The
French Revolutionary Wars
re-escalated as 1793 began. New powers entered the
First Coalition
days after the execution of King
Louis XVI
on 21 January. Spain and
Portugal
were among these. Then, on 1 February France declared war on Great Britain and the
Netherlands
.
Three other powers made inroads into overwhelmingly French-speaking territory in the following months prompting France to amass, domestically, an army of 1,200,000 soldiers. The very ascendant
Jacobins
executed thousands of proven and suspected dissenters, in the final, climactic phase of the
Reign of Terror
. Counter-revolutionary forces turned
Toulon
over to Britain and Spain on 29 August, capturing much of the French navy, a port not retaken by
Dugommier
(with the assistance of the young
Napoleon Bonaparte
) until 19 December. Between these months a battle on the northern frontier, in September, was won by France, which saw the mainly British siege of
Dunkirk
lifted. The year ended with the
First French Republic
's government, the
National Convention
, having rebuffed attacks from the south and south-east but having made an unsuccessful counter into
Piedmont
(toward Turin).
Campaigns
[
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]
At the opening of the year,
Dumouriez
chose to ignore orders from the government in Paris to defend
Belgium
and instead began an invasion of the Netherlands, hoping to overthrow the stadtholder and establish a popular republic backed by France. In the event, he took
Breda
in
Brabant
and prepared to cross into
Holland
and capture
Dordrecht
. However, the armies remaining in Belgium suffered a number of defeats, such as by the
Austrians
at
Aachen
and
Liege
and their raising (lifting)
Miranda's
siege of Maastricht
. Dumouriez was forced by his superiors to return to Belgium and take command in the
Flanders Campaign
.
After a defeat at
Neerwinden
, Dumouriez had to retreat from Belgium. He then made an agreement with the Austrians to hand over to them several border fortresses in return for a truce where he could march on Paris and restore the monarchy under the Constitution of 1791. However, he was unable to secure the loyalty of his troops, and he defected to the Austrian lines rather than face arrest by the
Jacobins
.
At the same time, the increasing power of radicals in Paris incited revolt in the provinces, with the people of
Lyon
and
Marseille
rebelling and the
Vendee
raising an army to attack the central government and open communications with Britain. Spanish armies
crossed the Pyrenees
,
Kingdom of Sardinia
(largely Piedmont-Savoy) armies various
Alpine borders
, and Austrian armies occupied
Valenciennes
and forced the northern armies back toward Paris. Britain ordered a naval blockade of France on 31 May.
The revolutionary government prepared a full mobilization of the nation (see
Levee en masse
), showing no mercy to internal or external enemies. According to Mignet's
History of the French Revolution
: "The republic had very soon fourteen armies, and 1,200,000 soldiers. France, while it became a camp and a workshop for the republicans, became at the same time a prison for those who did not accept the republic." They proceeded to suppress
Caen
, Lyon, and Marseille, although the counter-revolutionary forces turned
Toulon
over to Britain and Spain on 29 August, resulting in the capture of much of the French navy, and Toulon was not retaken by
Dugommier
(with the assistance of the young
Napoleon Bonaparte
) until 19 December.
In September,
Nicolas Houchard
defeated the
Duke of York
at
Hondschoote
, forcing him to abandon the siege of
Dunkirk
. In October
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
, taking over the northern armies, won the
Battle of Wattignies
and returned to the offensive, but did not make major gains before the winter.
In the Pyrenees, the French armies ended the year on a defensive posture near the border, while on the Alpine frontier, a French invasion of
Kingdom of Sardinia
failed.
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
The main source for this article is the out-of-copyright
History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814
, by
Francois Mignet
(1824), as made available by
Project Gutenberg
, as well as other Wikipedia articles.
Further reading
[
edit
]
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Significant civil and political events by year
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1788
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1789
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1790
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1791
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1792
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1793
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1794
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1795?6
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1797
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1798
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1799
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