French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars occurred between the outbreak of war between the French Revolutionary government and Austria in 1792 and the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. It is usually divided between the First Coalition (1792-1797) and the Second Coalition (1798-1801), although France was at war with Britain continuously from 1793 to 1802.

Marked by French revolutionary fervour and military innovations, the series of campaigns characteristically saw France facing a series of opposing coalitions yet expanding its area of effective control.

Major phases/campaigns in the French Revolutionary Wars include:

The War of the First Coalition 1792 - 1797
- Campaigns of 1793
- Campaigns of 1794-1795
- War in Italy 1793 - 1795
- Treaty of Basel 1795
- Napoleon's Italian Campaign 1796-1797
- Campaigns in Germany 1796-1797
- Treaty of Campo Formio 1797
The War of the Second Coalition 1798 - 1800
- The Egyptian Expedition 1798 - 1800
- Campaigns of 1799
- Campaigns of 1800
- Treaty of LunÃÂ©ville 1801
War at Sea 1793-1802
Treaty of Amiens 1802

Hostilities ceased with the Treaty of Amiens (1802). For military events thereafter see Napoleonic Wars.

Context of the wars

FranÃÂ§ois Mignet remarks that "The French revolution was... to terminate the strife of kings among themselves, and to commence that between kings and people... They sought to suppress the revolution, and they extended it; for by attacking it they were to render it victorious." History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 He characterizes the situation of Europe on the eve of the wars as follows:

"Austria, England, and France had been, from the peace of Westphalia to the middle of the eighteenth century, the three great powers of Europe. Interest had leagued the two first against the third. Austria had reason to dread the influence of France in the Netherlands; England feared it on the sea. Rivalry of power and commerce often set them at variance, and they sought to weaken or plunder each other. Spain, since a prince of the house of Bourbon had been on the throne, was the ally of France against England. This, however, was a fallen power: confined to a corner of the continent, oppressed by the system of Philip II, deprived by the Family Compact of the only enemy that could keep it in action, by sea only had it retained any of its ancient superiority. But France had other allies on all sides of Austria: Sweden on the north; Poland and the Porte on the east; in the south of Germany, Bavaria; Prussia on the west; and in Italy, the kingdom of Naples. These powers, having reason to dread the encroachments of Austria, were naturally the allies of her enemy. Piedmont, placed between the two systems of alliance, sided, according to circumstances and its interests, with either. Holland was united with England or with France, as the party of the stadtholders or that of the people prevailed in the republic. Switzerland was neutral.

"In the last half of the eighteenth century, two powers had risen in the north, Russia and Prussia. The latter had been changed from a simple electorate into an important kingdom, by Frederick-William, who had given it a treasure and an army; and by his son Frederick the Great, who had made use of these to extend his territory. Russia, long unconnected with the other states, had been more especially introduced into the politics of Europe by Peter I and Catharine II. The accession of these two powers considerably modified the ancient alliances. In concert with the cabinet of Vienna, Russia and Prussia had executed the first partition of Poland in 1772; and after the death of Frederick the Great, the empress Catharine and the emperor Joseph united in 1785 to effect that of European Turkey.

"The cabinet of Versailles, weakened since the imprudent and unfortunate Seven Years' War, had assisted at the partition of Poland without opposing it, had raised no obstacle to the fall of the Ottoman empire, and even allowed its ally, the republican party in Holland, to sink under the blows of Prussia and England, without assisting it. The latter powers had in 1787 re-established by force the hereditary, stadtholderate of the United Provinces. The only act which did honour to French policy, was the support it had happily given to the emancipation of North America. The revolution of 1789, while extending the moral influence of France, diminished still more its diplomatic influence.

"England, under the government of young Pitt, was alarmed in 1788 at the ambitious projects of Russia, and united with Holland and Prussia to put an end to them. Hostilities were on the point of commencing when the emperor Joseph died, in February, 1790, and was succeeded by Leopold, who in July accepted the convention of Reichenbach. This convention, by the mediation of England, Russia, and Holland, settled the terms of the peace between Austria and Turkey, which was signed definitively, on the 4th of August, 1791, at Sistova; it at the same time provided for the pacification of the Netherlands. Urged by England and Prussia, Catharine II. also made peace with the Porte at Jassy, on the 29th of December, 1791. These negotiations, and the treaties they gave rise to, terminated the political struggles of the eighteenth century, and left the powers free to turn their attention to the French Revolution.

"The princes of Europe, who had hitherto had no enemies but themselves, viewed it in the light of a common foe. The ancient relations of war and of alliance, already overlooked during the Seven Years' War, now ceased entirely: Sweden united with Russia, and Prussia with Austria..."

External link

This article makes use of the out-of-copyright History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, by FranÃÂ§ois Mignet (1824), as made available by Project Gutenberg.