The Battle of Bautersem during the Ten Days’ Campaign

On 2 August 1831 Dutch troops invaded Belgium, which had seceded from the Netherlands in 1830. At the Battle of Bautersem, near Louvain, the horse that was ridden by the Prince of Orange, later King William II, was shot from beneath him. Nicolaas Pieneman recorded this heroic moment. Although the Ten Days’ Campaign enflamed nationalist sentiments, it ended in a truce, and Belgium remained independent.