Batavian Republic, name for the Netherlands in the years (1795–1806) following conquest by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. The United Provinces of the Netherlands were reconstituted as the Batavian Republic in 1795 and remained under French occupation and tutelage. In 1801, Napoleon imposed a new constitution on the republic, which was financially drained by French requisitions, and in 1806 he transformed the Batavian Republic into the kingdom of Holland under the domain of his brother Louis Bonaparte. The name Batavi derives from the name of an ancient German tribe that fought for its freedom against the Romans who occupied its land. This struggle has been the source of Dutch national mythology.
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