Jean-Charles Pichegru, a general from France, was born into a peasant family near Arbois. He had taken part in the American Revolutionary War. In 1783, he served successively as a sergeant and staff sergeant in the First Artillery Regiment. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, he supported the revolution and served as chairman of the Besançon Jacobin Club. He joined the revolutionary army in 1792. In 1793, he was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the Army of the Rhine. In February 1794, he became commander of the Army of the North and the Army of the Ardennes. In 1795, he led his forces to occupy Amsterdam, Zeeland, Brabant, and The Hague. That April, after suppressing the Germinal uprising in Paris against the National Convention, he was appointed commander of the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the Moselle. In 1796, he was dismissed for his close dealings with the Prince of Condé and for accepting enormous bribes from him. In April 1797, he was elected to the Council of Five Hundred. During the Coup of 18 Fructidor that September, he was arrested and exiled to French Guiana. He later escaped to Britain and Germany, where he engaged in conspiracies against the Republic and was expelled from Prussia.
Between 1776 and 1782, Boston's policy toward neutral shipping triggered the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. Even after the American War ended, the Netherlands remained at war with Britain until France was willing to negotiate a peace and truce. William V of Orange had opposed the war from the very beginning, yet the disastrous effects it brought made him the target of universal condemnation. In the 1780s, some Dutch people, influenced by the American Revolution, formed the "Patriot" movement. The conservative Regents also answered the Patriots' demands and joined