War of the First Coalition

The **War of the First Coalition** was a conflict that took place from April 20, 1792 - October 18, 1797. The War of the First Coalition were a set of wars fought from 1792-1797, initially against the Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that succeeded it. The War of the First Coalition was an embarrassing blow to the coalition, this was mainly because each member of the coalition had their own personal interests and were very uncoordinated in their attacks, they also underestimated the strength of the French Army, most notably at the Battle of Valmy and the series of campaigns launched by Napoleon in Italy.

## Background

### Prelude

2 years after the French Revolution had begun, Frederick William II of Prussia, and the Holy Roman Empire, issued their support to King Louis XVI against the French Revolution. This became known as the Declaration of Pillnitz which worsened the relations between France, Prussia, and the HRE. The National Assembly which was in charge of France at the time, saw this as a declaration of war, many radicals such as Jacques Pierre Brissot, and Jean-Paul Marat, also used this to further their influence and eventually declare war on April 20, 1792, beginning the War of the First Coalition. At the start, many of France's armies were stationed in Paris and were unable to resist the invasion, due to this, many within the French high command had to relieve troops from the capital and send them towards the frontlines. This, combined with the advancing Prussian armies, sparked fear and paranoia within the French government, fearing that the overcrowded prisons full of upper class and nobility were going to launch a counter-revolution and allow the coalition forces in. As a result, many revolutionaries, mainly from the Cordeliers and the National Guard, entered the many prisons that surrounded Paris and subsequently massacred everyone inside, including women and children.

### Invasion of France

The French Army would continue to struggle against the advancing Austro-Prussian armies, despite winning several major battles at Siege of Thionville, and Porrentruy. However, a large French force led by Charles François Dumouriez, were able to defeat a large Austro-Prussian force at the Battle of Valmy, and was a turning point of the invasion as they had forced the coalition to retreat well past the Rhine River. After the French victory at Valmy, the National Assembly proclaimed the French Republic 2 days later on September 22, 1792, and was a historic moment in French history. The French Army would continue to pursue the retreating Austro-Prussian armies, winning another minor engagement at Lille, and forcing the Austrian Army to retreat to modern day Belgium. The Army of the Rhine which was formed in December of the same year, also launched their own campaign against the coalition near the French border, capturing the city of Mainz and setting the stage for future campaigns east of the Rhine. Moreover, the Austrians would once again suffer another defeat at the hands Dumouriez at the Battle of Jemappes, allowing the French Army to launch incursions into the Austrian Netherlands.

### Flanders campaign

The Flanders Campaign would begin in November 6, 1792, with several French victories at the Battle of Limburg, Anderlecht, and Namur, all of which fell to the French. However, the French Army stumbled badly at their failed siege of Maastricht, due to the amount of coalition reinforcements that caught the French off-guard. Further north, the French Army continued making progress, winning a victory at the Siege of Breda and subsequently capturing the city. But a huge Austrian force of over 39,000 men suddenly attacked the French lines, and the French were only able to hold them off with 9,000 men and were easily destroyed by the advancing Austrian armies. Disaster finally came when the combined force of over 43,000 Dutch and Austrian troops smashed the French Army at the deadly Battle of Neerwinden, and forcing them to evacuate the Low Countries. As a result, several defeats would follow, the Austrians would recapture Condé from the French after a 3 month long siege, and several defeats also followed at the Battle of Raimses and Valenciennes, further weakening the already battered French Army and forcing many to turn to desertion. The Coalition advance was finally halted outside of Dunkirk. During the siege of Dunkirk, many high ranking officers within the French Army began to surrender their entire brigades to the enemy, one such incident was at Le Quesnoy, where 5,000 of the French garrison fully surrendered to the Austrian Army. The siege of Dunkirk would last for a month and the French were able to repel the coalition armies at the city. Fearing that another counter-attack by the coalition could destroy all their progress in the campaign, the French high command ordered a new offensive against the coalition forces, catching them off-guard and winning their first major victory within months at the Battle of Hondschoote, routing the British and their allies from the battlefield. The French Army would continue their attacks against the coalition defenses, winning several battles at Menin, and Maubeuge, forcing the coalition armies to panic and retreat from the French border. Eventually, the entire Coalition armies were forced to retreat from Belgium once more and were defeated at the Second Battle of Aldenhoven, leading to the collapse of the Austrian Netherlands and the establishment of the Batavian Republic, one of the first "sister republics" created by France during the French Revolution.

### War of the Pyrenees

The War of the Pyrenees, also known as the War of Roussillon or War of the Convention, was the southern front of the First Coalition's war against France. It pitted the French Republic against Spain and Portugal with both sides engaging in brutal skirmishes and large scale engagements in the Pyrenees mountains that engulfed the Franco-Spanish border. The war began due to Spain's disapproval of King Louis XVI's execution, this enraged France and much of the National Convention, who in return declared war on it's former ally, Spain. At the outbreak of the war, Carlos IV, who was king of Spain at the time, sent General Antonio Ricardos to immediately deal with the French threat near the border. At first, the Spaniards made good progress, winning several battles at Mas Deu, and Sardinia, and halting the entire French advance. However, more French reinforcements and with the lost of momentum on the Spanish side, soon turn the tides of conflict. The Battle of Perpignan, was one of the major defeats suffered by the Spanish during the war and paved the way for more French victories in the upcoming months. At the same time, a certain unknown captain by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte was making good progress against the British and loyalist forces at the city of Toulon. Managing to defeat the Spanish forces in the city and drive them off, leaving the British isolated and were later forced to surrender. The French would once again deal another decisive blow against the Spanish Army at the Battle of Peyrestortes, inflicting almost 3,000 casualties on the Spanish garrison while suffering only 200-300 casualties, the Spanish also lost vital amount of supplies, contributing to their later defeat in the war. Despite this, the French Army would suffer a series of defeats a year within the campaign, loosing almost 10,000 men and supplies that were much needed to continue the war effort. Only General Dugommier's victories at the Second Battle of Boulou, and Collioure managed to save the French Army from total annihilation. The war would eventually end with a hard fought victory for the French, the signing of the Peace of Basel would allow France to go to peace with Prussia and Spain. The Spanish would cede the island of Santo Domingo to the French in the Caribbean in-exchange for keeping Spanish territories in the mainland.

### Rhine campaign of 1795-96

The Rhine Campaign took place from 1795-1796 along the Rhine River between the Austrian and French armies. As the Rhine Campaign was suppose to be the "mainshow" and the priority of the French high command, many resources and manpower were dedicated to the campaign in order to make sure that the outcome would be a success. Over 180,000 Frenchmen volunteered to fight the Austrians, many of whom were conscripts and had little to no experience at all. Some were even ill-equipped, and many of the officers had little to no fighting experience. Initially, the French Army led by Jean-Jourdan (Napoleon's future marshal), was successful in invading Luxembourg, crushing an entire Austrian army at the Siege of Luxembourg which lasted for almost half a year before finally surrendering to the advancing French armies. However, failures began when the French Army realized that it lacked cavalry to march in a much faster phase and support the infantry in the battlefield, both armies were also pre-occupied to be able to reach one another in time. At the Battle of Handschuhsheim, the Austrians launched a cavalry charge that easily drove the French lines into disarray, with panic quickly ensuing afterwards and resulted in the destruction of the French Army on the battlefield, with its commanding officer being captured. The French would continue suffering several humiliating defeats at the hands of the Austrians, and eventually, the entire 1795 campaign in the Rhine was called off, resulting into an Austrian victory. A year later, a new campaign was to be launched once more, this time with a diversionary attack from the south led by the newly appointed Major General, Napoleon Bonaparte. Just like the previous campaign a year prior, the French were able to gain the upper hand against the Austrians, winning 3 consecutive victories at the battle of Altenkirchen, Maudach, and Kehl. weakening the Austrian Army stationed east of the Rhine River. When logistical problems began to appear, Jourdan realized that he could no longer hold his positions, despite him winning battle after battle, he soon ordered a retreat across the Rhine with the Austrians giving chase. Even during the retreat, the pursuing Austrians were suffering defeat after defeat at the hands of the French Army, one such loss was at the Battle of Theiningen, where the Austrian Army failed to cut off Bernadotte's retreating forces despite outnumbering him almost 10 to 1. In the end, logistical challenges and the overwhelming presence of the Austrian Army forced the French to abandon their 1796 Rhine campaign, despite it seeing much more significant success than last year. Instead of Germany, the main focus of the French high command turned to the south, towards the Italian front, where Napoleon had masterfully clobbered the Sardinians and the Austrians back from the French border and score a number of victories that would eventually end the War of the First Coalition.

### Italian campaign

After Napoleon's major victory at the Siege of Toulon, he was given command of his own army, first the Army of the Interior, then the Army of the Reserve, which he used at his early campaigns in Italy. Napoleon would launch the one month Montenotte campaign in an attempt to knock out Sardinia-Piedmont from the war. Initially suffering some setbacks from the Austrian garrison at Piedmont, Napoleon began to use his tactics of dividing the enemy and striking at the weakest of the two with overwhelming numbers. He caught the Austro-Sardinian Army at the Battle of Montenotte and proceeded to annhialate 40% of their total army in the field, and also capturing all their cannons. This victory allowed him to split the Austrian Army led by Beaulieu from the Sardinian Army led by Colli, subsequently defeating them once more at the Battle of Mondovi and forcing the Sardinians to sign the Armistice of Cherasco, knocking out Sardinia-Piedmont from the war. Upon hearing of the French victory at Mondovi, the Austrians began to retreat from Piedmont, but the French Army was able to catch them at Lombardy and defeated them at the famous Battle of Lodi, annihilating the entire Austrian Army and capturing most of Northern Italy. Napoleon would continue to pursue the retreating Austrians, inflicting heavy casualties on the Austrian Army and once again masterfully defeating the Austrians at the Battle of Rovereto, in which 10,000 of the 20,000 Austrian troops deployed in the field were all either killed, wounded, or captured, while the French only suffered 750 casualties in total. Napoleon continued his pursuit of the Austrian Army but suffered a series of minor defeats near Venetia, he avenged this by defeating the Austrians at the Battle of Arcole, paving the way for the French conquest of Venice. After the victory, the Austrian Army was rendered incapable of dealing any damage to Napoleon's forces. Napoleon would go on to send one of his generals to occupy the Republic of Venice, which became known as the Veronese Easter and resulted into the fall of the thousand year merchant republic. Napoleon would oversee the signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio between France and Austria, effectively ending the War of the First Coalition.

## Aftermath

After the war, Napoleon would go on to form many new "sister republics" and spread revolutionary ideals throughout the peninsula. He also established the constitutions and organized the governments of these new republics. (*"Not something a general, generally does*." - OverSimplified.)