The Belgians' fragile defenses were torn apart with ease by the French. Although the French Army had suffered a crushing defeat in Belgium before, its new commander still looked down on the Belgians.
The French commander at the time, Henri Arsène, was no veteran from the days of Napoleon. He was a thoroughgoing academic, yet in the end he chose the same tactics as Oudinot.
There was no other reason: the Belgian army was simply no match for them. Across several battles along the Franco-Belgian border, the French lost fewer than a thousand men while capturing a fortress garrisoned by twenty thousand Belgian troops.
But the element of surprise also played a part. Many Belgians were still enjoying their weekends when the French launched their attack.
Moreover, many Belgians had pinned their hopes on the German Allied Forces. What they did not know was that the alliance had split apart from within.
The Luxembourgers' and Dutchmen's unauthorized actions had dragged the Frankfurt National Assembly into an extremely awkward position. To prevent anything like it from happening again, the Assembly decided to sanction them.
But the National Assembly had forgotten one thing: it had no real power. The Luxembourgish and Dutch representatives simply refused to listen.
The so-called German Allied Forces were proving just as difficult to deal with. The Austrians clearly wanted to act on their own, while the Prussians claimed they were too stretched thin by their standoff with Denmark.
In truth, King William IV of Prussia wanted the Rhineland to send troops. But the Archbishop of Cologne was convinced that the Prussian barbarians had ulterior motives and decided to hold his forces back.
The Archbishop of Cologne also had serious grievances against the Frankfurt National Assembly. In particular, after discovering that both its president and vice president were