You are on page 1of 4

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the

French Revolutionary government and several European st ates. Marked by French revolutionary fervour and military innovations, the campa igns saw the French Revolutionary Armies defeat a number of opposing coalitions and expand French control to the Low Countries, Italy, and the Rhineland. The wa rs involved enormous numbers of soldiers, mainly due to the application of moder n mass conscription. The French Revolutionary Wars are usually divided between those of the First Coa lition (1792 1797) and the Second Coalition (1798 1801), although France was at war with Great Britain continuously from 1793 to 1802. Hostilities ceased with the T reaty of Amiens 1802, but conflict soon started up again with the Napoleonic War s. The Treaty of Amiens is usually reckoned to mark the end of the French Revolu tionary Wars, however other events before and after 1802 have been proposed to b e the starting point of the Napoleonic Wars. Both conflicts together constitute what is sometimes referred to as the "Great French War." War of the First Coalition Main article: First Coalition [edit] 1791 1792 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1792 As early as 1791, the other monarchies of Europe looked with concern at the revo lution and its upheavals, and considered whether they should intervene, either i n support of King Louis XVI or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure was Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, brother to Louis XVI's Queen Marie An toinette. Leopold had initially looked on the Revolution with equanimity, but be came more and more disturbed as the Revolution became more radical, although he still hoped to avoid war. On 27 August, Leopold and King Frederick William II of Prussia, in consultation with emigrant French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-bei ng of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anyt hing should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as a noncommittal gesture to placate the sentiments of French monarchists and nobles, it was seen in France as a serious threat and was denounced by the revolutionary l eaders. In addition to the ideological differences between France and the monarchical po wers of Europe, there were continuing disputes over the status of Imperial estat es in Alsace, and the French were becoming concerned about the agitation of migr n obles abroad, especially in the Austrian Netherlands and the minor states of Ger many. In the end, France declared war on Austria first, with the Assembly voting for w ar on 20 April 1792, after a long list of grievances presented by foreign minist er Dumouriez. Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlan ds, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule. Howeve r, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the army, and the forces raised we re insufficient for the invasion. Following the declaration of war, French soldi ers deserted en masse and, in one case, murdered their general. While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganiz ed its armies, a mostly Prussian allied army under Charles William Ferdinand, Du ke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on the Rhine. In July, the invasion commenc ed, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun. The duke then issued a proclamation called the Brunswick Manifesto, written by the French king's cousin, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Cond, the leader of an mi gr corps within the allied army, which declared the Allies' intent to restore the king to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as reb els to be condemned to death by martial law. This, however, had the effect of st rengthening the resolve of the revolutionary army and government to oppose them by any means necessary. On 10 August, a crowd stormed the Tuileries Palace, wher e Louis and his family had been staying. The Battle of Valmy.

The invasion continued, but at Valmy on 20 September, they came to a stalemate a gainst Dumouriez and Kellermann in which the highly professional French artiller y distinguished itself. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it gave a great boost to French morale. Further, the Prussians, finding that the campaign had b een longer and more costly than predicted, decided that the cost and risk of con tinued fighting was too great, and they decided to retreat from France to preser ve their army. The next day, the monarchy was formally abolished as the First Re public was declared. Meanwhile, the French had been successful on several other fronts, occupying Sav oy and Nice in Italy, while General Custine invaded Germany, occupying several G erman towns along the Rhine, and reaching as far as Frankfurt. Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again, winning a great victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November, and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter. [edit] 1793 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1793 and War in the Vende On 21 January, the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a demonstra tion of a "trial". Spain and Portugal entered the anti-French coalition in Janua ry 1793, and on February 1 France declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Re public. France declared a new levy of hundreds of thousands of men, beginning a French p olicy of using mass conscription to deploy more of its manpower than the aristoc ratic states could, and remaining on the offensive so that these mass armies cou ld commandeer war material from the territory of their enemies. The Allies launc hed a determined drive to invade France during the Flanders Campaign. France suffered severe reverses at first, being driven out of Belgium and suffer ing revolts in the west and south. One of these, in Toulon, set the stage for th e first recognition of a hitherto unknown artillery captain named Napoleon Bonap arte. His contribution in planning the successful siege of the city and its harb our with well-placed artillery batteries provided the spark for his subsequent m eteoric rise. By the end of the year, new large armies and a fierce policy of internal repress ion including mass executions had repelled the invasions and suppressed revolts. The year ended with French forces in the ascendant, but still close to France's pre-war borders. [edit] 1794 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1794 The year 1794 brought increased success to the revolutionary armies. Although an invasion of Piedmont failed, an invasion of Spain across the Pyrenees took San Sebastin, and the French won a victory at Fleurus and occupied all of Belgium and the Rhineland. At sea, the French Atlantic Fleet succeeded in holding off a British attempt to interdict a vital cereal convoy from the United States on the First of June, tho ugh at the cost of one quarter of its strength. [edit] 1795 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1795 After seizing the Netherlands in a surprise winter attack, France established th e Batavian Republic as a puppet state. Further, Prussia and Spain both decided t o make peace, in the Peace of Basel ceding the left bank of the Rhine to France and freeing French armies from the Pyrenees. This ended the main crisis phase of the Revolution and France proper would be free from invasion for many years. Britain attempted to reinforce the rebels in the Vende, but failed, and attempts to overthrow the government at Paris by force were foiled by the military garris on led by Napoleon Bonaparte, leading to the establishment of the Directory. On the Rhine frontier, General Pichegru, negotiating with the exiled Royalists, betrayed his army and forced the evacuation of Mannheim and the failure of the s iege of Mainz by Jourdan. [edit] 1796 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1796 The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan and Moreau on

the Rhine, and Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up in Tyrol and march on Vienna. Jourdan and Moreau advanced rapidly into Germany, and Moreau had reached Bavaria and the edge of Tyrol by September, but Jourdan was defeated by Archduke Charle s, and both armies were forced to retreat back across the Rhine. Napoleon, on the other hand, was completely successful in a daring invasion of I taly. He separated the armies of Sardinia and Austria, defeating them in detail, and forced a peace on Sardinia while capturing Milan and besieging Mantua. He a lso had defeated successive Austrian armies sent against him under Wurmser and A lvintzy while continuing the siege. The rebellion in the Vende was also finally crushed in 1796 by Hoche, but Hoche's attempt to land a large invasion force in Ireland was unsuccessful. In February, the Battle of Cape St. Vincent saw the British block an attempt by a larger Spanish fleet to join the French at Brest. Napoleon finally captured Mantua, with the Austrians surrendering 18,000 men. Ar chduke Charles of Austria was unable to stop Napoleon from invading the Tyrol, a nd the Austrian government sued for peace in April, simultaneous with a new Fren ch invasion of Germany under Moreau and Hoche. Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio in October, conceding Belgium to Franc e and recognizing French control of the Rhineland and much of Italy. The ancient republic of Venice was partitioned between Austria and France. This ended the W ar of the First Coalition, although Great Britain remained in the war. [edit] 1798 Main articles: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1798 and Quasi-War With only Britain left to fight and not enough of a navy to fight a direct war, Napoleon conceived of an invasion of Egypt in 1798, which satisfied his personal desire for glory and the Directory's desire to have him far from Paris. The mil itary objective of the expedition is not entirely clear, but may have been to th reaten the British dominance in India. Napoleon sailed from Toulon to Alexandria, taking Malta on the way, and landing in June. Marching to Cairo, he won a great victory at the Battle of the Pyramids ; however, his fleet was destroyed by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile, strandin g him in Egypt. Napoleon spent the remainder of the year consolidating his posit ion in Egypt. The French government also took advantage of internal strife in Switzerland to i nvade, establishing the Helvetian Republic and annexing Geneva. French troops al so deposed Pope Pius VI, establishing a republic in Rome. An expeditionary force was sent to County Mayo to assist in the rebellion agains t Britain in the summer of 1798. It had some success against British forces, mos t notably at Castlebar, but was ultimately routed while trying to reach Dublin. French ships sent to assist them were captured by the Royal Navy off County Done gal. The French were also under pressure in Belgium where the local people revolted a gainst conscription and anti-religious violence (Peasants' War). The French also fought an undeclared war at sea against the United States, that was known as the "Quasi-War." [edit] War of the Second Coalition Main article: Second Coalition Britain and Austria organized a new coalition against France in 1798, including for the first time Russia, although no action occurred until 1799 except against Naples. [edit] 1799 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1799 In Europe, the allies mounted several invasions, including campaigns in Italy an d Switzerland and an Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands. Russian general Aleksandr Suvorov inflicted a series of defeats on the French in Italy, driving them back to the Alps. However, the allies were less successful in the Netherlan ds, where the British retreated after a stalemate (although they did manage to c apture the Dutch fleet), and in Switzerland, where after initial victories a Rus sian army was completely defeated at the Second Battle of Zurich. This reverse,

as well as British insistence on searching shipping in the Baltic Sea led to Rus sia withdrawing from the Coalition. Napoleon himself invaded Syria from Egypt, but after a failed siege of Acre retr eated to Egypt, repelling a British-Turkish invasion. Hearing of a political and military crisis in France, he returned, leaving his army behind, and used his p opularity and army support to mount a coup that made him First Consul, the head of the French government. [edit] 1800 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1800 Napoleon sent Moreau to campaign in Germany, and went himself to raise a new arm y at Dijon and march through Switzerland to attack the Austrian armies in Italy from behind. Narrowly avoiding defeat, he defeated the Austrians at Marengo and reoccupied northern Italy. Moreau meanwhile invaded Bavaria and won a great battle against Austria at Hohen linden. Moreau continued toward Vienna and the Austrians sued for peace. [edit] 1801 See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1801 The Austrians negotiated the Treaty of Lunville, basically accepting the terms of the previous Treaty of Campo Formio. In Egypt, the Ottomans and British invaded and finally compelled the French to surrender after the fall of Cairo and Alexa ndria. Britain continued the war at sea. A coalition of non-combatants including Prussi a, Russia, Denmark, and Sweden joined to protect neutral shipping from Britain's blockade, resulting in Nelson's surprise attack on the Danish fleet in harbor a t the Battle of Copenhagen. [edit] 1802 In 1802, the British and French signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the war and recognising stop of hostilities to each other. This began the longest period of peace during the period 1792-1815. Primarily for this reason the treaty is gener ally considered to be the most appropriate point to mark the transition between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, although Napoleon was not crowned emperor until 1804. [edit] Results The First French Republic, starting from a position precariously near occupation and collapse, had defeated all its enemies and produced a revolutionary army th at would take the other powers years to emulate. With the conquest of the left b ank of the Rhine and domination of the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy, the Republic had achieved nearly all the territorial goals that had eluded the Valoi s and Bourbon monarchs for centuries.

You might also like