The French Revolutionary Wars continued from 1794 between Revolutionary France and the First coalition. The year opened with French forces in the process of attacking the Dutch Republic in the middle of winter. The Dutch people rallied to the French call and started the Batavian revolution. City after city was occupied by the French. The Dutch fleet was captured, and the stadtholder William V fled to be replaced by a popular Batavian Republic, which supported the revolutionary cause and signed the Treaty of Paris (1795), ceding the territories of North Brabant and Maastricht to France on 16 May.