page_title: Battle of Epierre
section_title: War
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Epierre / Background / War
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Joseph Nikolaus de Vins, FZM (1732-1798)
context_page_description: The Battle of Epierre was part of a larger War of the First Coalition campaign that pitted a Republican French army led by François Christophe de Kellermann against a numerically stronger Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont army commanded by the Prince Maurizio, Duke of Montferrat. Under the overall leadership of the Austrian commander in chief Joseph Nikolaus De Vins, Montferrat launched an offensive in mid-August 1793 to recapture the Duchy of Savoy from the French. Because the French were preoccupied with the Siege of Lyon, the Piedmontese recovered most of the Maurienne and Tarentaise Valleys, but they were stopped just short of Albertville and the reconquest of Savoy. In September, Kellermann launched a counteroffensive in which he adroitly switched his troops between valleys in order to drive back the Piedmontese. At Épierre, the French under Jean-Denis Le Doyen defeated the Marquis of Cordon in a local action. By 8 October the Piedmontese abandoned all their gains and withdrew to the crests of the Graian Alps. In spite of his victory, the suspicious politicians in Paris put Kellermann in arrest and he was imprisoned until November 1794.
context_section_description: On 21 September 1792, the Army of the Midi under Montesquiou invaded Savoy. Montesquiou had approximately 25,000 soldiers in 33 infantry battalions, 11 cavalry squadrons, and some National Guards. He was opposed by 10,000–12,000 Piedmont-Sardinian troops. By 24 September, the French were in Chambéry. On 29 September, Lieutenant General Jacques Bernard d'Anselme with 10,000 troops occupied Nice against little resistance. The French invaders easily overcame their opponents with little fighting because the 70-year old Piedmontese commander General Lazary was incompetent. A fellow general, Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André wrote, "Our War Office is badly constituted, badly directed and nothing in it is secret".
  On 1 October 1792, the French government split the Army of the Midi into the Army of the Alps and the Army of the Pyrenees. On 7 October, Anselme's force was separated from the Army of the Alps and named the Army of Italy. At this time, Swiss troops occupied Geneva and the French government demanded that Montesquiou deal with this threat. He negotiated a satisfactory treaty with the Swiss, but hostile politicians in the National Convention secured his arrest on 9 November on baseless charges. Tipped off in advance, Montesquiou fled to Switzerland on 13 November. D'Anselme was sacked on 16 December. Winter weather soon brought operations to a halt. Aghast at the ease at which his western lands had fallen, Victor Amadeus requested that Habsburg Austria send him a commander-in-chief. On 21 December 1792, the Habsburgs sent Feldzeugmeister Joseph Nikolaus De Vins, a 61 year old veteran of the Seven Years' War and the Austro-Turkish War.
  In December 1792, Lieutenant General François Christophe de Kellermann took command of the Army of the Alps. Since many units had been sent to the Army of the Pyrenees, the army had only five regular regiments, 30 volunteer battalions, two regular cavalry regiments, and some independent companies. There were 30,000 men on the muster rolls but only 16,000–20,000 were fit for service. In May 1793 the Army of the Alps numbered 45,000 but it was hard to procure weapons for every soldier. The army's left (north) flank was south of Geneva in the Arve River valley, also called the Faucigny. Going south, the army defended the Isère River valley and its upper reaches, called the Tarentaise Valley; the Arc River valley, also called the Maurienne; the Durance River; and the Ubaye River. The right (south) flank was anchored by the fortified Camp de Tournoux. Kellermann proved to be an excellent organizer. During his command tenure, he set up depots with enough supplies to clothe 50,000 men and arm 32,000.
  These events occurred during the Reign of Terror when popular suspicion fell upon many generals as traitors. Pierre Chépy, the political commissioner with the Army of the Alps believed that Kellermann was a secret Royalist. Chépy proposed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that every general condemned to death should have his head struck off and hung upside down with a sign posted on his corpse, "This monster sold himself to the enemies of the country..." Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles and Philibert Simond, the representatives on mission with the Army of the Alps, opened Kellermann's mail and discovered that the commander preferred regular troops to the volunteers, wanted to hire Swiss mercenaries, and was willing to withdraw from some positions so that he could drill his raw troops. Horrified that their army commander might be a traitor, the representatives, some soldiers, and civil authorities cross-examined Kellermann for four hours. Keeping calm, Kellermann patiently convinced them that he was loyal to the government.
  A revolt began brewing in Lyon on 29 May 1792. As early as 8 July, the representative Edmond Louis Alexis Dubois-Crancé wanted Kellermann to lead his army to Lyon, but the commander insisted on a written order. The leading Jacobin of Lyon, Joseph Chalier had a guillotine sent to that city from Paris. He planned to execute 900 counter-revolutionaries in Lyon, but he was 
caption: Joseph De Vins
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