Siege of Brussels
[3] The French were boosted by the fact that a large part of the Allied army was forced to return to Britain where a Jacobite Rising of 1745 had broken out and Bonnie Prince Charlie had won a stunning victory at the Battle of Prestonpans.[4] After the French made two breaches in the walls of Brussels, the Austrian defenders were compelled to surrender on 22 February in a siege that lasted just three weeks.The governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Count Kaunitz, was forced to withdraw his administration north to Antwerp.The siege severely damaged his view of Austria's allies, principally Britain and the Dutch Republic, who he considered had done virtually nothing to protect Brussels from the French.The French followed up the capture of Brussels by taking other key cities and fortresses in the Austrian Netherlands including Mons and Namur.