War of the First Coalition

Origins and background

In the initial period following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, European monarchs and princes exhibited little inclination to intervene militarily on behalf of King Louis XVI.^[6] The balance of power did not appear disturbed by events in France, while foreign policy attention centred on the Polish question and the Russian-Austrian war against the Turks, and many governments watched with concern as Russia under Catherine II rose to great-power status..^[7] Central European powers were occupied with competing ambitions regarding the partition of Polish territory, which fostered mutual suspicion between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.^[7][8] In several neighbouring territories, popular unrest inspired by French events was suppressed, including movements in Ireland, the United Provinces, the Austrian Netherlands, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, and parts of Switzerland.^[7] Most governments did not yet recognise what was fundamentally new in these movements, and the British leadership, with little interest in supporting the French monarchy, was not displeased to see its long-standing rival weakened..^[6][8]

Frictions increased as the National Constituent Assembly carried out institutional reforms. The abolition of feudal rights on 4 August 1789 affected German imperial princes who held feudal estates in Alsace, guaranteed by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia.^[6] In 1790, the French administration created the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, extinguishing remaining feudal prerogatives and jurisdictional enclaves.^[6] French offers of financial indemnities were rejected by the affected princes, who appealed to the Imperial Diet in Regensburg; the Diet lodged formal protests without taking immediate countermeasures.^[6] Further diplomatic strain arose in 1791 from the annexation of the Comtat Venaissin at the expense of the Pope, which its representatives had requested at an assembly on 18 August 1791.. French emigrant aristocrats gathered abroad, establishing a military corps at Koblenz under the Prince of Condé and petitioning foreign sovereigns to intervene to restore the absolute authority of the French Crown.^[9][10]

A diplomatic turning point occurred following the flight to Varennes on 20–21 June 1791, when Louis XVI and the royal family attempted to leave Paris to organise a counter-revolutionary movement from a loyalist stronghold.^[8][9] Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and brother of Queen Marie Antoinette, reacted on 6 July 1791 by issuing the Padua Circular to the rulers of Spain, Great Britain, Prussia, Naples, Sardinia, and Russia, proposing joint measures to safeguard the royal family and restore their authority.^[8] Spain, Naples, and Sardinia supported the initiative, but Great Britain formally refused involvement, and Russia and Prussia remained cautious.^[8] On 27 August 1791, Leopold II and King Frederick William II of Prussia met at Pillnitz Castle in Saxony and issued the Declaration of Pillnitz in consultation with the French emigrant leader, the Count of Artois.^[9][10][11] The declaration stated that the restoration of order in France was an object of common interest to all European sovereigns, threatening military intervention if all other European powers joined.^[9][11] Although designed by Leopold to avoid unilateral action, the declaration was interpreted by French political leaders as an ultimatum and an existential threat.^[9][11]

In late 1791 and early 1792, domestic politics in Paris accelerated the path toward open conflict. The Legislative Assembly, which met on 1 October 1791, was dominated on foreign affairs by the Girondins under Jacques Pierre Brissot.^[12] The Girondins argued that a war against the absolute monarchies would consolidate revolutionary achievements, export liberty to neighbouring peoples, and alleviate internal economic distress.^[12][13] King Louis XVI and the court faction also favoured war, calculating that military defeat by foreign forces would break the revolutionary regime and restore royal authority.^[12][13][14] Opposition to war came from a minority in the Jacobin Club led by Maximilien Robespierre, who argued that conflict would endanger the Revolution, empower military leaders, and play into the hands of the counter-revolution. In early 1792, France issued an ultimatum demanding that neighbouring rulers expel emigrant armed formations by 1 March; following the death of Leopold II on 1 March 1792, the deadline was extended to April.^[13] His successor, Francis II, concluded a defensive alliance with Prussia on 18 March 1792, prompting a French demand for Austrian disarmament, which Vienna rejected.^[13]

On 20 April 1792, the Legislative Assembly voted overwhelmingly to declare war on Francis II, formally styling him the King of Bohemia and Hungary rather than Holy Roman Emperor, an expedient designed to avoid automatically drawing the minor German princes into the conflict.^[3][13][15] Foreign Minister Charles-François Dumouriez presented the assembly with an extensive catalogue of grievances concerning Austrian armaments, support for emigrant assemblies, and violations of existing treaties.^[16] Prussia, bound by its defensive pact with Austria, declared war on France in return.^[13]

Military geography and opposing forces in 1792

The land frontiers of France dictated the strategic lines of operation for both belligerents. On the northern and north-eastern borders, the frontier ran from Dunkirk via Menen, Condé, Philippeville, Givet, Longwy, Sierck, Saarlouis, and Bitche to the confluence of the Lauter and the Rhine. The Meuse River divided this boundary into two operational sectors. The northern sector, from Dunkirk to Givet, bordered the Austrian Netherlands and was covered by canals and marshes on the maritime flank, while the remaining portion lacked natural terrain barriers. This sector was protected by a triple belt of twenty fortresses: the first line comprised Dunkirk, Lille, Condé, Valenciennes, Le Quesnoy, Maubeuge, and Philippeville; the second consisted of Saint-Omer, Aire, Béthune, Douai, Bouchain, Cambrai, Landrecies, Avesnes, and Rocroi; the third included Saint-Quentin, Bapaume, Arras, and Amiens. The most direct avenues of approach to Paris from this frontier ran from Maubeuge along the Brussels road through Avesnes, Laon, and Soissons, or from Condé through Cambrai and Péronne.

The north-eastern sector, running from Givet to Lauterbourg, bordered German territories and was traversed perpendicularly by the Saar and Moselle rivers. The terrain was heavily wooded across the Ardennes and the spurs of the Vosges Mountains. This sector was defended by a double line of fortresses: the first consisted of Bitche, Saarlouis, Thionville, Longwy, Montmédy, Bouillon, and Givet; the second comprised Metz, Verdun, Sedan, and Mézières. The capture of Longwy left an open corridor between Metz and Sedan with few fortifications barring the road through Châlons to Paris. The eastern frontier along the Rhine ran from Lauterbourg to Basel and was anchored by Landau, Strasbourg, Fort Vauban, Sélestat, Breisach, and Huningue, backed by the Vosges range and secured on the southern flank by Swiss neutrality. The south-eastern frontier facing the Italian states followed the Savoyard Alps and the Var River to the Mediterranean, commanded by Fort Barraux, Briançon, and Mont-Dauphin, with Grenoble in the interior and the naval base of Toulon anchoring the maritime wing.

At the outbreak of war, the French regular army stood at approximately 125,000 to 145,000 men, severely disorganised by the emigration of aristocratic officers, desertions, and poor equipment.^[17] Line infantry numbered 114,000, cavalry 27,000, and artillery 10,000.^[17] French forces were deployed in three primary field armies: the Army of the North under Marshal Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau (about 40,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry) stationed between Dunkirk and Philippeville; the Army of the Centre under the Marquis de Lafayette (about 45,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry) between Philippeville and the Lauter; and the Army of the Rhine under Marshal Nicolas Luckner (about 35,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry) from Lauterbourg to Basel. The Army of the South under General Anne Pierre de Montesquiou-Fézensac (up to 25,000 men) guarded the Alpine and Pyrenean frontiers, scattered largely in fortress garrisons.

The Coalition deployed an initial force of approximately 120,000 to 130,000 troops along the French borders under the overall command of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick. Prussian contingents numbered about 42,000 men assembling near Koblenz. Austria had roughly 60,000 men ready, including 30,000 under Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen in the Austrian Netherlands and 25,000 on the right bank of the Rhine, with preparations to mobilize an additional 60,000. These regulars were joined by 6,000 Hessian troops and roughly 14,000 French royalist emigrants under the Prince of Condé and the brothers of Louis XVI positioned near Trier and Koblenz. The Coalition high command operated on traditional eighteenth-century cordon and linear systems, hampered by political divergence between Austrian caution and Prussian offensive plans, as well as operational constraints imposed by the Hofkriegsrat in Vienna.

Campaign of 1792

French operations began in late April 1792 with an offensive into the Austrian Netherlands..^[18] Lafayette advanced with 25,000 men from Givet toward Namur; Theobald Dillon moved from Lille toward Tournai with 3,000 men; Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron, pushed from Valenciennes toward Mons with 10,000; and Carl took 11,500 troops from Dunkirk toward Furnes (Veurne). The offensive collapsed immediately. Biron's column was repulsed by Austrian forces under Johann Peter Beaulieu, while Dillon's troops fled in panic without making contact with the enemy.^[16][18] Suspecting betrayal, Dillon's retreating soldiers murdered him in Lille.^[16] The flanking columns withdrew in accordance with linear cordon doctrine. Rochambeau resigned his command and was replaced by Luckner, who concentrated 30,000 troops along the Lys River and entered Courtrai (Kortrijk) in late June.^[19] When Duke Albert dispatched detachments under Latour and Beaulieu, Luckner abandoned Courtrai and fell back to positions near Maubeuge.^[19]

The main Coalition army under the Duke of Brunswick, 82,000 men strong, invaded France from Luxembourg.^[20] The allies had begun concentrating on the Rhine in the second half of July 1792, with 42,000 Prussians, 6,000 Hessians, 14,000 emigrants and a corps under Hohenlohe-Kirchberg, and were joined from Luxembourg by the Austrian corps of François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt..^[21] Before crossing the frontier, Brunswick issued a proclamation from Koblenz on 25 July 1792, drafted by emigrant royalists, declaring that the allied sovereigns intended to restore Louis XVI to his full authority.^[16][22] The manifesto declared that any French towns or national guards that resisted would be punished as rebels by martial law, and threatened the total destruction of Paris if the Tuileries Palace was assaulted or the royal family harmed.^[16][22] Rather than cowing the population, the manifesto heightened revolutionary hostility toward the monarchy.^[16][22] On 10 August 1792, Parisian crowds, joined by provincial fédérés, stormed the Tuileries Palace, massacring the Swiss Guards and compelling the Legislative Assembly to suspend the King and confine the royal family to the Temple prison.^[23][24]

Brunswick crossed the French frontier on 19 August 1792.^[25] His vanguard drove French outpost forces from Fontoy into an entrenched camp near Longwy, and the fortress of Longwy capitulated on 22 August.^[25] Clerfayt defeated a French detachment at Stenay on 1 September, and the allied forces laid siege to Verdun, which surrendered on 2 September after its commander, Nicolas-Joseph Beaurepaire, committed suicide or was murdered.^[20][26] News of Verdun's fall triggered the September Massacres in Paris, during which more than a thousand prisoners were killed by revolutionary mobs. The French defensive lines along the northern border were thrown into disarray: Lafayette, refusing to accept the overthrow of the King, attempted to march on Paris, was denounced by the Assembly, and fled to Austrian lines on 19 August, leaving his army at Sedan to Dumouriez. Dumouriez positioned 12,000 men at the defile of Grandpré in the Argonne Forest, with detachments securing the passes of Croix-aux-Bois, Le Chesne, La Chalade, and Les Islettes to block the road to Châlons and Paris.

Prussian forces forced the pass of Croix-aux-Bois, compelling Dumouriez to retreat south across the Aisne River. Dumouriez executed an operational junction with the Army of the Centre under François Christophe de Kellermann and reinforcements from the Rhine under Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville. Dumouriez established a defensive position on the heights between Valmy and Sainte-Menehould, threatening Brunswick's supply lines while remaining independent of fixed magazines by utilizing local requisitions. On 20 September 1792, Brunswick's army encountered the French positions at the Battle of Valmy.^[1] The confrontation developed into a sustained artillery duel in which the professional French artillery distinguished itself, repelling Prussian infantry assaults.^[1][27] Although tactically a draw with fewer than five hundred total casualties, the cannonade demonstrated that the newly assembled revolutionary armies would stand firm.^[1][27] Facing torrential rain, logistical breakdown, dysentery, and concerns over Prussian border security regarding the partition of Poland, Brunswick ordered a withdrawal to the Rhine in October, returning the captured fortresses of Longwy and Verdun to French control.^[1][28]

While Brunswick retreated, Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen besieged the fortress of Lille in the north from 29 September to 8 October 1792. Austrian artillery fired thousands of incendiary shells into the city, but the garrison and citizens refused surrender terms. Upon learning of Brunswick's retreat from Champagne, Albert lifted the siege and withdrew toward Mons. On 21 September 1792, the newly elected National Convention abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the French Republic.^[1][24] Dumouriez concentrated the Army of the North, entered the Austrian Netherlands in late October, and encountered the Austrian army under Duke Albert at Jemappes on 6 November 1792.^[1] Dumouriez assaulted the Austrian entrenchments with heavy artillery support and infantry columns singing the Marseillaise, inflicting defeat on the Austrians and occupying Mons, Brussels (14 November), Antwerp (27 November), and the citadel of Namur (3 December).^[1] By early winter, French forces held the entire territory of the Austrian Netherlands, pushing Austrian forces under Clerfayt across the Erft River.

Concurrent French offensives advanced along the Rhine and the Alps. In late September 1792, General Adam Philippe de Custine advanced from Landau with 15,000 men and scattered Hessian and Palatine contingents. Custine invaded Germany and captured Speyer, Worms and Mainz along the Rhine.^[1] Speyer fell on 25 September, Worms on 5 October and Mainz on 21 October, and the Mainz Republic was established there.. On 23 October, Custine's vanguard occupied Frankfurt am Main. Prussian and Hessian troops under the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel counterattacked, driving the French out of Frankfurt on 2 December and forcing Custine back into Mainz. In the south, General Montesquiou-Fézensac led the Army of the Alps into the Duchy of Savoy on 24 September, entering Chambéry without resistance, while General Jacques Bernard d'Anselme occupied the County of Nice on 28 September. The National Convention subsequently annexed Savoy on 27 November 1792 as the department of Mont-Blanc, followed by the annexation of Nice in January 1793.

Expansion of the Coalition and internal crisis in 1793

The trial and execution of Louis XVI on 21 January 1793 unified European monarchies against the French Republic.^[13][29] British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger had initially maintained neutrality, but French military advances into the Low Countries and the opening of the Scheldt River to navigation in violation of the Peace of Westphalia and the Treaty of Utrecht posed a strategic challenge to British maritime commerce and the security of the English Channel.^[30] Great Britain ordered the French ambassador, Chauvelin, to leave London on 30 January 1793.^[31] On 1 February 1793, following a report by Brissot, the National Convention declared war against Great Britain and the Dutch Republic.^[1][32] Following a report by Bertrand Barère, France declared war on Spain on 7 March 1793.^[33] The Holy Roman Empire declared imperial war (Reichskrieg) against France on 22 March 1793.^[2][34] Bilateral alliances linked Great Britain to the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the Papal States, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Parma, the Duchy of Modena, and Portugal.^[35][36]

The mobilization of the Holy Roman Empire required the ten Imperial Circles to assemble contingents totaling up to 3,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry per circle in accordance with the 1681 imperial military regulations.^[37] Disagreements over command, funding, and constitutional legitimacy delayed the deployment of the Reichsarmee until early 1794.^[34][38] Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was appointed Reichsfeldmarschall, but resigned when several German states refused to supply their quotas and Prussian generals rejected his authority.^[38] In the Margraviate of Baden, belonging to the Swabian Circle, lower Baden mobilized 10,700 men and upper Baden around 6,000 men, incorporated into the Austrian Upper Rhine Army to garrison the imperial fortresses of Kehl and Philippsburg, while Baden's small standing force of 2,000 served under British subsidy in the Netherlands.^[37] Most imperial troops were assigned to the Upper Rhine army under Clerfayt, and the Baden levy was regarded as militarily weak..^[35][37]

Great Britain served as the paymaster of the Coalition, concluding subsidy treaties to maintain continental field armies.^[35][36] In 1793 alone, London granted £200,000 to the Kingdom of Sardinia to sustain operations in the Alps.^[35] Portugal adopted an auxiliary status to avoid declaring formal neutrality or complete belligerence, negotiating mutual assistance treaties with Spain in Madrid on 15 July 1793 and with Britain in London on 26 September 1793.^[39][40] Portugal dispatched an auxiliary division of 5,000 men under Field Marshal John Forbes Skellater to the Spanish front, disembarking at Roses in Catalonia in November 1793.^[41] In Russia, Empress Catherine II strongly denounced the Revolution and concluded a subsidy and alliance treaty with England in 1795, but withheld field forces to focus on the partition of Poland and Ottoman border security.^[42][43]

Faced with simultaneous external invasion, the French Republic was destabilized by internal insurrection and fiscal collapse. On 24 February 1793, the Convention decreed the recruitment of 300,000 men through compulsory quotas, provoking resistance across several departments. In western France, a revolt against conscription, the sale of national property, and the preaching of counter-revolutionary priests grew into the War in the Vendée in March 1793.^[44] Royalist and Catholic insurgent forces under leaders such as Jacques Cathelineau and Henri de La Rochejaquelein defeated republican garrisons, while northern Brittany and Normandy saw guerrilla warfare by the Chouans.^[44] Following the political purge of the Girondin deputies on 31 May–2 June 1793, federalist revolts erupted in major provincial cities, including Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Caen. In August 1793, royalist and federalist factions in Toulon surrendered the city, naval fortifications, and thirty-one ships of the French Mediterranean fleet to an Anglo-Spanish naval squadron under Admiral Lord Hood and Admiral Juan de Lángara.^[45]

The revolutionary government responded to these existential threats by centralizing political power in the Committee of Public Safety, established on 6 April 1793, with Lazare Carnot, Claude-Antoine Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, and Robert Lindet directing military operations, armament production, and logistics.^[46] The Reign of Terror was implemented to enforce political conformity and suppress domestic revolts. On 23 August 1793, the Convention decreed the levée en masse, placing all unmarried men aged eighteen to twenty-five at the disposal of the military and subordinating the economy to war production.^[4] To integrate untrained conscripts with regular troops, the army introduced the 'amalgam' (l'amalgame), merging one battalion of regular line infantry with two battalions of volunteers into a single demi-brigade.^[47] Tactical doctrine shifted from rigid linear formations to rapid offensive operations, deep attack columns, and skirmishing lines of tirailleurs, while political representatives on mission enforced discipline and removed failing commanders under penalty of execution.^[48]

Operations in 1793

The campaign of 1793 began in February with an offensive by Dumouriez into the Dutch Republic. Dumouriez captured Breda and Geertruidenberg, but on 1 March allied forces under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg defeated the French along the Roer at Aldenhoven, relieved Maastricht, which Francisco de Miranda had been besieging, and retook Liège and Aachen.. Dumouriez returned to Belgium and attacked Coburg's entrenched army at Neerwinden on 18 March 1793.^[49] The French were defeated with heavy losses, followed by another reverse at Louvain on 21 March.^[49] Facing arrest and denunciation by the National Convention, Dumouriez entered secret negotiations with Coburg, intending to march his army on Paris to restore the constitutional monarchy of 1791; when his troops refused to obey, he defected to the Austrians on 5 April 1793, leaving the French armies in Belgium in retreat toward the frontier fortresses.^[50]

In April 1793 the allies met for a conference in Antwerp and defined their war aims as restoring the absolute monarchy in France and obtaining territorial compensation..^[51] An allied force of 118,000 British, Hanoverian, Dutch, and Austrian troops under Coburg and the Duke of York advanced against the northern French frontier.^[50] General Auguste Marie Henri Picot de Dampierre rallied the French Army of the North at the camp of Famars, but was mortally wounded on 8 May during an attempt to relieve besieged Condé-sur-l'Escaut. Coburg captured Famars on 23 May and invested Condé, which surrendered on 10 July.^[52] Valenciennes fell on 28 July after a siege, followed by Le Quesnoy on 12 September.^[50][52] Coburg then laid siege to Maubeuge on 30 September, threatening the last fortress barrier barring the route to Paris.^[52]

The allied army divided, and the Duke of York, commanding 20,000 Hanoverians and 15,000 Dutch troops, marched on Dunkirk to capture the port, which was important to the British.. The Committee of Public Safety concentrated superior forces under General Jean Nicolas Houchard to relieve Dunkirk. In the Battle of Hondschoote (6–8 September 1793), Houchard attacked Field Marshal Wilhelm von Freytag's covering force and York's siege lines, forcing the British and Hanoverians to abandon their siege artillery and retreat.^[53][54] Houchard defeated a Dutch force under the Prince of Orange at Menen on 13 September, but was repulsed at Courtrai by Beaulieu on 15 September. Accused of failing to pursue and destroy the Duke of York's army, Houchard was recalled to Paris, condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and executed.^[55] On 22 September, General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was appointed to succeed Houchard as commander of the Army of the North.. In the Battle of Wattignies (15–16 October 1793), Jourdan attacked Clerfayt's covering army, broken through allied positions, and compelled Coburg to lift the siege of Maubeuge and withdraw north of the Sambre River.^[53][56]

Along the Rhine, the Prussian army under the Duke of Brunswick, supported by Saxon and Hessian corps, launched an offensive in March 1793, crossing the Rhine, defeating Custine at Bingen on 27–28 March, and besieging the fortress of Mainz. Mainz, held by a French garrison of 20,000 men whose defenders included Kléber, capitulated in July 1793 after a three-month siege on condition that the garrison could march out; the troops were then sent to put down the revolt in the Vendée.. On 13 October, Austrian forces under Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser defeated the French and took the Wissembourg lines, and on 26 October they defeated them again and approached Strasbourg.. The Convention entrusted the recovery of the situation to Lazare Hoche, commanding the Army of the Moselle, and Jean-Charles Pichegru, commanding the Army of the Rhine.. Hoche was repulsed by Brunswick at Kaiserslautern (28–30 November), but united his forces with Pichegru and attacked the allied positions, defeating Wurmser at Wœrth-Frœschwiller on 22 December and Geisberg on 26 December, relieving the siege of Landau on 29 December and compelling Austrian forces to retreat across the Rhine while Prussians fell back toward Mainz.^[57]

On the Pyrenean frontier, Spanish forces invaded France and began the Roussillon campaign.^[58][59] The French suffered heavy defeats in Northern Catalonia and a reverse at the Battle of Mas Deu in May 1793, and the Spanish advance toward Perpignan was halted near the city at Serrat d'en Vaquer and at the Battle of Mas del Comte on 17 July.^[59][60] French counter-attacks under General Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert captured Puigcerdà on 29 August and Mont-Louis on 4 September, driving Spanish detachments from Villefranche-de-Conflent.^[60] The French defeated the Spanish again at the Battle of Peyrestortes on 17 September 1793, and the Spanish withdrew to safer positions, camping at Pontellà, while 5,000 Portuguese reinforcements arrived.^[60] Supported by a Portuguese auxiliary brigade under Forbes Skellater, Ricardos captured Collioure, Fort Saint-Elme, and Port-Vendres in December before dying of illness, while General Ventura Caro achieved parallel gains along the Bidassoa in the western Pyrenees.^[41]

In the south of France, the Anglo-Spanish occupation of Toulon, which had begun on 27 August 1793, became the focus of major operations.^[45] General Jacques François Dugommier, assisted by Napoleon Bonaparte, then a 24-year-old artillery officer, retook Toulon for the Republic.^[61] The fall of Toulon at the end of December 1793 damaged the British position in the Mediterranean, because Hood had not made adequate arrangements for the withdrawal and 18 French ships of the line fell into republican hands.^[45][62] Toulon was recaptured by the Republic on 19 December, and Bonaparte was promoted to brigadier general.^[61]

Great Britain was unprepared for war: in 1792 it maintained only twelve ships of the line, and because large crews had to be recruited, eighty-five ships of the line were ready for sea only in the second half of 1793, twenty-five under Admiral Howe forming the Channel Fleet, twenty-five under Admiral Hood going to the Mediterranean, twelve to the West Indies, and the rest held in reserve at Portsmouth and Plymouth. The French fleet had been thoroughly disorganized by the revolution and could undertake no serious operations in the first years of the war; its later actions also failed because of poor officers, undermanned and undisciplined crews, and poor supply. British naval dominance enabled the capture of French fishing stations at Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, while commercial blockades restricted neutral grain imports into French ports.^[63]

Campaign of 1794

By the beginning of 1794, extraordinary measures had expanded France's armed forces to 1,200,000 men, of whom about 750,000 were field troops. The infantry was organized into demi-brigades of 2,500 men with six four-pounder guns, and from that year the cavalry began to be grouped into reserve corps. The Army of the North (160,000) under Pichegru occupied positions from Dunkirk to Maubeuge; the Army of the Ardennes (35,000) under Charbonnier was stationed between Philippeville, Rocroi, and Givet; the Army of the Moselle (60,000) under Jourdan secured the line from the Vosges to the Moselle; the Army of the Rhine (45,000) under Claude Ignace François Michaud guarded the front from Saarlouis to Mannheim; and the Army of the Upper Rhine (48,000) covered the border to Basel. In the south, 95,000 troops were deployed in the armies of Italy and the Alps, and 120,000 held the Pyrenean frontiers.

The Coalition deployed nearly 200,000 Austrian, British, Dutch, and Hanoverian troops in the Austrian Netherlands under the overall command of Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg, with Colonel Karl Mack von Leiberich serving as quartermaster-general.^[64][65] Mack formulated an offensive plan to capture Landrecies, push through Saint-Quentin, and march directly on Paris.^[65] Emperor Francis II arrived in person in Brussels on 9 April 1794 for the opening of the new campaign.^[66] On 17 April, Coburg began the siege of Landrecies with an army of 75,000 men, and the French garrison under General Henri Victor Roulland capitulated on 30 April.^[66] Carnot and Pichegru countered with an envelopment of the allied flanks: while French forces along the Sambre engaged the allied left, General Joseph Souham with 30,000 men and General Jean Victor Marie Moreau with 20,000 pushed into West Flanders, capturing Courtrai and Menen. At the Battle of Tourcoing on 17 and 18 May 1794, French troops under General Pichegru defeated the isolated English wing of the Duke of York.^[66] The French then tried to drive the allies from their fortified positions at Tournai but were defeated at the Battle of Tournai on 22 May.^[66]

The strategic climax in the north occurred along the Sambre River. The Committee of Public Safety ordered Jourdan to march from the Moselle with 45,000 men, uniting with the Army of the Ardennes to form the Army of Sambre and Meuse, accompanied by representative on mission Louis Antoine de Saint-Just.^[67] Jourdan crossed the Sambre, invested the fortress of Charleroi, and forced its garrison to capitulate on 25 June 1794.^[67] Unaware of the fortress's fall, Coburg attacked Jourdan's entrenched lines on 26 June with 46,000 men in the Battle of Fleurus.^[53] The allied attacks were repulsed and the French counter-attacked.^[68] Coburg was defeated but managed to withdraw in good order.^[68] Fleurus decisively collapsed the Coalition's position in the Low Countries.^[53]

Following Fleurus, French armies advanced across the Austrian Netherlands. Pichegru took Ypres, Bruges, Ostend, and Nieuwpoort, pushing the Duke of York's Anglo-Dutch army northward toward the Dutch border, while Jourdan drove the Austrians eastward toward the Rhine.^[69] The French entered Brussels on 10 July 1794, and occupied Antwerp and Liège on 27 July, coincidentally the day of the 9 Thermidor coup in Paris that brought about the overthrow and execution of Robespierre and Saint-Just.^[69] The Austrian barrier fortresses fell in rapid succession: Landrecies (15 July), Le Quesnoy (15 August), Valenciennes (27 August), and Condé (29 August).^[70] Jourdan defeated Clerfayt at the Battle of Sprimont on 18 September and at the Roer (Aldenhoven) on 2 October, clearing the left bank of the Rhine and entering Aachen, Cologne, and Bonn.^[66] General Jean-Baptiste Kléber laid siege to Maastricht, which surrendered on 4 November 1794.

On the middle Rhine, near Mainz and Trier, the Prussian-Saxon army of about 55,000 men under Wichard von Möllendorff held the front; under the Treaty of The Hague of 19 April 1794, Great Britain and the Netherlands had undertaken to support Prussia with subsidies.^[71] Möllendorff defeated the French at Kaiserslautern in May and September 1794.^[71] However, Frederick William II prioritized securing Prussian territorial annexations in the ongoing Kościuszko Uprising in Poland over Western operations.^[71][72][73] The Prussians nonetheless withdrew across the Rhine and left the Palatinate to the French, and on 25 October 1794 Prussia terminated the Treaty of The Hague.^[71] The French armies of the Rhine and the Moselle invaded the Palatinate, blockaded Mainz and occupied Mannheim on 24 December 1794..^[74]

On the Pyrenean front, General Jacques François Dugommier assumed command of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees in January 1794.^[75] On 30 April–1 May 1794, Dugommier defeated the Spanish army under the Count of La Unión at the Battle of Le Boulou, capturing 140 artillery pieces and driving the Spanish back into Catalonia.^[75] French forces recaptured Collioure, Port-Vendres, and Fort de Bellegarde (17 September).^[75] In the Battle of the Black Mountain (Sierra Negra) from 17 to 20 November 1794, both commanding generals, Dugommier and La Unión, were killed in combat.^[75][76] Dugommier's successor, General Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon, routed the Spanish army and captured the fortress of Figueres (San Fernando) on 27 November along with 9,000 prisoners.^[76] On the western Pyrenean front, General Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey captured Hondarribia, San Sebastián (4 August), and Tolosa, pushing through the Navarre mountain passes toward Pamplona.^[76]

In the Italian theatre, the French Army of Italy under Pierre Jadart Dumerbion, utilizing an operational plan prepared by artillery commander Napoleon Bonaparte, began an offensive in April 1794. French forces advanced from Nice through neutral Genoese territory, captured Oneglia on 9 April to sever Sardinian trade, and outflanked the Austro-Sardinian positions at Saorgio (Saorge), forcing the defenders to retreat over the Col de Tende into Piedmont. Diseases and the appearance of a British naval squadron off Genoa forced a temporary pause, but in September the French mounted an advance along the Bormida valley, occupying Savona and Vado on 24 September to secure naval anchorages along the Ligurian coast.

At sea, the French fleet escorted a large grain convoy..^[77] The Channel Fleet under Admiral Lord Howe departed Portsmouth to intercept the convoy, while the French fleet of twenty-five ships of the line under Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse sortied from Brest to protect it. In the battle of 9, 10 and 13 Prairial (28 and 29 May and 1 June 1794), the French fleet suffered heavy losses..^[77] However, Villaret de Joyeuse succeeded in bringing the grain convoy through to Brest..^[77] In the Mediterranean, British naval forces under Lord Hood and Captain Horatio Nelson supported Corsican insurgents under Pasquale Paoli, besieging and capturing the French garrisons at Saint-Florent (February), Bastia (May), and Calvi (August 1794), where Nelson lost the sight of his right eye, establishing the short-lived Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.^[62] In the Caribbean, a British expedition under Admiral Sir John Jervis and General Sir Charles Grey captured Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Guadeloupe in early 1794, but a French expedition under Victor Hugues carrying decrees abolishing slavery recaptured Guadeloupe later that year.^[78]

At the end of December 1794, Pichegru conquered Holland..^[74] An early and severe winter froze the Meuse, Waal, and Rhine rivers in December 1794, neutralizing the traditional Dutch inundation defences.^[74] Pichegru launched an advance across the ice, overrunning the Bommelerwaard on 27 December, breaking the Dutch defensive lines at Breda, and crossing the Waal at Pannerden in January 1795.^[74] The Duke of York's British contingent retreated eastward into Hanover and subsequently evacuated to Britain.^[74] French cavalry under Johan Willem de Winter captured the Dutch fleet frozen in the ice at Den Helder on 23 January 1795.^[74] On 19 January 1795 Holland became the Batavian Republic, an ally of the French Republic..^[79]

Campaign of 1795 and the fracturing of the Coalition

The Grand Duke of Tuscany was admitted to terms with France in February 1795..^[80] With serious financial problems and fearing that Catherine II would occupy what remained of Poland, Frederick William II of Prussia concluded the Peace of Basel with France on 5 April 1795..^[80][81][82] Prussia ceded its territories on the left bank of the Rhine, while secret clauses promised Prussia territorial compensation east of the Rhine.^[82] On 17 May 1795, a supplementary accord established a demarcation line neutralizing northern Germany under Prussian hegemony.^[82] On 16 May 1795, France and the new Batavian Republic signed the Treaty of The Hague, establishing an offensive and defensive alliance; the Batavians ceded Dutch Flanders, Maastricht, and Venlo, agreed to maintain a French occupation force of 25,000 men, and paid an indemnity of 100 million guilders.^[83]

Spain exited the conflict following continuous military reverses. Moncey's Army of the Western Pyrenees captured Bilbao on 17 July 1795 and Vitoria on 24 July, advancing toward Miranda de Ebro.^[84] Spain concluded the Second Treaty of Basel on 22 July 1795..^[85] The peace, which ended the war with Spain in 1795, included the cession of Santo Domingo..^[86] Spain signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso on 18 August 1796, entering into a formal military alliance with France against Great Britain.^[85]

Despite these diplomatic triumphs, the French domestic economy was severely destabilized following the fall of the Jacobins. Inflation wrecked the assignat currency, state supply services collapsed into the hands of private contractors, and desertion depleted the ranks.^[87] Total French troop numbers fell from one million in September 1794 to no more than 570,000 by August 1795, and of a theoretical strength of 1,100,000 men only 454,000 were actually available.^[87] Opposing them, Austrian forces under Clerfayt and Wurmser deployed 180,000 men along the right bank of the Rhine from Wesel to Basel. The French blockaded Luxembourg, which capitulated on 6 June 1795; its commander, Field Marshal von Bender, had proposed the articles of capitulation on 1 June..^[88][89]

Great Britain attempted to exploit royalist unrest in western France by staging an amphibious expedition to the Quiberon peninsula in southern Brittany.^[90] On 23–27 June 1795, a British naval squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren landed approximately 3,500 armed French emigrants, along with quantities of muskets, uniforms, and money, to link up with several thousand Chouan insurgents.^[91] The forces of the Republic defeated the emigrant force before the end of July, and the British troops re-embarked..^[91] In Paris, an armed royalist uprising against the National Convention on 13 Vendémiaire (5 October 1795) was suppressed by General Napoleon Bonaparte using artillery outside the Church of Saint-Roch, securing the establishment of the French Directory.^[92]

French operations on the Rhine commenced in September 1795. Jourdan's Army of Sambre and Meuse crossed the Rhine at Düsseldorf and Neuwied on 6 September, forcing the Austrian right wing under Wartensleben back to the Lahn and Main rivers.^[93] Pichegru crossed the Rhine at Mannheim..^[94] However, Pichegru had entered into treasonous correspondence with the Prince of Condé and royalist agents, deliberately stalling his operations and refusing to coordinate with Jourdan.^[95] Pichegru detached only two divisions toward the Neckar River, which were attacked and routed by Clerfayt's Austrian corps at Handschuhsheim on 24 September.^[96] Clerfayt then concentrated his forces, crossed the Main, and threatened Jourdan's rear, forcing Jourdan to retreat across the Rhine in mid-October.^[94] On 29 October 1795, Clerfayt surprised and broke the French lines besieging Mainz, while Wurmser invested Mannheim and compelled its French garrison to surrender on 22 November.^[94][97] The harsh season and the exhaustion of the troops led the Austrians to propose an armistice, which both sides concluded on 1 January 1796..

In the Italian theatre, the Austrians under Feldzeugmeister De Vins and the allied Sardinian army under Colli faced the French. In June 1795 De Vins and the Piedmontese tried to advance along the Riviera with 42,000 men to threaten Genoa, and the French Army of Italy took up a line with its right wing at Borghetto.. At the end of August the Army of Italy, now under General Schérer, was reinforced by 10,000 men from the Rhine and by most of the Pyrenees army, which came from Spain after the peace with that country.. In the second half of November 1795 Schérer launched a general offensive, and the Austrians were defeated at Loano on 23 November.. General André Masséna, ordered to drive Argenteau out of Bardineto and cut the link between the Austrian left wing and Colli's corps, threw Argenteau back beyond the Bormida, while Pierre Augereau took Loano after repeated attacks. At Loano, Masséna forced the Coalition forces to retreat..^[98] The allies fell back partly behind the Bormida to Dego and partly to Ceva, and with winter coming Schérer halted operations but occupied all the passes through the Apennines to prepare for the following year..

In the Mediterranean, a French force of 15 ships and frigates under Admiral Martin, which had left Toulon on 2 March 1795, met William Hotham's British fleet off Cape Noli on 13 and 14 March and lost two ships. Defeated in this Battle of Genoa on 14 March, the French abandoned their plan to invade Corsica and returned to port..^[99] On 13 July Hotham caught the French off the Hyères roadstead but captured only one ship that had fallen behind.. In the Atlantic, Admiral Bridport's Channel squadron met Villaret de Joyeuse's fleet and on 23 June, near the island of Groix, captured three French ships that had fallen behind.. On 14 September Admiral Richery left Toulon with six ships and three frigates, getting past Hotham's inactive blockade; on 7 October he caught a merchant convoy from the Levant escorted by three ships of the line, took one of the warships and the whole convoy, and brought them into Cadiz..

Campaign of 1796

The French Directory assumed executive power in late 1795 and planned a strategic offensive for 1796 formulated by Lazare Carnot.^[100][101] The strategy envisioned a concentric offensive against Vienna: the Army of Sambre and Meuse (74,500) under Jourdan on the lower Rhine and the Army of Rhine and Moselle (77,500) under Moreau in Alsace were to cross the Rhine, advance through southern Germany along the Danube, and link up before Vienna with the Army of Italy, which was designated as a secondary diversionary theatre to pin down Austrian and Sardinian forces.^[102] Opposite them, Austria planned to use an army of about 90,000 under Archduke Charles to clear Belgium of the Republic's troops, and an army under Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser for operations on the upper Rhine. Wurmser's troops, about 82,000 men, were posted from Hüningen through Philippsburg and Mannheim to Kaiserslautern..^[103] In northern Italy, Feldzeugmeister Beaulieu commanded an Austrian army of about 42 battalions and 44 squadrons, and the allied Sardinian troops numbered about 30,000; together they had about 80,000 men and 200 guns..

On 2 March 1796, twenty-six-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of Italy, arriving at headquarters in Nice on 27 March.^[104][105] The army was badly short of men and equipment, and Bonaparte assembled a striking force of 38,000 soldiers..^[106] Bonaparte discarded the traditional cordon system and planned to sever the junction between the Austrian army under Beaulieu and the Sardinian army under Colli in the Ligurian Alps.^[106] On 12 April 1796, Bonaparte launched the Montenotte Campaign, defeating Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau's Austrian corps at Montenotte.^[106] Exploiting interior lines, Bonaparte defeated the Austrians again at Dego (14–15 April) and turned his full force westward against the Sardinians, winning the Battle of Millesimo (13 April) and the Battle of Mondovì on 21 April.^[106] Shaken by these defeats, King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia signed the Armistice of Cherasco on 28 April, confirmed on 15 May by the Treaty of Paris, which ceded Savoy and Nice to France and granted French forces military access through Piedmont.^[106]

Turning east against the Austrian army, Bonaparte outflanked Beaulieu's defensive lines along the Po River by executing a crossing at Piacenza on 7 May 1796.^[107] Beaulieu withdrew behind the Adda River, leaving an Austrian rearguard defending the bridge at Lodi.^[107] On 10 May 1796, Bonaparte assaulted the bridge with French infantry columns, capturing the crossing and driving the Austrians toward the Mincio.^[107] The French army entered Milan in triumph on 15 May, levying heavy contributions of money, provisions, and artworks, and establishing a provisional municipal administration.^[107] Bonaparte forced the Mincio crossing at Borghetto on 30 May, drove Beaulieu north into the Tyrolean passes, and invested the Austrian fortress of Mantua on 4 June, which was defended by a garrison of 14,000 men under Joseph Canto d'Irles.^[108]

To relieve Mantua, Vienna transferred Field Marshal von Wurmser from the Rhine to Italy with 25,000 veteran reinforcements, raising Austrian strength in the Tyrol to nearly 50,000 men.^[109] In late July 1796, Wurmser advanced south in three columns on both sides of Lake Garda.^[109] Bonaparte temporarily lifted the siege of Mantua and concentrated all his forces..^[109][110] Operating between the divided Austrian columns, Bonaparte defeated Peter Quasdanovich's western corps at Lonato (3–4 August) and Wurmser's main army at the Battle of Castiglione on 5 August.^[109] Wurmser retreated into Trentino. When Wurmser attempted a second relief in September via the Brenta valley, Bonaparte pursued him down the gorge, defeated the Austrians at Rovereto (4 September) and the Battle of Bassano on 8 September, cut off his retreat, and drove Wurmser and 16,000 surviving troops into Mantua on 15 September, where they were besieged.^[111]

At the end of October 1796 new Austrian troops under Alvinczy and Davidovich were sent into Italy. In November Austria made a new attempt to relieve Mantua, and its new commander, Field Marshal Joseph Alvinczy, gathered another army..^[112] French forces were defeated at Caldiero on 12 November, placing Bonaparte in an exposed position. Deciding on an operational flank manoeuvre through the Adige marshes, Bonaparte crossed the river at Ronco and attacked Alvinczi's flank and rear in the three-day Battle of Arcole (15–17 November 1796).^[112] Bonaparte personally led an assault on the Arcole bridge under fire, and on the third day the French broke the Austrian flank, forcing Alvinczi to retreat toward Vicenza.^[112] In western France, the Vendéan leader Charette was executed on 29 March 1796. The rebellion in the Vendée was crushed that year by Lazare Hoche..^[113]

In Germany, Austrian operations under Archduke Charles achieved success against divided French forces.^[114] On 21 May 1796 Austria gave notice ending the armistice and set 1 June for the start of hostilities.. Jourdan crossed the lower Rhine on 31 May, but Charles defeated him at the Battle of Wetzlar on 15 June, driving the French back across the river.^[103] Meanwhile, Moreau crossed the Rhine at Kehl on 24 June with the troops of General Louis Desaix..^[115] Archduke Charles joined Latour with part of his troops and tried to check Moreau's advance.^[115] Jourdan resumed the offensive, recrossed the Rhine and marched on Bamberg and Amberg, pushing deep into Franconia by August.^[116][117] On the way the French took Frankfurt in July, Würzburg on 24 July, and Nuremberg.. Württemberg (7 August 1796) and Baden (22 August 1796) made separate peaces and had to give up their possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, and Bavaria left the Coalition through the armistice of Pfaffenhofen (7 September 1796)..

Moreau defeated Charles at Neresheim on 11 August, forcing the Austrians across the Danube and the Lech into Bavaria, with French forces entering Munich on 9 September.^[118] However, Jourdan and Moreau operated independently without coordinating their manoeuvres..^[119][120] Archduke Charles exploited this strategic error: leaving Latour with 30,000 men to observe Moreau, Charles marched north with 30,000 troops, united with Wartensleben's corps, and attacked Jourdan's exposed flank.^[121] Charles defeated Jourdan at Neumarkt (23 August), Amberg (24 August), and the decisive Battle of Würzburg on 3 September 1796.^[121] Jourdan retreated across the Lahn, suffered another defeat at Altenkirchen on 19 September where General François-Séverin Marceau was mortally wounded, and withdrew across the Rhine, resigning his command to Beurnonville.^[121] Isolated deep in Bavaria with his communication lines threatened, Moreau executed a retreat through the Black Forest, defeating Latour's pursuing corps at Biberach on 2 October, disengaging through the Höllental (Hölle Pass), and fighting Charles at Emmendingen (19 October) and Schliengen (24 October) before crossing the Rhine at Huningue on 26 October.^[122][123] Imperial forces subsequently besieged the French bridgeheads at Kehl and Huningue.^[124]

In the maritime war, the Franco-Spanish alliance of San Ildefonso altered the Mediterranean balance of power. When twenty-six Spanish ships of the line entered the Mediterranean under Admiral Lángara, the British commander Admiral Sir John Jervis was ordered to evacuate Corsica and Elba. The British evacuated Corsica in 1796..^[125] Jervis withdrew his fleet to Gibraltar and Lisbon. In December 1796, France launched the Expedition to Ireland (Expédition d'Irlande): a fleet of seventeen ships of the line and twenty-seven transports carrying 14,000 troops under General Lazare Hoche and naval commander Justin-Bonaventure Morard de Galles sailed from Brest to land in Bantry Bay and support the Society of United Irishmen under Wolfe Tone.^[78] The expedition failed because the transport fleet was dispersed by a violent storm..^[91]

Campaign of 1797 and the Peace of Campo Formio

In January 1797, Alvinczi launched a fourth Austrian offensive to relieve Mantua, advancing from Trentino down the Adige valley with 28,000 men while secondary columns demonstrated toward Legnago.^[126] On 14–15 January 1797, Bonaparte fought the decisive Battle of Rivoli on a plateau overlooking the Adige.^[126] Using rapid tactical redeployments, Bonaparte and Masséna defeated Alvinczi's flanking columns as they emerged onto the plateau, routing the Austrian army.^[126] A relief column of 9,000 men under Giovanni Provera reached the outskirts of Mantua, but was surrounded by French forces under Bonaparte and Sérurier at La Favorita and forced to surrender on 16 January.^[126] During the siege of Mantua about 18,000 Austrians died, most of them from disease, and the fortress capitulated on 2 February 1797.^{[126][127][128]} Bonaparte paroled Wurmser and his staff, capturing 18,000 prisoners, 1,600 guns, and extensive stockpiles.^[5][128]

Following the fall of Mantua, Bonaparte turned south into the Papal States, whose ruler, Pope Pius VI, had broken an earlier agreement with the French Republic.^[129] French troops overran the Romagna, and the Pope concluded the Treaty of Tolentino on 19 February 1797.^[129] The papacy ceded Avignon, the Comtat Venaissin, Bologna, Ferrara, and the Romagna to French control, paid fifteen million francs in gold and silver, and surrendered additional manuscripts and classical artworks.^[129]

In March 1797, Bonaparte launched an invasion of the Austrian hereditary lands through the Carnic and Julian Alps with 43,000 men, reinforced by a division from the Army of Sambre and Meuse under General Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte.^[130] Archduke Charles had been transferred from Germany to command the demoralized Austrian forces in Italy, but was unable to establish a firm defensive line.^[130] Bonaparte forced the Tagliamento River on 16 March, seized Tarvisio, and drove through the mountain passes into Carinthia, while Masséna's vanguard occupied Klagenfurt and pushed toward the Semmering Pass, advancing within one hundred miles of Vienna.^[130][131] With Archduke Charles unable to halt the French advance, Emperor Francis II sued for peace, and on 18 April 1797 Bonaparte concluded the Preliminary Peace of Leoben on his own authority, bypassing the Directory.^{[5][131][132]}

Concurrently on the Rhine front, the Austrian bridgehead fortresses of Kehl and Huningue had capitulated to imperial forces on 10 January and 19 February 1797, respectively.^[124] In mid-April, newly organized French armies under Hoche and Moreau crossed the Rhine.^[133] Hoche, commanding the Army of Sambre and Meuse, crossed at Neuwied on 18 April, routed Franz von Werneck's Austrian army at the Battle of Neuwied, and advanced toward Frankfurt am Main, while Moreau crossed south of Strasbourg on 20–21 April, winning the Battle of Diersheim.^[133][134] Operations along the Rhine were halted immediately upon receipt of news that Bonaparte had signed the preliminaries of Leoben.^[133][134]

After a reactionary revolt in Verona on 17 April 1797, known as the 'Veronese Easter' (Pasque Veronesi), Bonaparte declared war on the Republic of Venice on 2 May 1797, citing its violation of neutrality and the killing of many Frenchmen.^[135][136] French troops occupied Venice on 16 May, overthrowing its eleven-hundred-year-old oligarchic government and seizing its fleet and treasury.^[136] Bonaparte created the Cisalpine Republic on 29 June 1797, incorporating Lombardy, Mantua, Modena, Brescia, and the Papal Legations, while Genoa was transformed into the Ligurian Republic on 6 June.^[136]

In February 1797, France attempted a diversionary raid on Great Britain. On 22 February 1797, four French warships landed 1,400 men of the 'Black Legion' (La Légion Noire), a force composed largely of convicts, deserters, and Irish volunteers under Irish-American Colonel William Tate, at Carregwastad Point near Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, Wales.^[137] Tate had orders to incite rebellion and march on Bristol, but his force fell into disorder, looting farms and consuming wine from a shipwreck. Lord Cawdor assembled approximately 500 local British defenders, consisting of the Castlemartin Yeomanry, Pembrokeshire militia, sailors, and armed civilians.^[137] Following brief skirmishing, Tate surrendered unconditionally on 24 February 1797 in the last landing by foreign hostile forces on mainland British soil.^[137]

In February 1797 the British defeated the Spanish, by then allied with France, at the naval Battle of Cape St. Vincent..^[125] In July 1797, Nelson led a landing assault on Santa Cruz de Tenerife to seize a Spanish treasure convoy, but the attack was repulsed by the garrison under Antonio Gutiérrez, and Nelson suffered the amputation of his right arm. In the North Sea, the Batavian Republic prepared a fleet to transport a French expeditionary force to Ireland. On 11 October 1797, Admiral Adam Duncan's British North Sea fleet intercepted the Batavian fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter at the Battle of Camperdown, capturing nine Dutch ships of the line and two frigates.^[125]

Negotiations between Bonaparte and Austrian plenipotentiary Philipp von Cobenzl culminated in the Treaty of Campo Formio, signed on 17 October 1797.^[5][138] Austria ceded the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) to France, recognized French possession of the left bank of the Rhine from Basel to the Nethe River, and acknowledged the independence of the Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics.^[139] In compensation for these losses, Austria received the bulk of the territory of the dissolved Republic of Venice, including Venetia up to the Adige, Istria, and Dalmatia, granting the Habsburgs expanded access to the Adriatic Sea.^[138] France retained the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Paxos, Cephalonia, Zante).^[138] Secret clauses committed Austria to support the cession of the entire left bank of the Rhine at an imperial congress and provided territorial compensation in Germany for dispossessed secular princes through the secularisation of ecclesiastical principalities.^[139]

Aftermath, congress of Rastatt, and historical assessment

The signature of the Treaty of Campo Formio dissolved the First Coalition, leaving Great Britain as the sole belligerent remaining at war with the French Republic.^[5][140] British peace talks conducted at Lille between Lord Malmesbury and French representatives broke down in September 1797 over disputes concerning colonial conquests, including British retention of the Dutch Cape Colony and Ceylon.^[136] To settle the territorial indemnities and constitutional rearrangements of the Holy Roman Empire necessitated by the cession of the left bank of the Rhine, the Second Congress of Rastatt convened in December 1797.^[139][141] In March 1798, the imperial deputation accepted the cession of the left bank of the Rhine and the principle of secularising ecclesiastical territories to compensate dispossessed secular princes.^[139] However, negotiations deadlocked over details of indemnities, river navigation rights, and fortress jurisdictions, continuing fruitlessly until the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition in 1799 brought the congress to a violent close.^[139][142]

Military historians assess the outcome of the War of the First Coalition as a structural victory for the French Republic arising from fundamental transformations in mobilization, operational doctrine, and strategic unity compared to the Coalition.^[48] The French state mobilized national resources and demographic power through the levée en masse, fielding unprecedented armies motivated by patriotic and revolutionary ideology.^[47][143] The abolition of aristocratic privilege enabled promotions based on merit, producing capable young commanders including Bonaparte, Hoche, Jourdan, Moreau, Kléber, and Masséna.^[144] Operationally, French armies embraced rapid movement, tactical offensive columns, independent division structures, and reliance on local requisitions, liberating their movements from the rigid magazine supply systems that encumbered allied armies.^[48][101]

Conversely, the First Coalition suffered from divergent war aims, political distrust, and strategic incoherence.^{[51][81][145]} Britain focused on naval dominance and colonial acquisitions; Prussia prioritized territorial gains in the second and third partitions of Poland over French operations, withdrawing in 1795 to secure hegemony in northern Germany; and Austria was constrained by administrative meddling from the Hofkriegsrat in Vienna and diplomatic isolation following Prussian defection.^[71][81] The territorial settlements reshaped Western Europe, creating French satellite republics in the Low Countries and Italy, extinguishing sovereign states such as the Republic of Venice, initiating the secularisation of the Holy Roman Empire, and establishing French domination along the Rhine.^{[139][146][147]}

References

1. Holland 1911, Battle of Valmy. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
2. Größere Verbände der Reichsarmee nahmen erst ab 1795 am Krieg teil, hatten aber nach allgemeinem Urteil keine kriegsentscheidende Wirkung.
3. La déclaration de guerre n'est pas adressée à l'archiduché d'Autriche, celui-ci n'étant pas alors un État souverain, mais une des possessions de la maison d'Autriche, faisant partie du Saint-Empire, ni à François II en tant qu'empereur du Saint-Empire car il n'est élu empereur des Romains que le 7 juin 1792, puis couronné à Francfort-sur-le-Main le 14 juillet 1792. Notons cependant que pour beaucoup de Français, la reine Marie-Antoinette était (défavorablement) surnommée « l'Autrichienne ».
4. Die „allgemeine Wehrpflicht“ wurde erst 1798 im Zusammenhang mit General Jourdans Heeresreformen eingeführt. Hier war es die, in vielen Regionen zu großen Unruhen führende Aushebung von 300.000 Rekruten, für deren Auswahl und Bereitstellung die Munizipalität zuständig war (Februar 1793)
5. Hannay 1911, p. 193. (Hannay, David (1911). "French Revolutionary Wars" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
6. Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Berlin 2008, S. 219.
7. Elisabeth Fehrenbach: Vom Ancien Regime zum Wiener Kongress. München 2001, S. 43–45.
8. Goodwin, A., "Reform and Revolution in France: October 1789-February 1793" in AAVV, The New Cambridge Modern History, volume VIII, pp. 693 e 694.
9. Elisabeth Fehrenbach: Vom Ancien Regime zum Wiener Kongress. München 2001, S. 45f.
10. Goodwin, A., "Reform and Revolution in France: October 1789-February 1793" in AAVV, The New Cambridge Modern History, volume VIII, pp. 695 e 696.
11. Holland 1911, The king and the nonjurors. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
12. Enciclopedia Collier 1993, P.F. Collier.
13. Andreas Fahrmeir: Revolutionen und Reformen. Europa 1789–1850, München 2010, S. 64.
14. Lieven, Dominic (2011). Rusland tegen Napoleon. De strijd om Europa 1807–1814. Het Spectrum, Houten-Antwerpen, p. 54. ISBN 9789000304356. Geraadpleegd op 23 mei 2016.
15. Tulard, Fayard e Fierro, p. 278. (Jean Tulard, Jean-François Fayard e Alfred Fierro, Dizionario storico della Rivoluzione francese, traduzione dal francese di Annalia Franchetti, Sandro Lombardi, Fabio Vasarri e Silvia Blasio e Agnès Charpentier, Firenze, Ponte alle Grazie, 1989.)
16. Holland 1911, War declared against Austria. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
17. v. Schütz zitiert ab S. 6 Zahlen des Schweizer Militärhistorikers General Jomini.
18. Connelly（2012年），第23页
19. Connelly（2012年），第24页
20. Francois Furet, Denis Richet: Die französische Revolution. Frankfurt am Main 1981, S. 222 f.
21. F. W. v. Schütz: Geschichte der Kriege in Europa seit 1792. Ab S. 6.
22. Andreas Fahrmeir: Revolutionen und Reformen. Europa 1789–1850 München 2010, S. 65.
23. Holland 1911, Rising of the 10th of August. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
24. Elisabeth Fehrenbach: Vom Ancien Regime zum Wiener Kongress. München 2001, S. 46–48.
25. Holland 1911, The revolutionary Commune of Paris. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
26. In verschiedenen Beschreibungen von Verduns Kapitulation beging General Beaurepaire Suizid. So 1827 in Geschichte der Kriege in Europa seit 1792. Bd. 1, S. 48, in Goethes Campagne in Frankreich und 1838 bei Abel Hugo: France militaire… Bd. 1, S. 3.
27. David G. Chandler: Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. London 1979, S. 455 ff.
28. Esdaile, p. 1; Connelly, pp. 27 a 32; Chandler, pp. 371 e 372.
29. Holland 1911, Trial and execution of Louis XVI. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
30. Chandler, p. 373.
31. Claveau, Louis, Ducom, André Jean (1861-1923), Lataste, Lodoïs (1842-1923) et Pionnier, Constant (1857-1924), « Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, Première série, tome 58, séance du 30 janvier 1793 » , sur gallica.bnf.fr, 1900 (consulté le 26 octobre 2025)
32. Claveau, Louis, Ducom, André Jean (1861-1923), Lataste, Lodoïs (1842-1923) et Pionnier, Constant (1857-1924), « Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, Première série, tome 58, séance du 1er février 1793 » , sur gallica.bnf.fr, 1900 (consulté le 26 octobre 2025)
33. Claveau, Louis, Ducom, André Jean (1861-1923), Lataste, Lodoïs (1842-1923) et Pionnier, Constant (1857-1924), « Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, Première série, tome 59, séance du 7 mars 1793 » , sur gallica.bnf.fr, 1901 (consulté le 26 octobre 2025)
34. A. v. Vivenot: Herzog Albrecht v. Sachsen-Teschen … S. 204 f.
35. Friedrich Wilhelm von Schütz: Geschichte der Kriege in Europa seit dem Jahre der 1792 als Folgen der Staatsveränderung in Frankreich unter König Ludwig XVI., Band 1: Feldzüge der Jahre 1792–1793. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1827, S. 163 f.
36. Tulard, p. 136 a 138; Bruun, pp. 254; Connelly, p. 34.
37. Karl Stiefel: Baden 1648–1952, Band 1, S. 104 ff.
38. Alfred von Vivenot: Herzog Albrecht von Sachsen-Teschen als Reichsfeldmarschall, Band 1: Jänner bis October 1794. Baumüller, Wien 1864.
39. Ribeiro, p. 266.
40. Amaral http://www.arqnet.pt/exercito/rossilhao.html#n06).
41. Martins, pp. 197 e 198.
42. Rolf E. Reichardt: Das Blut der Freiheit. Frankfurt am Main 1998.
43. Macedo, pp. 322 a 324.
44. «Guerra de la Primera Coalició». Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. Barcelona: Grup Enciclopèdia.
45. Sugden, John. Nelson: A Dream of Glory (en anglès). Londres: Jonathan Cape, 2004, p. 427. ISBN 0-224-06097-X.
46. Lefebvre 1958, p. 424. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
47. Simon Schama: Der zaudernde Citoyen. Rückschritt und Fortschritt in der französischen Revolution. München 1989, S. 752–756.
48. Lefebvre 1958, p. 429. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
49. . «herodote.net/almanach-ID-514.php».
50. Er hatte öffentlich gegen die Kriegsführung und Politik des Nationalkonvents opponiert, für einen Regierungsumsturz unter seinen Kollegen geworben und Kontakte zu den Befehlshabern Mack und dem Prinzen von Coburg aufgenommen. In A. Thiers: Gesch. d. Franz. Revolution, Bd. 2 u. 3
51. Max Plassmann: Die preußische Reichspolitik …, S. 135 ff.
52. Hugues Marquis, « Le général François Jarry au service de l'Angleterre (1793-1806) », Annales historiques de la Révolution française, vol. 356, no 2,‎ 2009, p. 93-118 (ISSN 0003-4436, DOI 10.4000/ahrf.10581, lire en ligne, consulté le 16 novembre 2025)
53. Holland 1911, The Revolutionary War. Republican successes.. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
54. . «historic-one.com/bataille/hondschoote».
55. Αλμπέρ Ματιέ, Ιστορία της Γαλλικής επανάστασης, τομ. 3, σελ. 52
56. . «wattignieslavictoire.fr/patrimoine/la-bataille-de-wattignies».
57. Dupuy & Dupuy, 680.
58. Esdaile, pp. 1 e 2; Connelly, pp. 34 a 36.
59. Arthur William Holland (1911); Battle of Valmy
60. Cahner, Max. Literatura de la revolució i la contrarevolució (1789-1849): De la reacció contra la França revolucionària a la col·laboració amb la Grande armée. Curial, 1998, p. 182. ISBN 8472568636.
61. Siege of Toulon | Summary. Encyclopedia Britannica [online]. [cit. 2019-09-24]. Dostupné online. (anglicky)
62. James, William. The Naval History of Great Britain (en anglès). Volume 1, 1793–1796. Londres: Conway Maritime Press, 1827, p. 106. ISBN 0-85177-905-0.
63. (en) Casey Beaker, « Grain as a Weapon? Britain's Scheme to Starve Revolutionary France, 1793-1796 », Historical Geography,‎ 2019, p. 72-79 (DOI 10.1353/hgo.2019.0001, lire en ligne)
64. Adolphe Thiers: Geschichte der Französischen Staatsumwälzung, Band 3, S. 460ff.
65. Lefebvre 1958, p. 340. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
66. Adolf Dorider: Geschichte der Stadt Recklinghausen in den neueren Jahrhunderten, 1577–1933. Vestisches Archiv, Recklinghausen 1955, S. 352–353.
67. Lefebvre 1958, pp. 429 e 460. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
68. Lefebvre 1958, p. 460. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
69. Lefebvre 1958, pp. 460-461. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
70. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 259-260. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
71. Elisabeth Fehrenbach: Vom Ancien Regime zum Wiener Kongress. München 2001, S. 45.
72. Dwyer, pp. 245–246.
73. Esdaile, pp. 11 e 12.
74. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 260. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
75. Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, S. 457.
76. Lefebvre 1958, pp. 461 e 522. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
77. Lefebvre 1958, pp. 461-462. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
78. Hannay 1911, p. 204. (Hannay, David (1911). "French Revolutionary Wars" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
79. Esdaile, p. 12.
80. One of more of the preceding sentences text from a publication now in the public domain: Holland 1911, Progress of the war (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
81. Bruun, Geoffrey, in AAVV, The New Cambridge Modern History, volume IX, pp. 254 e 255.
82. Heinrich August Winkler: Geschichte des Westens: Von den Anfängen in der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, München 2010, S. 371.
83. Raymond Uppelschoten (2013) Het Kromme Rijngebied in de oorlog van 1794-1795, in: Het Kromme Rijngebied 47, 1/2, p. 4-27.
84. Arte Historia «La Guerra contra la Convención - Contextos - ARTEHISTORIA V2». Arxivat de l'original el 2007-05-10. [Consulta: 28 agost 2007].
85. Esdaile, p. 12; Dupuy & Dupuy, p. 682.
86. Carlo Altieri, Gerardo A. Justicia y gobierno: la Audiencia de Puerto Rico (1831-1861) (en castellà). Editorial CSIC, 2007, p. 96. ISBN 840009056X.
87. Lefebvre 1958, p. 480. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
88. Worms, vom 12. Juny. In: Grätzer Zeitung, 25. Juni 1795, S. 5 (online bei ANNO).Vorlage:ANNO/Wartung/gra
89. Worms, vom 12. Juny. In: Grätzer Zeitung, 25. Juni 1795, S. 6 (online bei ANNO).Vorlage:ANNO/Wartung/gra
90. Holland 1911, Progress of the war. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
91. Esdaile, pp. 12 e 13; Dupuy & Dupuy, p. 682.
92. Holland 1911, Insurrection of 13 Vendémiaire. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
93. Hermann Büschleb: Scharnhorst in Westfalen. Politik, Administration und Kommando im Schicksalsjahr 1795. Mittler, Herford 1979, ISBN 3-8132-0040-X, S. 21.
94. Jürgen König, Der Hunsrück … S. 35ff. und A.H. Jomini, Histoire critique …, Bd. 7, S. 262ff.
95. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 267-272. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
96. Lefebvre 1958, p. 493. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
97. Lefebvre 1958, p. 494. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
98. Dupuy & Dupuy, p. 682.
99. Sugden, John. Nelson: A Dream of Glory (en anglès). Londres: Jonathan Cape, 2004, p. 550. ISBN 0-224-06097-X.
100. Lefebvre 1958, p. 520. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
101. Adolphe Thiers: Gesch. d. Franz. Revolution, Bd. 5, S. 168.
102. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 386-389. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
103. Johann Bachoven von Echt: Denkwürdigkeiten der Geschichte des Feldzugs von 1796, verlegt 1823 in Koblenz, S. 16ff.
104. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 389-390. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
105. Chandler, cronologia p. XXV
106. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 390. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
107. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 391. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
108. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 391-392. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
109. Rocca, pp. 49-60. (Gianni Rocca, Il piccolo caporale, Milano, Mondadori, 1996.)
110. Smith, pp. 118 e 132.
111. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 393. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
112. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 394. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
113. Holland 1911, Military triumphs under the Directory. Bonaparte. (Holland, Arthur William (1911). "French Revolution, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.)
114. Besonders die Sambre- und Maas-Armee, die im kargen Hunsrück und in der Eifel Winterquartiere beziehen musste, wurde zum schrecklichen Beispiel einer rücksichtslosen Besatzungsarmee ohne Disziplin und ohne straffe Führung. Quellen dazu bei Joseph Hansen, Quellen zur Geschichte des Rheinlandes …, Bd. 2, Bonn ab 1931
115. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 119-121. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
116. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 121-122. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
117. Stefan Kestler: Franzoseneinfall und „Franzosenzeit“ in Franken 1796–1815 : ein Überblick unter Berücksichtigung des Hochstifts Bamberg (= Oberfranken [Hrsg.]: Amtlicher Schulanzeiger des Regierungsbezirks Oberfranken / Heimatbeilage. Band 236). Regierung von Oberfranken, Bayreuth 1996 (40 S., uni-bamberg.de).
118. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 123-124. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
119. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 389 e 393. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
120. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 118-119. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
121. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 125-126. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
122. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 127-129. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
123. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 129-130. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
124. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 130-132. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
125. E.B. Potter (Hrsg.): Sea Power. A Naval History. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1961, S. 54–63.
126. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 395-396. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
127. Smith, pp. 131 e 132.
128. Dupuy & Dupuy, p. 687.
129. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 396. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
130. Rocca, pp. 110-120. (Gianni Rocca, Il piccolo caporale, Milano, Mondadori, 1996.)
131. Dupuy & Dupuy, pp. 687 e 688.
132. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 397. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
133. Napoleone Bonaparte, pp. 210-211. (Napoleone Bonaparte, Memorie della campagna d'Italia, Roma, Donzelli, 2012.)
134. A. Hugo: France militaire …, Bd. 2, Sn. 169ff
135. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 396-397. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
136. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 397-398. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
137. "The last invasion of Britain by the French at Fishguard". Historic UK. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
138. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, pp. 402-408. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
139. Axel Gotthard: Das Alte Reich 1495–1806. Darmstadt 2009, S. 154–157.
140. Tulard, pp. 249 e 250.
141. Bashor, Will. Marie Antoinette's World: Intrigue, Infidelity, and Adultery in Versailles (en anglès). Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, p. 222. ISBN 1538138255.
142. Kraehe, Enno E. Metternich's German Policy, Volume I: The Contest with Napoleon, 1799-1814 (en anglès). Princeton University Press, 2015, p. 25. ISBN 1400876591.
143. Lefebvre 1958, p. 458. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
144. Lefebvre 1958, p. 428. (Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1958.)
145. Shusterman, Noah (2015). De Franse Revolutie (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Veen Media., a translation of "Chapter 7: The federalist revolts, the Vendée and the beginning of the Terror (summer–fall 1793)". The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics. London/New York: Routledge. 2014. pp. 271–312.
146. Mathiez e Lefebvre, vol. II, p. 408. (Albert Mathiez e Georges Lefebvre, La Rivoluzione francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1990.)
147. Dupuy & Dupuy, p. 688.