HIST 2040 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Impressment, Professional Soldier, In Essence
10 Aug 2016
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Modern Warfare September 29th, 2015
The Nation in Arms I: The French Wars (Alan Forrest) – page 55-73:
• A revolution which in 1789 held out the promise of a new civic order based on ideas of liberty
and equality had by 1792 launched France into over 20 years of foreign war, broken by only
one substantial truce, signed at Amiens in 1802
• It was the French who took the initiative in declaring hostilities against the Emperor – ‘the
King of Bohemia and Hungary’ – on 20 April 1792, though it might be argued that the lengthy
political maneuverings of the early 1790s made conflict inevitable
• In July Austria was joined by Prussia, eager to take advantage of what was perceived as
French weakness, and on 11 July the patrie was formally declared to be en danger
• By the spring of 1793 France was also ranged against Spain on land and Great Britain at sea
• The First Coalition was formed at a moment when France also faced serious internal
divisions and was rent by counter-revolutionary movements in the Vendee and Brittany –
national survival had become the Revolution’s foremost priority
• The early campaigns in the north and east went very badly for the French, leading to invasion
scares in Paris and other cities, as French fortress towns along the Belgian frontier, fell in
rapid succession to the Austrians and Prussians
• Soon, however, the French revolutionary armies recovered their morale, crossing the middle
Rhine to capture Mainz and Frankfurt; thwarting the Prussians at Valmy when their army was
threatening to overrun northern France and attack Paris; and – far more significant in military
terms – defeating the Austrians in open battle at Jemappes, near Mons
• The year 1793 again opened badly – abroad French arms suffered an embarrassing series of
defeats, and confidence was dealt a severe blow when Dumouriez, the hero of Valmy and
Jemappes and a former minister, crossed into Allied lines and denounced the revolutionary
cause
• At home, too, the armies faced a new threat with the rising of the Vendee in March, which
deflected men and materials from the frontiers at a particularly sensitive moment in the war
• By the summer of 1794 the Republic’s armies had once again freed French territory from
invading forces, turning the war around both on the Spanish frontier and in the north
• By the terms of the Treaty of Basle the Prussians withdrew from the war, ending the Coalition
and leaving the French free to impose their terms on the Dutch and to annex Belgium
• With the defeat of the First Coalition the first phase of the war was effectively over, even if the
peace treaty provided no more than a short respite from fighting
• Once again it was the French who opened hostilities, taking advantage of their rivals’
exhaustion and internal divisions
• But the real distinction between this and the earlier phase of the war was that the French
were now on the offensive, aiming to build on their acquisitions and to gain further footholds
in Germany and Italy
• The patrie was in no sense in danger, despite the ill-fated British attempt to land an army on
the Quiberon Peninsula and support the royalist insurgency in Brittany in June 1795
• The campaign quickly developed into a war of conquest against France’s traditional enemies,
a war whose main objectives were the annexation of territory and the seizure of supplies,
food, and booty
• The Directory showed scant interest in the original revolutionary rhetoric, preferring to defend
its military gains by further conquest and by creating a series of defensive buffer states to the
east
• The generals enjoyed more and more independent power as French armies moved further
away from the metropole
• After 18 Brumaire – the military coup (1799) by which Bonaparte overturned the Directory
and came to power – war continued unabated, with France ranged against yet another
European alliance, this time of Britain, Russia, and Turkey
• The renewal of hostilities with Austria was not long delayed, leading rapidly to a great French
victory at Marengo
• Indeed, the whole economy was increasingly dependent on the efficient workings of the war
machine
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Document Summary
It was the french who took the initiative in declaring hostilities against the emperor the. King of bohemia and hungary" on 20 april 1792, though it might be argued that the lengthy political maneuverings of the early 1790s made conflict inevitable. In july austria was joined by prussia, eager to take advantage of what was perceived as. European alliance, this time of britain, russia, and turkey: the renewal of hostilities with austria was not long delayed, leading rapidly to a great french victory at marengo. Indeed, the whole economy was increasingly dependent on the efficient workings of the war machine. Modern warfare september 29th, 2015: peace was finally signed in march 1802, but it lasted only 14 months, during which france was already gearing itself for the next campaign. In 1804 napoleon became hereditary emperor; in may 1805 he had a second coronation, as.
