Battle of Castricum

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Guillaume Brune, commander of the Franco-Dutch troops

War of the Second Coalition
1st Stockach –Cassano – 1st Zürich – Montebello – Trebbia – Novi – Bergen – 2nd Zürich – Castricum – Genoa – 2nd Stockach – Marengo – Hochstadt – Hohenlinden – Copenhagen – Algeciras – Alexandria

The Battle of Castricum took place on October 6, 1799, during the War of the Second Coalition against revolutionary France. The battle was fought near Castricum in The Netherlands between French and Dutch forces under the command of General Guillaume Brune and Herman Willem Daendels and British and Russian forces under the command of the Duke of York, Sir Ralph Abercromby and the Prince of Orange.

At this time, Holland was a French vassal state, the Batavian Republic.

An Anglo-Russian force of 32,000 men landed in North Holland on August 27, 1799, captured the Duch fleet at Den Helder on August 30 and the city of Alkmaar on October 3.

Following a series of smaller battles at Bergen on September 19 and other towns, a decisive battle was fought at Castricum on October 6 in which the allied forces were soundly defeated by the French and Dutch armies.

The town of Castricum passed from British-Russian to Batavian-French hands several times until the former finally fled, losing 2536 men and 11 guns; the Batavian-French losses stood at 1382.

The battle of Castricum persuaded the Duke that his position was untenable. After a chaotic retreat, in which two field hospitals were "forgotten", the parties signed the Convention of Alkmaar on October 10 . The British and Russians were allowed to withdraw, without paying reparations, and retaining captured bounty. As thanks, Brune received a number of horses from the Duke. By 19 November all the British and Russian troops had been embarked and the expedition was over.

In the years following the 1799 invasion, defensive lines were constructed in Holland to protect Amsterdam from future invasions from the north.

In the "Huis met de Kogel" (House with the Cannonball) in Alkmaar, a cannonball that got stuck in the wall during the battle can still be seen. A plaque beneath the cannonball commemorates the battle. Various locality names in Castricum also provide a reminder of the battle, like the Russenbergen dunes and the Doodelaan street. The Russisch Monument in Bergen marks the fighting there. The French victory was also commemorated on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as "Alcmaer".