: | Governorate |
| Event Start: | Treaty of Rastatt |
| Date Start: | 7 March 1714 |
| Event End: | Battle of Sprimont |
| Date Event1: | 8 November 1785 |
| Event2: | Brabant Revolution |
| Date Event2: | 1789–1790 |
| P1: | Spanish Netherlands |
| Flag P1: | Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg |
| S1: | French First Republic |
| Flag S1: | Flag of France.svg |
| Flag S2: | Flag_of_the_Brabantine_Revolution.svg |
| S2: | United Belgian States |
| Flag: | List of Belgian flags |
| Flag Type: | Flag |
| Symbol: | Coat of arms of Belgium |
| Image Map Caption: | The Austrian Netherlands in 1789 |
| Image Map2: | Map of Austrian Netherlands 1789.svg |
| Capital: | Brussels |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
| Currency: | Kronenthaler |
| Representative1: | Eugene Francis |
| Representative3: | Charles Louis |
| Year Representative1: | 1716–1724 (first) |
| Year Representative3: | 1793–1794 (last) |
| Title Representative: | Governor |
| Deputy1: | Lothar Dominik |
| Year Deputy1: | 1714–1716 (first) |
| Year Deputy2: | 1793–1794 (last) |
| Title Deputy: | Plenipotentiary |
| House1: | Habsburg |
| House2: | Bourbon |
The Austrian Netherlands[1] was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714. It lasted until Revolutionary France annexed the territory after the Battle of Sprimont in 1794 and the Peace of Basel in 1795. Austria relinquished its claim on the province in 1797 through the Treaty of Campo Formio.
See also: History of Belgium.
The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) later led to a division of the Low Countries between the Dutch Republic in the north and the Southern Netherlands, which later became Belgium and Luxembourg. The area had been held by the Habsburgs, but was briefly under Bourbon control in the War of the Spanish Succession. Under the Treaty of Rastatt (1714) which ended that war, the remainder of the Spanish Netherlands was ceded to Austria. Administratively, the country was divided into four traditional duchies, three counties and various lordships.
See main article: Brabant Revolution. In the 1780s, opposition emerged to the liberal reforms of Emperor Joseph II, which were perceived as an attack on the Catholic Church and the traditional institutions of the Austrian Netherlands. Resistance grew, focused in the autonomous and wealthy Duchy of Brabant and County of Flanders. In the aftermath of rioting and disruption in 1787 known as the Small Revolution, many opponents took refuge in the neighboring Dutch Republic where they formed a rebel army. Soon after the outbreak of the French and Liège revolutions, the émigré army crossed into the Austrian Netherlands and decisively defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Turnhout on 27 October 1789. The rebels, supported by uprisings across the territory, soon took control over much of the territory and proclaimed independence. Despite the tacit support of Prussia, the independent United Belgian States, established in January 1790, received no foreign recognition and soon became divided along ideological lines. The Vonckists led by Jan Frans Vonck advocated progressive and liberal government, whereas the Statists, led by Hendrik Van der Noot, were staunchly conservative and supported by the Church. The Statists, who had a wider base of support, drove the Vonckists into exile through terror.[2]
By mid-1790, Habsburg Austria ended its war with the Ottoman Empire and prepared to suppress the rebels. The new Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, was also a liberal and proposed an amnesty for the rebels. After defeating a Statist army at the Battle of Falmagne (22 September 1790), the territory was soon overrun and the revolution was defeated by December. The Austrian reestablishment was short-lived and the territory was overrun by the French in 1794 (during the War of the First Coalition) after the Battle of Fleurus.
The Council of State acted as government, and formed the council by imperial consent:[3]
See main article: Battle of Sprimont. 1794 was the third year of the War of the First Coalition. The Austrians gave up on contesting the Low Countries after the Battle of Fleurus (26 June), and left them to the French. After three months of military occupation, on 15 October an Administration centrale et supérieure de la Belgique was installed. On 1 October 1795 the departments were activated and the definitive annexation started, liquidating the Belgian Governing Council, which ceased on 22 November. France annexed the Austrian Netherlands from the Holy Roman Empire and integrated them into the French Republic. The commissioner of the Directory,, finished his work on January 20, 1797, after which no common Belgian authority remained.