Siege of Antwerp (1832)

Siege of Antwerp
Part of the aftermath of the Belgian Revolution
Siege of the citadel of Antwerp, December 22, 1832
Date 15 November – 23 December 1832 Location Antwerp, Belgium Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
France Supported by:  Belgium	United Netherlands
Commanders and leaders
Étienne Gérard[1] François Haxo	David Chassé[1]
Units involved
Armée du Nord
Strength
50,000-60,000[2]	4,500[1]
Casualties and losses
608 dead 1800 wounded[3][4]	90 dead 349 wounded[3][4]

The siege of Antwerp took place after fighting in the Belgian Revolution ended. On 15 November 1832, the French Armée du Nord under Marshal Gérard began to lay siege to the Dutch troops there under David Chassé. The siege ended on 23 December 1832. The French had agreed with the Belgian rebels that the latter would not participate in the battle.^[1]

Following the French army's first intervention in 1831, the Dutch withdrew from Belgium but left a garrison in Antwerp Citadel, from which they bombarded the town. The Armée du Nord and its siege specialist François, Baron Haxo took 24 days to take this citadel and return it to Belgium. Leopold I of Belgium gave France several cannons of different calibres as thanks for this action and the French Chamber of Peers offered Gérard an épée d'honneur ("sword of honour"). A monument to the French dead in the siege was sculpted in 1897, but the town of Antwerp refused to take it and it is now in Tournai.