French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars (French: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other monarchies. They are divided in 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. French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.[4]

French Revolutionary Wars
Part of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic 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
Date 20 April 1792 – 27 March 1802 (1792-04-20 – 1802-03-27) (9 years, 11 months, and 5 days) Location Europe, Egypt, Middle East, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Indian Ocean Result First Coalition: French victory Peace of Basel Treaty of Campo Formio Second Coalition: French victory Treaty of Lunéville Treaty of Amiens 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 United States gains control of the French territory of Louisiana Other territorial changes
Belligerents
Catholic and Royal Armies Émigré armies  Holy Roman Empire[lower-alpha 1] Austria (until 1801)  Prussia (1792–95)[lower-alpha 2]  Great Britain (until 1801) Anglo-Corsican Kingdom (until 1796)  United Kingdom (from 1801)[lower-alpha 3] Spain (1793–95)[lower-alpha 2]  Dutch Republic (1793–95)  Sardinia  Old Swiss Confederacy (1798)[lower-alpha 4]  Naples Order of Saint John (1798) Malta (1798–1800)  Ottoman Empire Portugal  Russia (1799) Other Italian states[lower-alpha 5] Southern Netherlands peasants (Peasants' War) Saint-Domingue rebels (Haitian Revolution) (1791–94)  United States (Quasi-War) (1798–1800)	Kingdom of France (until 1792)[lower-alpha 6] French Republic (from 1792) Batavian Republic (1795–1802) Irish Republic[lower-alpha 7] Polish Legions[lower-alpha 8] Helvetic Republic (1798, 1802)[lower-alpha 4] Spain (1796–1802)[lower-alpha 9]
Commanders and leaders
Prince of Condé Jacques Cathelineau † Henri de la Rochejaquelein † Georges Cadoudal  Jean Chouan † Francis II Archduke Charles József Alvinczi Michael von Melas Count of Clerfayt Prince Josias Sigmund von Wurmser Frederick William II Duke of Brunswick Prince of Hohenlohe George III William Pitt (Until 1801) Henry Addington (From 1801) Horatio Nelson Duke of York Ralph Abercromby Sidney Smith Charles IV (Until 1795) Antonio Ricardos Luis Firmín William V Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel William, Hereditary Prince of Orange Victor Amadeus III Michael Colli Ferdinand IV Selim III Jazzar Pasha Murad Bey Maria I Prince Regent John Count of Feira Paul I Alexander Suvorov Alexander Korsakov Pieter Corbeels  Toussaint Louverture John Adams	Louis XVI  Jacques Pierre Brissot  Maximilien Robespierre  Paul Barras (1795–1799) Napoleon Jean-Charles Pichegru Jean-Baptiste Jourdan Lazare Hoche André Masséna Jean Lannes Charles François Dumouriez Jean Victor Moreau François Kellermann Louis Desaix † Jean Humbert Charles IV (From 1796) Ignacio de Álava Herman Daendels Wolfe Tone † Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
Strength
	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] 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]

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 decimated 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.