Battle of the War of the First Coalition
The
Battle of Marquain
was a conflict between
Austria
and the
Kingdom of France
during the
War of the First Coalition
. It took place on 29 April 1792 and ended in a French defeat.
Background
[
edit
]
In early 1792, as the
French Revolution
was gradually radicalising, and conservative royalist
Armees des Emigres
were forming just across the borders in cities such as
Koblenz
? readying to invade and reverse the Revolution, tensions rose between France and other European states about the future status of the Bourbon monarchy. The
Girondin
majority in the
Legislative Assembly
favoured war, especially with Austria, in order to display the Revolution's strength and defend its achievements (such as the
Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1789
and the early beginnings of parliamentary democracy) against a possible return to an absolutist
Ancien Regime
. However, there was a real risk that France would be overwhelmed by foreign forces if a large anti-French coalition were to be formed.
Major-general
Charles Francois Dumouriez
was appointed to Minister of Foreign Affairs in March 1792, and by mid-April had managed to obtain the neutrality of all European great powers except Austria and Prussia through cunning diplomacy. Meanwhile, he organised plans to incite local insurrection in the Austrian Netherlands by cooperating with the Committee of United Belgians and Liegois, who represented remnants of the rebel armies formed during the recently failed anti-Austrian
Brabant Revolution
and
Liege Revolution
(August 1789 ? January 1791).
[2]
Invasion
[
edit
]
Finally, France declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792. Dumouriez planned to defeat the Austrian army within 15 days to achieve a successful quick victory. From
Dunkirk
to
Strasbourg
, the French army's northern frontier comprised 164,000 soldiers, under the leadership of general
Lafayette
(targets: from
Givet
to
Namur
and
Liege
), marshal
Luckner
(targets: Flemish cities such as
Menen
and
Kortrijk
) and marshal
Rochambeau
(targets:
Quievrain
,
Mons
and
Brussels
). Rochambeau's subordinate general
Biron
and
marechal du camp
Theobald Dillon
would lead the invasion.
[2]
The French army was plagued by troubles: both Lafayette and Rochambeau were convinced royalists, and had doubts about the republican minister's intentions as well as the feasibility of his strategies; the troops were poorly equipped, many of them untrained volunteers, and they distrusted their aristocratic officers; and finally, queen
Marie Antoinette
(herself an Austrian, and rightfully fearing that further republican radicalisation would cost her life) secretly passed on this and later war plans to the Austrian government in Brussels, with king
Louis
' approval.
[2]
During Biron's attempts to capture
Quievrain
and
Mons
, Dillon made a
feint
towards
Tournai
; his force was intended as a decoy to distract the Austrians.
[2]
Leaving
Lille
with 10 squadrons, 6 battalions and 6 guns, he met the Austrian major-general
Louis-Francois de Civalart
, encamped with 3,000 men on the heights above Marquain.
[3]
Austrian skirmishers attacked the French vanguard so heavily that the French realized Civalart wished to bring on a pitched battle, whereas Dillon had orders to avoid one.
Battle
[
edit
]
Seeing the enemy coming down to meet him and unsure of his own troops (who had frequently been insubordinate on the march from Lille), Dillon obeyed his orders and commanded a retreat.
[3]
At the first sign of a French withdrawal, the Austrians fired their guns several times despite being out of range, with none of their shots even reaching Dillon's rearguard. Despite the French troops' fear of their own generals, the cavalry squadrons covering the retreat panicked just as at Quievrain.
[2]
Hearing the guns, they rushed into their own infantry shouting "Sauve qui peut, nous sommes trahis" ("Every man for himself, we are betrayed"). This spread confusion in the French force, which fled in disorder across
Baisieux
towards Lille, leaving behind its baggage, munitions and all but 2 guns. Dillon tried in vain to rally his retreating troops before the enemy could attack and was shot by one of his own troops.
The force re-formed level with the Fives gate, with a mixture of soldiers from different regiments forming a garrison. Dillon's second-in-command, the engineer colonel
Pierre-Francois Berthois
, was stopped by the soldiers, hung from one of the battlements and fired him and 3 or 4 prisoners from a gun.
[3]
Wounded, Dillon was shot in a cart and bayonetted. His body was tied to the cart and dragged through the streets as far as the Grand Place, where it was thrown on a fire, made up of signs from several neighbouring shops.
[3]
Dillon's cousin
Arthur
complained to the Assembly and his murderers were punished and his widow granted a pension to raise her children.
[3]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
When both his subordinates Dillon and Biron failed in their missions, Rochambeau resigned. On 30 April, Lafayette heard of the defeats and Rochambeau's resignation, cancelled his assault on Namur and Liege as well and awaited new orders from Paris. The Belgian-Liegois Committee was disappointed and felt betrayed, claiming Lafayette could have easily taken both cities by sheer superior numbers.
[2]
The complete failure of the Belgian invasion was a great humiliation for the members of the Legislative Assembly, where the leftist Jacobins blamed the Girondins and both accused the royal family of conspiring with the Austrian and Prussian enemy, which was true. It further bolstered radical views that the royals undermined the Revolution's success, and that only republicanism could save it.
[2]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Victoires, conquetes, desastres, revers et guerres civiles des Francais, volume 7
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Connelly, Owen (2012).
The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792-1815
. London: Routledge. p. 23.
ISBN
9781134552894
. Retrieved
30 July
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Howe, Patricia Chastain (2008).
Foreign Policy and the French Revolution: Charles-Francois Dumouriez, Pierre LeBrun, and the Belgian Plan, 1789?1793
. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 73?77.
ISBN
9780230616882
. Retrieved
28 July
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Victoires, conquetes, desastres, revers et guerres civiles des Francais, volume 7
|
---|
|
Significant civil and political events by year
|
---|
1788
| |
---|
1789
| |
---|
1790
| |
---|
1791
| |
---|
1792
| |
---|
1793
| |
---|
1794
| |
---|
1795?6
| |
---|
1797
| |
---|
1798
| |
---|
1799
| |
---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
50°36′00″N
3°19′01″E
/
50.6000°N 3.3170°E
/
50.6000; 3.3170