French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars
Part of the French Revolution and Coalition Wars
French Revolutionary WarsBattle of ValmySiege of Toulon (1793)Battle of Fleurus (1794)Invasion of France (1795)Battle of ArcoleSiege of Mantua (1796–1797)Battle of the PyramidsBattle of the NileSecond Battle of ZurichBattle of MarengoBattle of HohenlindenBattle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres
French Revolutionary Wars

Click an image to load the appropriate article.
Left to right, top to bottom:
Battles of Valmy, Toulon, Fleurus, Quiberon, Arcole, Mantua, the Pyramids, the Nile, Zurich, Marengo, Hohenlinden, Ravine-à-Couleuvres
Date20 April 1792 – 27 March 1802 (1792-04-20 – 1802-03-27)
Location
Result

First Coalition: French victory

Second Coalition: French victory

Territorial
changes
  • Fall of the Kingdom of France and establishment of the French Republic
  • France annexes Piedmont and all the lands west of the Rhine
  • Establishment of the pro-French Batavian, Helvetic, Italian, and Ligurian Republics
  • Louisiana to France
  • Other territorial changes
  • Belligerents

    Catholic and Royal Armies

     Holy Roman Empire[a]

     Great Britain (until 1801)

     United Kingdom (from 1801)[c]
    Spain Spain (1793–95)[b]
     Dutch Republic (1793–95)
     Sardinia
     Old Swiss Confederacy (1798)[d]
     Naples
    Sovereign Military Order of Malta Order of Saint John (1798)
    Malta (1798–1800)
     Ottoman Empire
    Kingdom of Portugal Portugal
     Russia (1799)
    Other Italian states[e]


    Southern Netherlands peasants
    (Peasants' War)


    Haiti Saint-Domingue rebels
    (Haitian Revolution) (1791–94)


     United States
    (Quasi-War) (1798–1800)

    Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI Kingdom of France (until 1792)[f]
    France French Republic (from 1792)

    Spain Spain (1796–1802)[i]
    Commanders and leaders
    Kingdom of France Prince Louis Joseph
    Kingdom of France Jacques Cathelineau 
    Kingdom of France Henri de la Rochejaquelein 
    Kingdom of France Georges Cadoudal Executed
    Kingdom of France Jean Chouan 
    Habsburg monarchy Francis II
    Habsburg monarchy Archduke Charles
    Habsburg monarchy József Alvinczi
    Habsburg monarchy Michael von Melas
    Habsburg monarchy François Sébastien de Croix
    Habsburg monarchy Prince Josias
    Habsburg monarchy Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
    Kingdom of Prussia Frederick William II
    Kingdom of Prussia Charles William Ferdinand
    Kingdom of Prussia Prince Frederick Louis
    Kingdom of Great Britain George III
    Kingdom of Great Britain William Pitt
    (until 1801)
    United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Henry Addington
    (from 1801)
    Kingdom of Great Britain Horatio Nelson
    Kingdom of Great Britain Prince Frederick
    Kingdom of Great Britain Ralph Abercromby
    Kingdom of Great Britain Sidney Smith
    Spain Charles IV
    (until 1795)
    Spain Antonio Ricardos
    Spain Luis Firmín
    Dutch Republic William V
    Dutch Republic Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel
    Dutch Republic William, Hereditary Prince of Orange
    Kingdom of Sardinia Victor Amadeus III
    Kingdom of Sardinia Michael Colli
    Kingdom of Naples Ferdinand IV
    Ottoman Empire Selim III
    Ottoman Empire Jazzar Pasha
    Ottoman Empire Murad Bey
    Kingdom of Portugal Maria I
    Kingdom of Portugal Prince Regent John
    Kingdom of Portugal Miguel Pereira Forjaz
    Russian Empire Paul I
    Russian Empire Alexander Suvorov
    Russian Empire Alexander Korsakov
    Russian Empire Fyodor Ushakov
    Pieter Corbeels Executed
    Haiti Toussaint Louverture
    United States John Adams

    Louis XVI Executed

    Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI Jacques Pierre Brissot Executed
    French First Republic Maximilien Robespierre Executed
    French First Republic Paul Barras
    (1795–1799)
    French First Republic Robert Lindet
    French First Republic Napoleon
    French First Republic Jean-Charles Pichegru
    French First Republic Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
    French First Republic Lazare Hoche
    French First Republic André Masséna
    French First Republic Jean Lannes
    French First Republic Charles François Dumouriez
    French First Republic Jean Victor Moreau
    French First Republic François Kellermann
    French First Republic Louis Desaix 
    French First Republic Jean Humbert
    Spain Charles IV
    (from 1796)
    Spain Ignacio de Álava
    Batavian Republic Herman Willem Daendels
    Wolfe Tone 
    Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
    Strength
    France 1794:
    1,169,000[1]
    Casualties and losses

    Austrians (1792–97)
    94,700 killed in action[2]
    100,000 wounded[2]
    220,000 captured[2]
    Italian campaign of 1796–97
    27,000 allied soldiers killed [2]
    Unknown wounded
    160,000 captured[2]
    1,600 guns[2]


    Kingdom of Great Britain 3,200 killed in action (navy)[3]

    French (1792–97)
    100,000 killed in action[2]
    150,000 captured[2]
    Italian campaign of 1796–97
    45,000 killed, wounded or captured (10,000 killed)[2]


    10,000 killed in action (navy)[3]

    The French Revolutionary Wars (French: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War 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 the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries, and the Rhineland due to its very large and powerful military, which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.[4]

    As early as 1791, the other monarchies of Europe looked with outrage at the revolution and its upheavals; and they considered whether they should intervene, either in support of King 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 the Declaration of Pillnitz, which threatened severe consequences should anything happen to King Louis XVI and Queen 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 eventually turned back at the Battle of Valmy in September. This victory emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy.[5] A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793. The French suffered additional defeats in the remainder of the year and these difficult times allowed the Jacobins to rise to power and impose the Reign of Terror to unify the nation.

    In 1794, the situation improved dramatically for the French as huge victories at Fleurus against the Austrians and Dutch and at the Black Mountain against the Spanish signaled the start of a new stage in the wars. By 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. The French also put Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general named Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796. In less than a year, French armies under Napoleon destroyed the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching toward Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio, ending the First Coalition against the Republic.

    The War of the Second Coalition began in 1798 with the French 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 of Magnano, Cassano, and Novi along the way. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, which caused Russia to drop out of the war.[6] Meanwhile, Napoleon's forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Abukir. These victories in Egypt further enhanced Napoleon's popularity back in France, and he returned in triumph in the autumn of 1799, although the Egyptian campaign ultimately ended in failure. Furthermore, the Royal Navy had won the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of the Mediterranean and weakening the French Navy.

    Napoleon's arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, with Napoleon installing himself as Consul. Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This brought a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, after which the Austrians withdrew from the peninsula once again. Another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, Britain found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty 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 the Third Coalition, continuing the series of Coalition Wars.


    Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

    1. ^ 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.
    2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clodfelter 2017, p. 100.
    3. ^ a b Clodfelter 2017, p. 103.
    4. ^ "French Revolutionary wars – Campaign of 1792 | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
    5. ^ Blanning 1996, pp. 78–79.
    6. ^ Blanning 1996, pp. 245–255.