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TheFrench Revolutionary Wars continued from1796, with France fighting theFirst Coalition.
On 14 February, British admiralJervis met and defeated a Spanish fleet off Portugal at theBattle of Cape St. Vincent. This prevented the Spanish fleet from rendezvousing with the French, removing a threat of invasion to Britain. However, the British fleet was weakened over the rest of the year by theSpithead and Nore mutinies, which kept many ships in port through the summer.
On 22 February, a French invasion force consisting of 1,400 troops from theLégion Noire (The Black Legion) under the command of Irish American ColonelWilliam Tatelanded near Fishguard (Wales). They were met by a quickly assembled group of around 500 Britishreservists,militia, and sailors under the command ofJohn Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor. After brief clashes with the local civilian population and Lord Cawdor's forces on 23 February, Tate was forced into anunconditional surrender by 24 February.
In Italy,Napoleon's armies were layingsiege to Mantua at the beginning of the year, and a second attempt by Austrians underJoseph Alvinczy to raise the siege was driven off at theBattle of Rivoli. Finally, on 2 February,Wurmser surrendered Mantua and 18,000 troops. The Papal forces sued for peace, which was granted atTolentino on 19 February. Napoleon was now free to attack the Austrian heartland. He advanced directly toward Austria over theJulian Alps, sendingBarthélemy Joubert to invade theTyrol.
Archduke Charles of Austria hurried from the German front to defend Austria, but he was defeated at theBattle of Tagliamento on 16 March, and Napoleon proceeded into Austria, occupyingKlagenfurt and preparing for a rendezvous with Joubert in front ofVienna. In Germany, the armies ofHoche andMoreau crossed theRhine again in April after the previous year's failure. The victories of Napoleon had frightened the Austrians into making peace, and they concluded theTreaty of Leoben in April, ending hostilities. However, his absence from Italy had allowed the outbreak of the revolt known as theVeronese Easters on 17 April, which was put down eight days later.
Although Britain remained at war with France, this effectively ended theFirst Coalition. Austria later signed theTreaty of Campo Formio, ceding theAustrian Lombardy and theAustrian Netherlands to France and recognizing the French border at the Rhine. Austria and France also partitionedVenice between them.
| Preceded by | French Revolutionary Wars 1797 | Succeeded by |
