French[2] War of the First Coalition: 100,000 killed in action ~200,000 noncombat deaths 150,000 captured War of the Second Coalition: 75,000 killed in action ~150,000 noncombat deaths 140,000 captured Total: ~525,000 military deaths ~290,000 captured
TheFrench Revolutionary Wars (French:Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from theFrench Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pittedFrance againstGreat Britain,Austria,Prussia,Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: theWar of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and theWar of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in theItalian peninsula, theLow Countries, and theRhineland with its very large and powerful military which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with massconscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.[6]
As early as 1791, the other monarchies ofEurope looked with outrage at the revolution and its upheavals; and they considered whether they should intervene, either in support ofKing Louis XVI to prevent the spread of revolution, or to take advantage of the chaos in France. Austria stationed significant troops on its French border and together with Prussia issued theDeclaration of Pillnitz, which threatened severe consequences should anything happen to King Louis XVI andQueen Marie Antoinette. After Austria refused to recall its troops from the French border and to back down on the perceived threat of using force, France declared war on Austria and Prussia in the spring of 1792; both countries responded with a coordinated invasion that was turned back at theBattle of Valmy in September. This victory emboldened theNational Convention toabolish the monarchy.[7] A series of victories by theFrench Revolutionary Army abruptly ended withdefeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793. The French suffered additional defeats in the remainder of the year, and these difficult times allowed theJacobins to rise to power and impose theReign of Terror to unify the nation.
In 1794 the situation improved dramatically for the French as huge victoriesat Fleurus against the Austrians and Dutch and against theSpanish at theBattle of the Black Mountain signalled the start of a new stage in the wars. By 1795, the French had captured theAustrian Netherlands and theDutch Republic. The French also put Spain and Prussia out of the war with thePeace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general namedNapoleon Bonaparte began his firstcampaign in Italy in April 1796. In less than a year, French armies under Napoleon destroyed theHabsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching towardVienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to theTreaty of Campo Formio on 17 October 1797, ending the First Coalition against the Republic.
The War of the Second Coalition began in 1798 with theFrench invasion of Egypt, headed by Napoleon. The allies took the opportunity presented by the French effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the allies in Europe, where they gradually pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland – racking up victories at the battles ofMagnano,Cassano, andNovi along the way. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the Frenchvictory at Zurich in September 1799, which caused Russia to drop out of the war.[8] Meanwhile, Napoleon's forces won a series of battles atthe Pyramids,Mount Tabor, andAbukir but lost a crucialSiege of Acre in 1799 that turned the tide of the campaign. The perceived victories in Egypt further enhanced Napoleon's popularity back in France, and he returned to France in the autumn of 1799, but leaving the French army in a desperate situation in Egypt as the Egyptian campaign ultimately ended in failure. Furthermore, theRoyal Navy had won theBattle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of theMediterranean and weakening the French Navy for the rest of the Revolutionary andNapoleonic Wars.
Napoleon's arrival from Egypt led to the fall of theFrench Directory in theCoup of 18 Brumaire, with Napoleon installing himself asconsul. Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched an assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This brought a decisive French victory at theBattle of Marengo in June 1800, after which the Austrians withdrew from the peninsula once again. Another crushing French victoryat Hohenlinden inBavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to theTreaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, Britain found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to theTreaty of Amiens with Napoleon's government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. However, the lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, and the Napoleonic Wars began over a year later with the formation of theThird Coalition, continuing the series ofCoalition Wars.
When theFrench Revolution began at the end of the 18th century, the European continent had five great powers:Great Britain,France,Austria,Russia, andPrussia. Weak European states includedSweden,Spain,Poland-Lithuania,Dutch Republic, and theOttoman Empire. Western Germany was divided into hundreds of principalities, cities, and minor states, some of which were independents while others were effectively controlled by Austria. The great powers hadagrarian industries, except for Great Britain which was wealthy because of trade.[9]
The key figure in initial foreign reaction to the French Revolution was Holy Roman EmperorLeopold II, brother of QueenMarie Antoinette of France. Leopold had initially looked on the revolution with equanimity but became more disturbed as the revolution became more radical, although he still hoped to avoid war. On 27 August 1791, Leopold and KingFrederick William II of Prussia, in consultation withemigrant French nobles, issued theDeclaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of KingLouis XVI of France and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as a non-committal 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 leaders.[10]
France issued an ultimatum demanding that Leopold renounce any hostile alliances and withdraw his troops from the French border.[11] The reply was evasive, and the FrenchLegislative Assembly voted for war on 20 April 1792 againstFrancis II, the successor of Leopold II, after a long list of grievances presented by foreign ministerCharles François Dumouriez. Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of theAustrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian ruleas they had earlier in 1790. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the army, and the forces raised were insufficient for the invasion. Following the declaration of war, French soldiers deserteden masse and in one case murdered their general,Théobald Dillon.[12]
Anonymous caricature depicting the treatment given to theBrunswick Manifesto by the French population
While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, a mostly Prussian allied army underCharles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled atKoblenz on theRhine. The duke then issued a proclamation called theBrunswick Manifesto (July 1792), written by the French king's cousin,Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, the leader of anémigré 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 rebels to be condemned to death bymartial law. This, however, had the effect of strengthening the resolve of the revolutionary army and government to oppose them by any means necessary.
On 10 August,a crowd stormed theTuileries Palace, seizing the king and his family. The Commune of Paris later assumed the powers of the municipality.[13] On 19 August 1792, the invasion by Brunswick's army commenced, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses ofLongwy andVerdun. The invasion continued, but at theBattle of Valmy on 20 September, the invaders came to a stalemate against Dumouriez andKellermann in which the highly professional Frenchartillery 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 been longer and more costly than predicted, decided that the cost and risk of continued fighting was too great and, with winter approaching, they decided to retreat from France to preserve their army. On 21 September the monarchy was formally abolished as theFirst Republic was declared.[14]
Meanwhile, the French had been successful on several other fronts, occupyingSavoy andNice, which were parts of theSavoyard state, while GeneralCustine invaded Germany, occupying several German towns 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 at theBattle of Jemappes on 6 November and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter.[15]
While theFirst Coalition attacked the new Republic, France faced civil war and counter-revolutionaryguerrilla war. Here, several insurgents of theChouannerie have been taken prisoner.
Spain and Portugal entered the anti-French coalition in January 1793. Britain began military preparations in late 1792 and declared that war was inevitable unless France gave up its conquests, notwithstanding French assurances they would not attack Holland or annex the Low Countries.[16] Britain expelled the French ambassador following theexecution of Louis XVI and on 1 February, France responded by declaring war on Great Britain and theDutch Republic.[10]
Francedrafted hundreds of thousands of men, beginning a policy of using mass conscription to deploy more of its manpower than the autocratic states could manage to do (first stage, with a decree of 24 February 1793 ordering the draft of 300,000 men, followed by the general mobilization of all the young men able to be drafted, through the famous decree of 23 August 1793). Nonetheless, the Coalition allies launched a determined drive to invade France during theFlanders Campaign.[17]
France suffered severe reverses at first. They were driven out of the Austrian Netherlands, and serious revolts flared in the west and south of France. One of these, atToulon, was the first serious taste of action for an unknown young artillery officerNapoleon Bonaparte. He contributed to thesiege of the city and its harbour by planning an effective assault with well-placed artillery batteries raining projectiles down on rebel positions. This performance helped make his reputation as a capable tactician, and it fueled his meteoric rise to military and political power.
By the end of the year, large new armies had turned back foreign invaders, and theReign of Terror, a fierce policy of repression, had suppressed internal revolts. The French military was in the ascendant.Lazare Carnot, a scientist and prominent member of theCommittee of Public Safety, organized thefourteen armies of the Republic, and was then nicknamed the Organizer of the Victory.[18]
The year 1794 brought increased success to the French armies. On theAlpine frontier, there was little change, with the French invasion ofPiedmont failing. On the Spanish border, the French under GeneralDugommier rallied from their defensive positions atBayonne andPerpignan, driving the Spanish out ofRoussillon and invadingCatalonia. Dugommier was killed in theBattle of the Black Mountain in November.
On the northern front in theFlanders Campaign, the Austrians and French both prepared offensives in Belgium, with the Austrians besiegingLandrecies and advancing towardsMons andMaubeuge. The French prepared an offensive on multiple fronts, with two armies inFlanders underPichegru andMoreau, andJourdan attacking from the German border. The French withstood several damaging but inconclusive actions before regaining the initiative at the battles ofTourcoing andFleurus in June. The French armies drove the Austrians, British, and Dutch beyond the Rhine, occupying Belgium, theRhineland, and the south of the Netherlands.
On the middle Rhine front in July, General Michaud's Army of the Rhine attempted two offensives in July in theVosges, the second of which was successful but not followed up, allowing for a Prussian counter-attack in September. Otherwise this sector of the front was largely quiet over the course of the year.
At sea, the French Atlantic Fleet succeeded in holding off a British attempt to interdict a vital cerealconvoy from the United States on theGlorious First of June, though at the cost of one quarter of its strength. In the Caribbean, the British fleet landed inMartinique in February, taking the whole island by 24 March and holding it until theTreaty of Amiens, and inGuadeloupe in April, where they captured the island briefly but were driven out byVictor Hugues later in the year. In the Mediterranean, following the British evacuation ofToulon, theCorsican leaderPasquale Paoli agreed with admiralSamuel Hood to place Corsica under British protection in return for assistance capturing French garrisons atSaint-Florent,Bastia, andCalvi, creating the short-livedAnglo-Corsican Kingdom.
By the end of the year French armies had won victories on all fronts, and as the year closed they began advancing into the Netherlands.
With the Netherlands falling,Prussia also decided to leave the coalition, signing thePeace of Basel on 6 April, ceding the west bank of the Rhine to France. This freed Prussia to finish theThird Partition of Poland.
In March arevolt broke out inGrenada which was supported by the First French Republican forces ofMartinique, and French troops were sent in limited quantities to the island to fight under the command of GeneralJulien Fédon, amulatto fromMartinique. In April most of the island was under the control of the rebels and they repelled various attacks by the British troops led byLouis Cazot LaGrenade, including an attack which led to the spontaneous execution of the governor who was captured earlier in the revolt.[19]
The French army in Spain advanced inCatalonia while takingBilbao andVitoria and marching towardCastile. By 10 July, Spain also decided to make peace, recognizing the revolutionary government and ceding the territory ofSanto Domingo, but returning to the pre-war borders in Europe. This left the armies on thePyrenees free to march east and reinforce the armies on theAlps, and the combined army overran Piedmont.
Meanwhile, in Africa and Asia, the Dutch-controlledCape Colony andCeylon were captured by the British.
On the Rhine frontier, GeneralPichegru, negotiating with the exiledRoyalists, betrayed his army and forced the evacuation ofMannheim and the failure of the siege ofMainz byJourdan. This was a moderate setback to the position of the French.
In northern Italy, victory at theBattle of Loano in November gave France access to the Italian peninsula.
The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan andMoreau on the Rhine, and Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up inTyrol and march onVienna. Jourdan and Moreau advanced rapidly into Germany, and Moreau had reachedBavaria and the edge of Tyrol by September, but Jourdan was defeated byArchduke Charles atAmberg, and both armies were forced to retreat back across the Rhine.
Napoleon, on the other hand, was completely successfulin a daring invasion of Italy. He left Paris on 11 March forNice to take over the weak and poorly suppliedArmy of Italy, arriving on 26 March. The army was already being reorganised and supplied when he arrived, and he found that the situation was rapidly improving. He was soon able to carry out the plan for the invasion of Italy that he had been advocating for years, which provided for an advance over theApennines nearAltare to attack the enemy position ofCeva.
TheMontenotte Campaign opened afterJohann Beaulieu's Austrian forces attacked the extreme French eastern flank nearGenoa on 10 April. Bonaparte countered by attacking and crushing the isolated right wing of the allied armies at theBattle of Montenotte on 12 April. The next day he defeated an Austro-Sardinian force at theBattle of Millesimo. He then won a victory at theSecond Battle of Dego, driving the Austrians northeast, away from their Piedmontese allies. Satisfied that the Austrians were temporarily inert, Bonaparte harriedMichelangelo Colli's Piedmontese atCeva andSan Michele Mondovi before whipping them at theBattle of Mondovì. A week later, on 28 April, the Piedmontese signed theArmistice of Cherasco, withdrawing from the hostilities. On 18 May they signed theTreaty of Paris (1796), cedingSavoy andNice and allowing the French bases to be used against Austria.
After a short pause, Napoleon carried out a brilliant flanking manoeuvre, and crossed thePo atPiacenza, nearly cutting the Austrian line of retreat. The Austrians escaped after theBattle of Fombio, but had their rear-guard mauled atLodi on 10 May, after which the French tookMilan. Bonaparte then advanced eastwards again, drove off the Austrians in theBattle of Borghetto and in June began theSiege of Mantua.Mantua was the strongest Austrian base in Italy. Meanwhile, the Austrians retreated north into the foothills of the Tyrol.
During July and August, Austria sent a fresh army into Italy underDagobert Wurmser. Wurmser attacked toward Mantua along the east side ofLake Garda, sendingPeter Quasdanovich down the west side in an effort to envelop Bonaparte. Bonaparte exploited the Austrian mistake of dividing their forces to defeat them in detail, but in so doing, he abandoned the siege of Mantua, which held out for another six months (Carl von Clausewitz mentioned inOn War that the siege might have been able to be kept up if Bonaparte hadcircumvallated the city[20]). Quasdanovich was overcome atLonato on 3 August and Wurmser atCastiglione on 5 August. Wurmser retreated to the Tyrol, and Bonaparte resumed the siege.
In September, Bonaparte marched north againstTrento in Tyrol, but Wurmser had already marched toward Mantua by theBrenta valley, leavingPaul Davidovich's force to hold off the French. Bonaparte overran the holding force at theBattle of Rovereto. Then he followed Wurmser down the Brenta valley, to fall upon and defeat the Austrians at theBattle of Bassano on 8 September. Wurmser elected to march for Mantua with a large portion of his surviving troops. The Austrians evaded Bonaparte's attempts to intercept them but were driven into the city after a pitched battle on 15 September. This left nearly 30,000 Austrians trapped in the fortress. This number rapidly diminished due to disease, combat losses, and hunger.
The Austrians sent yet another army underJózsef Alvinczi against Bonaparte in November. Again the Austrians divided their effort, sending Davidovich's corps from the north while Alvinczi's main body attacked from the east. At first they proved victorious over the French atBassano,Calliano, andCaldiero. But Bonaparte ultimately defeated Alvinczi in theBattle of Arcole southeast ofVerona. The French then turned on Davidovich in great strength and chased him into the Tyrol. Wurmser's only sortie was late and ineffectual.
By mid-1796 the Rebellion of the island of Grenada had been destroyed by the British because the rebels had run out of supplies and were isolated. The British attacked the camp at Belvedere and the rebels surrendered nine days after the disappearance of Fédon. The end of the revolt was the end of French co trio and influence in Grenada and the lesser Antilles. (See more onFédon’s rebellion).
Napoleon Bonaparte at theBattle of RivoliSoldiers killed in battle in 1797
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.[21]
On 22 February French invasion force consisting of 1,400 troops from theLa Legion 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, where the French scored a decisive victory. Finally, on 2 February,Wurmser surrendered Mantua and 18,000 troops. ThePapal 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 the Tyrol.
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 thePeace 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.
In July 1798, French forces under Napoleon annihilated an Egyptian army at theBattle of the Pyramids. The victory facilitated the conquest of Egypt and remains one of the most important battles of the era.Battle of the Nile, August 1798. The British fleet bears down on the French line.
With only Britain left to fight and not enough of a navy to fight a direct war, Napoleon conceived of aninvasion of Egypt in 1798, which satisfied his personal desire for glory and the Directory's desire to have him far from Paris. The military objective of the expedition is not entirely clear, but may have been to threatenBritish dominance in India.
Napoleon sailed fromToulon toAlexandria, takingMalta on the way, and landing in June. Marching toCairo, he won a great victory at theBattle of the Pyramids; however, his fleet was sunk byNelson at theBattle of the Nile, stranding him in Egypt. Napoleon spent the remainder of the year consolidating his position in Egypt.[22]
The French were also under pressure in theSouthern Netherlands and Luxembourg where the local people revolted against conscription and anti-religious violence (Peasants' War). The French had occupied this territory in 1794, but it was officially theirs from 1797 due to a treaty with Austria. The French forces easily handled the Peasants' rebellion in the Southern Netherlands, and were able to put down the revolting forces in under 2 months.
The French in 1798 fought an undeclared war at sea against the United States, that was known variously as the "Quasi-War", the "Half War" and the "Pirate Wars". It was resolved peaceably with theConvention of 1800.
Britain and Austria organized a new coalition against France in 1798, including for the first time theRussian Empire, although no action occurred until 1799 except against theKingdom of Naples.
In Egypt, Napoleon had consolidated his control of the country for the time being. Soon after the beginning of the year, he mounted an invasion ofOttoman Syria, capturingEl Arish andJaffa. On 17 March, he laidsiege to Acre, and defeated an Ottoman effort to relieve the city at theBattle of Mount Tabor on 17 April. However, his repeated assaults on Acre were driven back by Ottoman and British forces under the command ofJezzar Pasha and SirSidney Smith. By May, withplague rampant in his army and no sign of success against the city, Napoleon was forced to retreat into Egypt. In July, Turkey, with the help of the British navy, mounted an invasion by sea fromRhodes. Napoleon attacked the Turkish beachheads and scored a crushing victory at theBattle of Abukir, capturing or killing the entire enemy army. In August, Napoleon decided to return to Europe, hearing of the political and military crisis in France. Leaving his army behind withKléber in command, he sailed through the British blockade to return to Paris and resolved to take control of the government there in a coup.
In India, the French alliedSultanate of Mysore underTipu Sultan had sought French assistance since Napoleon's landing in Egypt to oppose the British whom Tipu had alreadyfought 3 wars with till this point. In order to prevent such a thing from happening, TheEast India Company underthe Duke of Mornington, Richard Wellesley, the Governor-General of British India invaded Mysore.[23] Repelling Mysorean forces at the battles ofSeedaseer and Mallavelly respectively, theybesieged Tipu's capital at Seringapatam on April 5th, 1799, capturing it a month later where Tipu would die in the midst of battle.[24] Thereafter, placing the previously rulingWadiyar dynasty on the throne as puppets, cementing British supremacy over France in the proxy war in the East indies.
In Europe, the French Army of Observation,organized with 30,000 men in four divisions, crossed theRhine atKehl andBasel in March 1799. The following day, it was renamed the Army of the Danube.[25] Under command ofJourdan, the army advanced in four columns through theBlack Forest. First Division, the right wing, assembled atHüningen, crossed atBasel and advanced eastward along the north shore of the Rhine towardLake Constance.André Masséna, commanding the Army of Switzerland, sent aDemi-brigade to secure the Swiss town ofSchaffhausen, on the north shore of the Rhine, which guaranteed communications between the two forces.[26] The Advanced Guard crossed at Kehl, andVandamme led it north-east through the mountains viaFreudenstadt. This column eventually became the left flank. It was followed across the Rhine, also at Kehl, by the II. Division. The Third Division and the Reserve also crossed at Kehl, and then divided into two columns, III. Division traveling through the Black Forest viaOberkirch, and the Reserve, with most of the artillery and horse, by the valley atFreiburg im Breisgau, where they would find more forage, and then over the mountains past theTitisee toLöffingen andHüfingen.[27]
The major part of theImperial army, under command of the ArchdukeCharles, had wintered immediately east of theLech, which Jourdan knew, because he had sent agents into Germany with instructions to identify the location and strength of his enemy. This was less than 64 kilometres (40 mi) distant; any passage over the Lech was facilitated by available bridges, both of permanent construction and temporary pontoons and a traverse through friendly territory.[28]
In March 1799, the Army of the Danube engaged in two major battles, both in the southwestern German theater. At the intensely foughtBattle of Ostrach, 21–2 March 1799, the first battle of the War of the Second Coalition, Austrian forces, under the command of Archduke Charles, defeated Jourdan's Army of the Danube. The French suffered significant losses and were forced to retreat from the region, taking up new positions to the west atMeßkirch (Messkirch, Mößkirch), and then atStockach andEngen. At the second battle, inStockach, on 27 March 1799, the Austrian army achieved a decisive victory over the French forces, and again pushed the French army west. Jourdan instructed his generals to take up positions in the Black Forest, and he himself established a base atHornberg. From there, General Jourdan relegated command of the army to his chief of staff,Jean Augustin Ernouf, and traveled to Paris to ask for more and better troops and, ultimately, to request a medical leave.[29]
The Army was reorganized, and a portion placed under the command ofAndré Masséna and merged with the Army of Helvetia. Following the reorganization and change in command, the Army participated in several skirmishes and actions on the eastern part of theSwiss Plateau, including theBattle of Winterthur. After this action, three forces of the Imperial army united north ofZürich, completing a partial encirclement of Masséna's combined Army of the Danube and Army of Switzerland. A few days later, at theFirst Battle of Zurich, Masséna was forced west, across theLimmat. In late summer, 1799, Charles was ordered to support imperial activities in the middle Rhineland; he withdrew north across the Rhine, and marched towardMannheim, leaving Zürich and northern Switzerland in the hands of the inexperiencedAlexander Korsakov and 25,000 Russian troops. Although the highly capableFriedrich Freiherr von Hotze remained in support, his 15,000 men were not able to counter Korsakov's poor defensive arrangements. Three weeks later, at theSecond Battle of Zurich, the Russian force was annihilated, and Hotze was killed south of Zürich. This left Masséna in control of northern Switzerland, and forcedAlexander Suvorov into an arduous three-week march into theVorarlberg, where his troops arrived, starving and exhausted, in mid-October.[29]
Napoleon himself invaded Syria from Egypt, but after a failedsiege of Acre retreated to Egypt, repelling a British-Turkish invasion. Alerted to the political and military crisis in France, he returned, leaving his army behind, and used his popularity and army support to mounta coup that made himFirst Consul, the head of the French government.[30]
Napoleon Crossing the Alps byJacques-Louis David. In one of the famous paintings of Napoleon, the Consul and his army are depicted crossing the Swiss Alps on their way to Italy. The daring maneuver surprised the Austrians and forced a decisive engagement atMarengo in June 1800. Victory there allowed Napoleon to strengthen his political position back in France.
In Italy, the Austrians under GeneralMichael von Melas attacked first, and by the third week in April had advanced to theVar, with Masséna and half his army inGenoabesieged by land, by the Austrians and under tight blockade by theRoyal Navy. In responseBerthier moved – not to the threatened frontier, but toGeneva – and Masséna was instructed to hold Genoa until 4 June. The Army of the Reserve was joined by Napoleon, and in mid-May set out to cross the Alps to attack the Austrian rear. The bulk of the army crossed by theGreat St Bernard Pass, still under snow, and by 24 May 40,000 troops were in the valley of thePo. Artillery was man-hauled over with great effort and ingenuity; however an Austrian-held fort on the Italian side (although bypassed by infantry and cavalry) prevented most of the artillery reaching the plains of Northern Italy until the start of June.
Once over the Alps, Napoleon did not proceed directly to the relief of Genoa. Instead, he advanced onMilan, to improve his lines of communication (via theSimplon andSt Gotthard passes) and to threaten Melas's lines of communication withMantua andVienna, in the belief that this would cause Melas to raise the siege of Genoa. He entered Milan on 2 June and by crossing to the South bank of the Po completely cut Melas's communications. Taking up a strong defensive position atStradella, he confidently awaited an attempt by the Austrian army to fight its way out.
However, Melas had not raised the siege of Genoa, and on 4 June, Masséna had duly capitulated. Napoleon then faced the possibility that, thanks to the British command of the Mediterranean, far from falling back, the Austrians could instead take Genoa as their new base and be supplied by sea. His defensive posture would not prevent this; he had to find and attack the Austrians before they could regroup. He therefore advanced from Stradella towardsAlessandria, where Melas was, apparently doing nothing. Convinced that Melas was about to retreat, Napoleon sent strong detachments to block Melas's routes northwards to the Po, and southwards to Genoa. At this point, Melas attacked, and for all the brilliance of the previous campaign, Napoleon found himself at a significant disadvantage in the consequentBattle of Marengo (14 June). Napoleon and the French came under huge pressure in the early hours of the battle. Melas believed he had already won and turned over delivery of the final blow to a subordinate. Suddenly, the prompt return of a detached French force underDesaix and a vigorous French counter-attack converted the battle into a decisive French victory. The Austrians lost half of their army, but Desaix was one of the French victims.
Melas promptly entered into negotiations, which led to the Austrians evacuating Northern Italy west of theTicino and suspending military operations in Italy. Napoleon returned to Paris after the victory, leavingBrune to consolidate in Italy and begin a march toward Austria.
In the German theater, the armies of France and Austria faced each other across the Rhine at the beginning of 1800.FeldzeugmeisterPál Kray led approximately 120,000 troops. In addition to his Austrian regulars, his force included 12,000 men from theElectorate of Bavaria, 6,000 troops from theDuchy of Württemberg, 5,000 soldiers of low quality from theElectorate of Mainz, and 7,000 militiamen from theCounty of Tyrol. Of these, 25,000 men were deployed east ofLake Constance to protect theVorarlberg. Kray posted his main body of 95,000 soldiers in the L-shaped angle where the Rhine changes direction from a westward flow along the northern border of Switzerland to a northward flow along the eastern border of France. Unwisely, Kray set up his main magazine atStockach, near the northwestern end of Lake Constance, only a day's march from French-held Switzerland.[31]
General of DivisionJean Victor Marie Moreau commanded a modestly equipped army of 137,000 French troops. Of these, 108,000 troops were available for field operations while the other 29,000 watched the Swiss border and held the Rhine fortresses. First ConsulNapoleon Bonaparte offered a plan of operations based on outflanking the Austrians by a push from Switzerland, but Moreau declined to follow it. Rather, Moreau planned to cross the Rhine nearBasel where the river swung to the north. A French column would distract Kray from Moreau's true intentions by crossing the Rhine from the west. Bonaparte wantedClaude Lecourbe's corps to be detached to Italy after the initial battles, but Moreau had other plans.[32] Through a series of complicated maneuvers in which he flanked, double flanked, and reflanked Kray's army, Moreau's army lay on the eastern slope of theBlack Forest, while portions of Kray's army was still guarding the passes on the other side.[33] On 3 May 1800 Moreau and Kray fought theBattles of Engen and Stockach. The fighting nearEngen resulted in a stalemate with heavy losses on both sides. However, while the two main armies were engaged at Engen,Claude Lecourbe captured Stockach from its Austrian defenders underJoseph Louis, Prince of Lorraine-Vaudémont. The loss of this main supply base at Stockach compelled Kray to order a retreat toMeßkirch, where they enjoyed a more favourable defensive position. However, it also meant that any retreat by Kray into Austria via Switzerland and the Vorarlberg was cut off.[33]
On 4 and 5 May, the French launched repeated and fruitless assaults on the Meßkirch. At nearbyKrumbach, where the Austrians also had the superiority of position and force, the 1st Demi-Brigade took the village and the heights around it, which gave them a commanding aspect over Meßkirch. Subsequently, Kray withdrew his forces toSigmaringen, followed closely by the French. Fighting at nearbyBiberach an der Ris ensued on 9 May; action principally consisted of the 25,000-man-strong French "Center", commanded byLaurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr.[34] After being flanked by General Moreau, who approachedUlm from the east and overwhelmed his outposts atBattle of Höchstädt, Kray retreated toMunich. Again, on 10 May, the Austrians withdrew with heavy losses, this time to Ulm.[35]
A several month armistice followed, during which Kray was replaced by the ArchdukeJohn, with the Austrian army retiring behind the RiverInn. Austrian reluctance to accept negotiated terms caused the French to end the armistice in mid-November, effective in two weeks. When the armistice ended, John advanced over the Inn towards Munich. His army was defeated in small engagements at the battles ofAmpfing andNeuburg an der Donau, and decisively in the forests before the city atHohenlinden on 3 December. Moreau began a march onVienna, and the Austrians soon sued for peace, ending the war on the continent.
By 9 February, the Austrians had signed theTreaty of Lunéville, ending the war on the continent. The war against theUnited Kingdom continued (with Neapolitan harbours closed to her by theTreaty of Florence, signed on 28 March), and the Turks invaded Egypt in March, losing toKléber atHeliopolis. The exhausted French force in Egypt, however, surrendered to the British in August.
The naval war also continued, with the United Kingdom maintaining a blockade of France by sea. Russia,Prussia,Denmark-Norway, andSweden formed theSecond League of Armed Neutrality to prevent their merchant ships from being searched by the Royal Navy. British AdmiralHoratio Nelson defied orders and attacked the Danish fleet in harbour at theBattle of Copenhagen, destroying much of it. An armistice prevented him from continuing into theBaltic Sea to attack the Russian fleet at Reval (Tallinn). Meanwhile, offGibraltar, the outnumbered French squadron underCharles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois repulsed a British attack underSaumarez in theFirst Battle of Algeciras. In theSecond Battle of Algeciras, four days later, the British captured a French ship of the line and two Spanish ships of the line accidentally blew each other up, killing around 2,000 French and Spanish sailors for the loss of 12 Britons.
In 1802, the British and French signed theTreaty of Amiens, ending the war. The peace held for less than a year but still constituted the longest period of peace between the two countries during the period 1793–1815. The treaty is generally considered to be the most appropriate point to mark the transition between the French Revolutionary Wars and theNapoleonic Wars, although Napoleon was notcrowned emperor until 1804.
The armies of theRevolution atJemappes in 1792. With chaos internally and enemies on the borders, the French were in a period of uncertainty during the early years of the Revolutionary Wars. By 1797, however, France dominated much of Western Europe, conquering the Rhineland, the Netherlands, and the Italian peninsula while erecting a series of sister republics and puppet states stretching from Spain to the German heartland.
The French Revolution transformed nearly all aspects of French and European life. The powerful sociopolitical forces unleashed by a people seekingliberté, égalité, and fraternité made certain that even warfare was not spared this upheaval. Eighteenth-century armies – with their rigid protocols, static operational strategy, unenthusiastic soldiers, and aristocratic officer classes – underwent massive remodeling as the French monarchy and nobility gave way toliberal assemblies obsessed with external threats. The fundamental shifts in warfare that occurred during the period have prompted scholars to identify the era as the beginning of "modern war".[36]
In 1791 the Legislative Assembly passed the "Drill-Book" legislation, implementing a series of infantry doctrines created by French theorists because of their defeat by the Prussians in theSeven Years' War.[37] The new developments hoped to exploit the intrinsic bravery of the French soldier, made even more powerful by the explosive nationalist forces of the Revolution. The changes also placed a faith on the ordinary soldier that would be completely unacceptable in earlier times; French troops were expected to harass the enemy and remain loyal enough to not desert, a benefit other Ancien Régime armies did not have.
Following the declaration of war in 1792, an imposing array of enemies converging on French borders prompted the government in Paris to adopt radical measures. The day 23 August 1793 would become a historic one in military history; on that date theNational Convention called alevée en masse, or mass conscription, for the first time in human history. By summer of the following year, conscription made some 500,000 men available for service and the French began to deal blows to their European enemies.[38]
Armies during the Revolution became noticeably larger than their Holy Roman counterparts, and combined with the new enthusiasm of the troops, the tactical and strategic opportunities became profound. By 1797 the French had defeated the First Coalition, occupied the Low Countries, the west bank of the Rhine, and Northern Italy, objectives which had defied theValois andBourbon dynasties for centuries. Unsatisfied with the results, many European powers formed a Second Coalition, but by 1801 this too had been decisively beaten. Another key aspect of French success was the changes wrought in the officer classes. Traditionally, European armies left major command positions to those who could be trusted, namely, the aristocracy. The hectic nature of the French Revolution, however, tore apart France's old army, meaning new men were required to become officers and commanders.
In addition to opening a flood of tactical and strategic opportunities, the Revolutionary Wars also laid the foundation for modern military theory. Later authors who wrote about "nations in arms" drew inspiration from the French Revolution, in which dire circumstances seemingly mobilized the entire French nation for war and incorporated nationalism into the fabric of military history.[39] Although the reality of war in the France of 1795 would be different from that in the France of 1915, conceptions and mentalities of war evolved significantly.Clausewitz correctly analyzed the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras to give posterity a thorough and complete theory of war that emphasized struggles between nations occurring everywhere, from the battlefield to the legislative assemblies, and to the very way that people think.[40] War now emerged as a vast panorama of physical and psychological forces heading for victory or defeat.
^Virtually all of the Italian states, including the neutralPapal States and theRepublic of Venice, were conquered followingNapoleon's invasion in 1796 and became French satellite states.
^War against Austria was actually announced in the National Assembly by then King Louis XVI of the French on 20 April 1792 while the kingdom still existed in name. (Constitutional) monarchy was suspended on 10 August following the assault on the Tuileries, and abolished 21 September 1792.
^Lynn, John A. "Recalculating French Army Growth during the Grand Siecle, 1610–1715." French Historical Studies 18, no. 4 (1994): 881–906, p. 904. Only counting frontline army troops, not naval personnel, militiamen, or reserves; the National Guard alone was supposed to provide a reserve of 1,200,000 men in 1789.
^Clausewitz, Carl von (1993). "Book II; Chapters 5, 24".On War. Translated by Howard, Michael. David Campbell. p. 188.ISBN1-8571-5121-6.
^Easton, Callum (2025).The 1797 Naval Mutinies and Popular Protest in Britain: Negotiation through Collective Action. Palgrave MacMillan.ISBN978-3-031-98839-4.
^Strathern, Paul (2007).Napoleon in Egypt: The Greatest Glory.
^Naravane, M. S. (2014).Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj. New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. pp. 178–181.ISBN978-81-313-0034-3.
^Jourdan, Jean-Baptiste.A Memoir of the operations of the army of the Danube under the command of General Jourdan, taken from the manuscripts of that officer. London: Debrett, 1799. p. 140.
^Rothenberg, pp. 70–74; Jourdan, pp. 65–88, 96–100;Blanning 1996, p. 232;(in German) Ruth Broda. "Schlacht von Ostrach:" jährt sich zum 210. Mal – Feier am Wochenende. Wie ein Dorf zum Kriegsschauplatz wurde. In:Südkurier vom 13. Mai 2009.
^abJohn Young, D.D.A History of the Commencement, Progress, and Termination of the Late War between Great Britain and France which continued from the first day of February 1793 to the first of October 1801. Edinburg: Turnbull, 1802, vol. 2, pp. 230–345; Gallagher, p. 70–79; Jourdan, pp. 190–204.
Clodfelter, M. (2017).Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.ISBN978-0786474707.
Lefebvre, Georges (1964).The French Revolution. Vol. II: from 1793 to 1799.
Attar, Frank,(in French)La Révolution française déclare la guerre à l'Europe.ISBN2-87027-448-3
Attar, Frank,(in French)Aux armes citoyens ! Naissance et fonctions du bellicisme révolutionnaire.ISBN2-0208-8891-2
Bell, David A.The first total war: Napoleon's Europe and the birth of warfare as we know it (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014).
Bertaud, Jean-Paul.The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power (1988), a major French study
Blaufarb, Rafe.The French army 1750–1820: Careers, talent, merit (Manchester University Press, 2021).
Bryant, Arthur.Years of Endurance 1793–1802 (1942); on Britain
Bryant, Arthur.Years of victory, 1802–1812 (1942); on Britain
Clausewitz, Carl von (2018).Napoleon's 1796 Italian Campaign. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.ISBN978-0-7006-2676-2
Clausewitz, Carl von (2020).Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.ISBN978-0-7006-3025-7
Clausewitz, Carl von (2021).The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.ISBN978-0-7006-3034-9
Connelly, Owen.The wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792–1815 (2006)
Crawley, C. W., ed.The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 9: War and Peace in an Age of Upheaval, 1793–1830 (1965), comprehensive global coverage by experts
Doughty, Robert, andIra D. Gruber, eds.Warfare in the Western World: volume 1: Military operations from 1600 to 1871 (1996) pp. 173–94
Dupuy, Trevor N. and Dupuy, R. Ernest.The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History (2nd ed. 1970) pp. 678–93
Rodger, A.B.The War of the Second Coalition: 1798 to 1801, a strategic commentary (1964)
Ross, Steven T. Quest for Victory; French Military Strategy, 1792–1799 (1973)
Ross, Steven T.European Diplomatic History, 1789–1815: France Against Europe (1969)
Rothenberg, Gunther E. (1982).Napoleon's Great Adversaries: The Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792–1814.
Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Origins, Causes, and Extension of the Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon",Journal of Interdisciplinary History (1988) 18#4 pp. 771–93in JSTOR
Schroeder, Paul W.The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848 (Oxford University Press, 1996); advanced diplomatic history; pp. 100–230
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
