| War of the First Coalition | |||||||||
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| Part of theFrench Revolutionary Wars and theCoalition Wars | |||||||||
 Click an image to load the appropriate article. Left to right, top to bottom: Battles ofValmy,Toulon,Fleurus,Quiberon,Arcole andMantua | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
First Coalition
 Spain (until 1795)[b] Portugal Naples (until 1796) Papal States (until 1797) |
French naval allies | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
1793: 800,000+[2] 65,000[3] 60,000[4] 25,000 20,000[5] |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
 Austria94,000 soldiers killed in combat[7] ~188,000 died of disease 220,000 captured 100,000 wounded[8] |  French Republic100,000 soldiers killed in combat ~200,000 died of disease 150,000 captured[8][7] | ||||||||
TheWar of the First Coalition (French:Guerre de la première coalition) was a set of wars between a coalition of several European powers and France fought between 1792 and 1797.[j][9] The coalition was only loosely allied and fought without much coordination; each power wanted to annex a different part of France should they defeat the French, something which never occurred.[10]
Relations between the French revolutionaries and neighbouring monarchies had deteriorated following theDeclaration of Pillnitz in August 1791. Eight months later, following a vote by therevolutionary-led Legislative Assembly, France declared war onAustria on 20 April 1792;Prussia, having allied with Austria in February, declared war on France in June 1792. In July 1792, an army under theDuke of Brunswick and composed mostly of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France. Thecapture of Verdun (2 September 1792) triggered theSeptember massacres in Paris. France counterattacked withvictory at Valmy (20 September) and two days later theNational Convention, which had replaced theLegislative Assembly, proclaimed the French Republic.
Subsequently, the coalition invaded France by land and sea, in association with Prussia and Austria attacking from theAustrian Netherlands and theRhine, andGreat Britain supporting revolts in provincial France and layingsiege to Toulon in October 1793. France suffered reversals (Battle of Neerwinden, 18 March 1793) and internal strife (War in the Vendée) and responded withdraconian measures. TheCommittee of Public Safety was formed (6 April 1793) and thelevée en masse drafted all men aged 18 to 25 in the army (August 1793). The new French armies counterattacked, repelled the invaders, and advanced beyond France.
The French established theBatavian Republic as asister republic (May 1795) in place of the defeatedDutch Republic and gained Prussian recognition of French control of theLeft Bank of the Rhine by the firstPeace of Basel. With theTreaty of Campo Formio, Austria ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France and Northern Italy was turned into several French sister republics. Spain made a separate peace accord with France (Second Treaty of Basel) and theFrench Directory annexed more of theHoly Roman Empire.
North of theAlps,Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen defeated the invading armies during the Rhine campaign, butNapoleon Bonaparte succeeded againstSardinia and Austria in northern Italy (1796–1797) near thePo Valley, culminating in thePeace of Leoben and the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797). The First Coalition collapsed, leaving only Britain in the field fighting against France.
As early as 1791, other monarchies in Europe were watching the developments in France with alarm, and considered intervening, either in support ofLouis XVI or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure,Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, brother of the French QueenMarie Antoinette, had initially looked on theRevolution calmly. He became increasingly concerned as the Revolution grew more radical, although he still hoped to avoid war.
On 27 August 1791, Leopold and KingFrederick William II of Prussia, in consultation withémigré French nobles, issued theDeclaration of Pillnitz, which declared the concern of the monarchs of Europe for the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as a way of taking action that would enable him to avoid actually doing anything about France, at least for the moment, Paris saw the Declaration as a serious threat and the revolutionary leaders denounced it.[11]
In addition to the ideological differences between the French revolutionaries and the European monarchies, disputes continued over the status of Imperial estates inAlsace,[11] and the French authorities became concerned about the agitation ofémigré nobles abroad, especially in theAustrian Netherlands and in the minor states of Germany. In the end, France declared war on Austria first, with the Assembly voting for war on 20 April 1792, after the presentation of a long list of grievances by the newly appointed foreign ministerCharles François Dumouriez, who sought a war which might restore some popularity and authority to the King.[12]
Dumouriez prepared an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion. Its soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, desertingen masse, in one case murdering GeneralThéobald Dillon.[12] The French soldiers were insulted, hissed, even assaulted. The situation of the "Flanders Campaign" was alarming.[13]
While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, an allied army underCharles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled atKoblenz on theRhine. The invasion commenced in July 1792. The Duke then issued adeclaration on 25 July 1792, which had been written by the brothers of Louis XVI, that declared his [Brunswick's] intent to restore the King of France to his full powers, and to treat any person or town who opposed him as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law.[12] This motivated the revolutionary army and government to oppose the Prussian invaders by any means necessary,[12] and led almost immediately to the overthrow of the King by a crowd whichstormed theTuileries Palace.[14]
Brunswick's army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, crossed into French territory on 19 August and easily took the fortresses ofLongwy andVerdun.[15] But at theBattle of Valmy on 20 September 1792 they came to a stalemate against Dumouriez andKellermann in which the highly professional Frenchartillery distinguished itself. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it bought time for the revolutionaries and gave a great boost to French morale. Furthermore, the Prussians, facing a campaign longer and more costly than predicted, decided against the cost and risk of continued fighting and determined to retreat from France to preserve their army.[9]
Meanwhile, the French had been successful on several other fronts, occupying theDuchy of Savoy and theCounty of Nice until the Massif de l'Authion, while GeneralCustine invaded Germany, capturingSpeyer,Worms andMainz along the Rhine, and reaching as far asFrankfurt. Dumouriez went on the offensive in the Austrian Netherlands once again, winning a great victory over the Austrians atJemappes on 6 November 1792, and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter.[9]
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On 21 January the revolutionary governmentexecuted Louis XVI after a trial.[16] This united all European governments, includingSpain,Naples & Sicily, and theNetherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793 and soon afterwards against Spain. In the course of the year 1793 the Holy Roman Empire (on 23 March), the kings ofPortugal and Naples, and theGrand Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed.[9]
France introduced a new levy of hundreds of thousands of men, beginning a French policy of usinglevée en masse (mass conscription) to deploy more of its manpower than the other states could,[9] and remaining on the offensive so that these mass armies could commandeer war material from the territory of their enemies. TheGirondin faction of the French government sentCitizen Genet to theUnited States to encourage them to enter the war on France's side. The newly formed nation refused, and theWashington administration's 1793Proclamation of Neutrality threatened legal action against any citizen providing assistance to any side in the conflict.
After a victory in theBattle of Neerwinden in March, the Austrians suffered twin defeats at the battles ofWattignies andWissembourg.[17] British land forces were defeated at theBattle of Hondschoote in September.[17]
1794 brought increased success to the revolutionary armies. A major victory against combined coalition forces at theBattle of Fleurus gained all of the Austrian Netherlands and theRhineland for France.[17] Although the British navy maintained its supremacy at sea, it was unable to support effectively any land operations after the fall of the Belgian provinces.[18] The Prussians were slowly driven out of the eastern provinces[17] and by the end of the year they had retired from any active part in the war.[18] Against Spain, the French made successful incursions into bothCatalonia andNavarre[18] in theWar of the Pyrenees.
Action extended into the French colonies in theWest Indies. A British fleet occupiedMartinique,St. Lucia, andGuadeloupe, although a French fleet arrived later in the year and recovered the latter by ousting the invaders.[19]
After seizing theLow Countries in a surprise winter attack, France established theBatavian Republic as apuppet state. Even before the close of 1794 Prussia retired from any active part in the war, and on 5 April 1795 King Frederick William II concluded with France thePeace of Basel, which recognized France's occupation of the left bank of theRhine. The new French-dominated Dutch government bought peace by surrendering Dutch territory to the south of that river. A treaty of peace between France and Spain followed in July. The grand duke of Tuscany had been admitted to terms in February. The coalition thus fell into ruin and France proper would be free from invasion for many years.[20]
Britain attempted to reinforce the rebels in theVendée by landing French Royalist troops atQuiberon, but failed,[21] andattempts to overthrow the government in Paris by force were foiled by the military garrison led byNapoleon Bonaparte, leading to the establishment of theDirectory.[22][23]
On the Rhine frontier, GeneralPichegru, negotiating with the exiledRoyalists, betrayed his army and forced the evacuation ofMannheim and the failure of thesiege of Mainz byJourdan.[24]
The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan andJean Victor Marie Moreau on the Rhine and the newly promotedNapoleon Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up inTyrol and march onVienna.[citation needed]
In theRhine campaign of 1796, Jourdan and Moreau crossed the Rhine river and advanced into Germany. Jourdan advanced as far asAmberg in late August while Moreau reachedBavaria and the edge of Tyrol by September. However Jourdan was defeated byArchduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and both armies were forced to retreat back across the Rhine.[24][25]
Napoleon, on the other hand, was successful in a daring invasion of Italy. In theMontenotte Campaign, he separated the armies ofSardinia andAustria, defeating each one in turn, and then forced apeace on Sardinia. Following this, his army capturedMilan and started theSiege of Mantua. Bonaparte defeated successive Austrian armies sent against him underJohann Peter Beaulieu,Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser andJózsef Alvinczi while continuing the siege.[25][24]
Therebellion in the Vendée was also crushed in 1796 byLouis Lazare Hoche.[25] Hoche's subsequent attempt to land a large invasion force inMunster to aid theUnited Irishmen was unsuccessful.[19]
On 2 February Napoleon finally capturedMantua,[26] with the Austrians surrendering 18,000 men. Archduke Charles of Austria was unable to stop Napoleon from invading the Tyrol, and the Austrian government sued for peace in April. At the same time, there was a new French invasion of Germany under Moreau and Hoche.[26]
On 22 February, a French invasion force consisting of 1,400 troops from theLa Legion Noire (The Black Legion) under the command ofIrish American ColonelWilliam Tatelanded near Fishguard inWales. 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. This would be the only battle fought on British soil during the Revolutionary Wars.[27]
Austria signed theTreaty of Campo Formio in October,[26] ceding Belgium to France and recognizing French control of the Rhineland and much of Italy.[25] The ancientRepublic of Venice was partitioned between Austria and France. This ended the War of the First Coalition, although Great Britain and France remained at war.[citation needed]
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Duchy of Modena,Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and the
Duchy of Massa. Left the war after signing theTreaty of Campo Formio with France.This trend was compounded by the underlying shift in the Empire's internal military balance as the combined strength of the Austrian and Prussian armies expanded from 185,000 men in 1740 to 692,700 fifty years later, compared to the combined total of all other forces that dropped by around 9,000 men to 106,000 by 1790.
Media related toWar of the First Coalition at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Siege of Namur (1792) | French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns War of the First Coalition | Succeeded by War in the Vendée |
