Campaigns of 1793 in the French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars continued from 1792 , with new powers entering the First Coalition after the execution of King Louis XVI . Spain and Portugal entered the coalition in January 1793 , and on 1 February France declared war on Great Britain and the Netherlands . 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 , with the Austrians winning battles at Aachen and Liège and raising 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 Vendée raising an army to attack the central government and open communications with Britain . Spanish armies crossed the Pyrenees , Sardinian armies the Alps , and Austrian armies occupied Valenciennes and forced the northern armies back on Paris . Britain ordered a naval blockade of France on 31 May . The revolutionary government prepared a full mobilization of the nation ( see Levée 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 twelve hundred thousand 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 , 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 Piedmont failed . Sources . The main source for this article is the out - of - copyright History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 , by François Mignet ( 1824 ) , as made available by Project Gutenberg , as well as other Wikipedia articles .