Index

○​The fall of the monarchy in France: The

French Revolution

○​The War of the First Coalition

○​ War of the Second Coalition

○​Prelude to the Napoleonic Wars

○​Key Events leading to the Napoleonic war

○​Alliances in the Napoleonic Wars

​
The fall of the monarchy

in France: The French

Revolution

As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the

American civil war, combined with King Louis XVI's profligate spending,
had brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Not only were the royal
coffers empty, but several years of poor harvests, drought, livestock plagues
and skyrocketing bread prices had caused unrest among the peasants and the
poor in the cities. Many expressed their despair and resentment at a regime
that imposed high taxes— but provided no relief they did this by rioting,
looting and striking.

In the fall of 1786, Louis XVI’s Controller General, Charles Alexandre de

Calonne, proposed a financial reform package that included a general land
tax from which the aristocratic classes would no longer be exempt. In order
to gain support for these measures and prevent a growing aristocratic revolt,
the king convened the Estates General (les états généraux) for the first time
since 1614 – an assembly representing the clergy, nobility and bourgeoisie of
France. The assembly was scheduled for May 5, 1789. In the meantime, the
delegates of the three estates were to compile lists of grievances (cahiers de
doléances) from each place to present to the king.

The rise of the Third Estate and the Tennis Court Oath
The population of France had of course changed considerably since 1614.
The non-aristocratic, bourgeois members of the Third Estate now represented
98 percent of the people, but could still be outvoted by the other two bodies.
In the run-up to the Assembly of May 5, the Third Estate began to campaign
for equal representation and the abolition of the aristocratic veto — in other
words, they wanted a vote based on heads rather than status. While all the
orders shared a common desire for fiscal and judicial reform and a more
representative form of government, the nobles in particular were unwilling to
give up the privileges they had long enjoyed under the traditional system. By
the time the Estates-General convened at Versailles, the very public debate
over voting procedures had developed into open hostility between the three
orders, eclipsing the original purpose of the assembly and the authority of the
man who had convened it — the king himself. On June 17, with talks on
procedure stalled, the Third Estate met alone and officially adopted the title
National Assembly. Three days later, they met in a nearby tennis hall and
took the so-called Tennis Court Oath (serment du jeu de paume), in which
they promised not to disband until constitutional reform had been achieved.
Within a week, most of the clerical deputies and 47 liberal nobles joined, and
on June 27, Louis XVI reluctantly admitted all three orders to the new
National Assembly.

The Bastille and The Great Fear

On June 12, as the National Assembly (known as the National Constituent
Assembly) continued to meet in Versailles, the capital was gripped by fear
and violence. While Parisians were elated at the recent collapse of royal
power, they panicked when rumors of an imminent military coup began to
circulate. The popular uprising reached its climax on July 14, when the
insurgents stormed the Bastille to seize gunpowder and weapons. Many
regard this event, which is now celebrated as a national Holiday in France, as
the beginning of the French Revolution. The wave of revolutionary fervor
and widespread hysteria quickly engulfed the entire country. The peasants,
rebelling against years of exploitation, looted and burned down the houses of
tax collectors, landowners and the aristocratic elite. Known as the "Great
Fear" (la Grande peur), the peasant uprising accelerated the increasing
exodus of the nobility from France and inspired the National Constituent
Assembly to abolish feudalism on August 4, 1789.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

At the end of August, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen), a
declaration of democratic principles based on the philosophical and political
ideas of Enlightenment thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The
document proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to replace the Ancien
Régime with a system based on equality of opportunity, freedom of speech,
popular sovereignty and representative government. Drafting a formal
constitution proved to be a far greater challenge for the Constituent
Assembly, which also had to act as a legislature in difficult economic times.
For months, the members of the Assembly wrestled with fundamental
questions about the shape and scope of France’s new political landscape. For
example, who would be responsible for electing the deputies? Would the
clergy owe allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church or to the French
government? And perhaps most importantly, how much authority would the
king, whose public standing had been further weakened after a failed escape
attempt in June 1791, retain? France's first written constitution, adopted on
September 3, 1791, followed the more moderate voices in the Assembly and
introduced a constitutional monarchy in which the king had a veto power and
could appoint ministers. This compromise did not go down well with
influential radicals such as Maximilien de Robespierre, Camille Desmoulins
and Georges Danton. They began to campaign among the population for a
more republican form of government and for the trial of Louis XVI.

The French Revolution becomes radical and the Reign of Terror

In April 1792, the newly elected Legislative Assembly declared war on
Austria and Prussia, believing that French émigrés were forging
counter-revolutionary alliances; it also hoped to spread its revolutionary
ideals throughout Europe by waging war. Domestically, the crisis took a
radical turn when a group of insurgents led by the extremist Jacobins attacked
the royal residence in Paris and arrested the king on August 10, 1792. The
following month, amid a wave of violence in which Parisian insurgents
massacred hundreds of accused counter-revolutionaries, the Legislative
Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the
abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French Republic. On
January 21, 1793, he sent King Louis XVI, who had been sentenced to death
for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife
Marie-Antoinette suffered the same fate nine months later. After the
execution of the king, wars with various European powers and fierce
divisions within the National Convention led the French Revolution into its
most violent and turbulent phase. In June 1793, the Jacobins took control of
the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and introduced a
series of radical measures, including the introduction of a new calendar and
the eradication of Christianity. They also unleashed the bloody Reign of
Terror (la Terreur), a 10-month period during which suspected enemies of the
Revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were
carried out on the orders of Robespierre, who headed the draconian
Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794.
The Thermidorian reaction and the rise of Napoleon
Robespierre's death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a
moderate phase in which the French people rebelled against the excesses of
the Reign of Terror. On August 22, 1795, the National Convention, composed
largely of Girondins who had survived the Reign of Terror, adopted a new
constitution that created France’s first bicameral legislature. Executive power
was to be in the hands of a five-member Directory (Directoire) appointed by
Parliament. Royalists and Jacobins protested against the new regime, but
were quickly silenced by the army, which was now led by a young and
successful general named Napoleon Bonaparte. The four years that the
Directory was in power were characterised by financial crises, popular
discontent, inefficiency and, above all, political corruption. By the late 1790s,
the directors relied almost exclusively on the military to maintain their
authority and had ceded much of their power to the generals in the field. On
November 9, 1799, as frustration with their leadership reached a fever pitch,
Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d’état, abolishing the Directory and
appointing himself France’s “first consul.” The event marked the end of the
French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, during which
France would dominate much of continental Europe.

The War of the First Coalition (1792–1797)

The War of the First Coalition was a continent-wide conflict in which a
coalition of European powers, including Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, the
Dutch Republic, Spain, and several others, sought to contain and defeat
revolutionary France. The war was inspired by the ideals of the French
Revolution (1789–1799), which threatened the established monarchies in
Europe. The French revolutionaries, who had long feared military
intervention from neighboring monarchies, declared war on Austria on 20
April 1792 to preserve and expand the Revolution. After their victory at the
Battle of Valmy, the French declared themselves a republic, executed their
king, and pursued expansionist war goals such as the conquest of Belgium
and the Rhineland; these factors drew more states into the anti-French
coalition. In 1793, the Republic was in a difficult situation, having to repel
the enemy on all fronts. Through harsh measures such as the Terror, the
Republic was able to quell internal dissent and bolster its army with
conscripts. French counterattacks, using overwhelming numbers and
revolutionary fervor, succeeded in pushing back the Allied armies. The
European powers gradually lost heart and began to withdraw from the
alliance until the Treaty of Campo-Formio, signed in October 1797, left
Britain as the only nation still at war with France. However, the end of the
war did not resolve any of the underlying issues, and hostilities resumed a
year later as part of the War of the Second Coalition. These conflicts,
collectively known as the French Revolutionary Wars, redrawn the map of
Europe and led directly to the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).

Origin: 1789–1791

European kings may have been disturbed by the calamities that befell the
French royal family, but it was against their interests to help them. The War
of the First Coalition was inextricably linked to the revolution that brought it
about; many revolutionaries saw it as a natural outgrowth of the French
Revolution. The first war clouds began to gather in 1789, when rampant
social inequality led the three estates of pre-revolutionary France (clergy,
nobility, commoners) to unite against the Ancien Régime and form the
Constituent Assembly. Attempting to reassert his power, King Louis XVI of
France (r. 1774–1792) sent 30,000 troops into the Paris area, leading to
widespread rioting that culminated on 14 July with the storming of the
Bastille.

Louis XVI was forced to back down, allowing the National Assembly to
enact radical reforms; the August Decrees ended feudalism and other
aristocratic privileges, while the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen recognized the natural rights of man. When the king refused to ratify
these reforms, thousands of angry Parisians marched on Versailles and forced
the king not only to accept the reforms but also to return with them to Paris,
where he was effectively imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace. This event,
known as the Women's March on Versailles or the October Days, brought an
end to France and the Ancien Régime.

The Storming of the Bastille

Many in France were alarmed by this radical change in the status quo. Just
two days after the Bastille fell, the king's youngest brother, the Count of
Artois, led a group of French royalists in an emigration from France. Artois
vowed to restore the old regime and traveled across Europe in search of
military aid. Although European monarchs were watching events in France
with interest, none were willing to intervene, and all ignored Artois's pleas
for help. Even if they had wanted to help, most of the European powers were
preoccupied; Prussia, Austria, and Russia, for example, were in the process of
partitioning Poland, while Austria and Russia were also embroiled in a
disastrous war with the Ottoman Empire. In addition, France's distraction
from the revolution kept it from the world stage, allowing other powers to
pursue their own goals without worrying about what the French might think
or do. So while European monarchs might have been disturbed by the
calamities befalling the French monarchy, it was against their interests to
mobilize to help. Scorned by the great powers, Artois and his supporters were
forced to seek the friendship of the smaller states and were welcomed by the
prince-bishops of Mainz and Trier, where they established
counter-revolutionary courts. By 1791, these towns were home to 20,000
French immigrants, who began to organize themselves into military units.
Although the French immigrant army was not strong enough to invade
France, its presence so close to the French border was not something the
revolutionaries could ignore.

Escalation: 1791-1792

The French Revolution entered a period of calm in 1790 and early 1791, as
the National Assembly worked hard on a new constitution; for a time, it
seemed that the Revolution was over. However, this situation changed
dramatically on the night of June 20–21, 1791, when Louis XVI fled Paris.
After two years of pretending to support the Revolution, the king revealed his
true colors by leaving letters denouncing the movement before attempting to
flee to the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium). The attempt, known as the Flight
to Varennes, failed and Louis XVI was sent back to Paris. This event shook
the country to its foundations, as the king proved that he could not be trusted.
A serious republican movement began to take root in Paris, and the
revolutionaries themselves were deeply divided.

Louis XVI's Return to Paris after Varennes

This sudden turn toward radicalism became too difficult for the European
powers to ignore. In August 1791, the kings of Austria and Prussia jointly
issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, threatening France with military invasion if
the Bourbon royal family was threatened. The declaration, which was not
supported by any of the other kings, was intended solely to intimidate the
revolutionaries, and neither signatory leader wanted to have to back up their
threats with action. However, the declaration had the opposite effect. The
French had long feared that foreign intervention would crush their revolution,
and many saw Pillnitz as evidence that this was indeed the intention of the
old regime.

The Rise of the Girondins

At the end of 1791, a faction known as the Girondins rose to power in the
French Legislative Assembly. Led by the fiery Jacques-Pierre Brissot, the
Girondins called for war as the only way to preserve the revolution and
expand it to the four corners of Europe. This proposal received widespread
support, including from the king himself, who secretly hoped to use war to
regain full power, and the Assembly began raising three volunteer armies.
Opposing the war was an antiwar faction of the Club of Jacobins led by
Maximilien Robespierre, who warned that war would only lead to
dictatorship and the end of the Revolution, warning that "liberty cannot be
exported without bayonets" (Blanning, 164). The Girondins had taken control
of public opinion, and in December 1791, France issued an ultimatum to
Mainz and Trier, ordering them to expel their immigrants or face invasion.
The duchy's bishops complied, to the great disappointment of the Girondins.

Declaration of War on Austria

The Girondins then directed France's anger against Austria, a traditional rival
who represented everything wrong with the monarchies of the Ancien
Régime; its ruler, Emperor Francis II, was the nephew of the hated French
queen Marie Antoinette. Relations between the two nations deteriorated until
April 20, 1792, when the Legislature voted overwhelmingly to declare war.

The Invasion of Brunswick: April–October 1792

Brissot and his allies had promised an easy war, believing that the slave
soldiers of despotic Europe would lay down their arms before the freed
citizen-soldiers of France. The French received a severe wake-up call when
their poorly trained and poorly supplied forces were wiped out by the
Austrians in the first weeks of the war. The initial fighting at Quiévrain and
Marquain was humiliating for the French army – a disaster further
compounded when one of the defeated French troops mutinied and
assassinated their commanding general, Théobald Dillon. Morale was further
depressed when one of France's leading generals, the Marquis de La Fayette,
defected and was captured by the Austrians en route to the United States.
Meanwhile, Prussia joined the Austrians in June and began preparing an
invasion force near Koblenz. Under the command of Charles William
Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, the army began invading France the
following month; however, an outbreak of dysentery and Brunswick's
cautious nature slowed the invasion considerably. On July 25, the invading
army issued the Brunswick Manifesto, which declared its intention to restore
full power to Louis XVI and threatened to kill anyone who resisted; like the
Pillnitz Declaration, the manifesto backfired. Fearing Prussian wrath,
thousands of panicked Parisians stormed the Tuileries Palace on August 10,
1792, killing 800 as the insurgents battled the Swiss Guard. After the battle,
Louis XVI and his family were imprisoned.

Battle of Valmy

The Prussians continued their advance, capturing the key fortresses of

Longwy on 23 August and Verdun on 2 September, opening the way to Paris;
The news was once again greeted with hysterical violence in Paris, where
1,100 people were massacred in the September Massacres. However, the
news was also greeted with a renewed determination by the French to defend
their capital, as leaders such as Georges Danton called for volunteers to the
front, promising that with boldness, more boldness, always more boldness,
France would be saved.

On 20 September 1792, a French army under generals Dumouriez and

Kellermann halted the invaders at the Battle of Valmy; though it was only a
minor battle, it disheartened the Prussians, who were still ravaged by
dysentery and never desired war in the first place. Dumouriez allowed
Brunswick to retreat and sent news of the victory to Paris; the next day, the
ecstatic revolutionaries declared the French Republic.

War & Terror: 1792-93

The so-called 'miracle at Valmy' portended good fortunes for the French on
all fronts. In the north, General Dumouriez invaded Belgium, defeated the
Austrians at the Battle of Jemappes (6 November), and soon, he was in
control of the whole country. In the Rhineland, an army under General
Custine captured Speyer, Worms, and Mainz, and in the south, the French
occupied Savoy and Nice from the Sardinians.

The French Republic adopted an increasingly bellicose stance; in November,

it closed the Scheldt River in direct violation of the 1648 Treaty of
Westphalia and issued the Edict of Fraternity, which promised French aid to
any oppressed peoples, essentially an open invitation for any European
people to rebel. Finally, fiery French leaders like Brissot and Danton began
calling for France to keep expanding until it had reached its 'natural borders'
at the banks of the Rhine.

On 21 January 1793, the trial and execution of Louis XVI horrified the rest of
Europe, with British prime minister William Pitt calling it, "the foulest and
most atrocious act the world has ever seen" (Schama, 687). Britain began
mobilizing its military, but France beat it to the punch, declaring war on
Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic in February. Shortly thereafter, the
anti-French coalition was joined by Portugal, Naples, and the Holy Roman
Empire.

The French immediately saw reversals in their fortunes. Dumouriez was

defeated at the Battle of Neerwinden (18 March 1793) and was pushed out of
the Low Countries; shortly thereafter, he dealt the Republic another blow by
defecting to the Austrians. The French were pushed out of the Rhineland by
the Prussians, while the Spanish crossed the Pyrenees and advanced into
Roussillon. To make matters worse, a counter-revolutionary civil war, the
War in the Vendée, began in March while additional provinces joined in
federalist revolts a few months later; rebels seized the port city of Toulon,
which contained the valuable French Mediterranean fleet, and handed both
prizes over to the British. The infant French Republic, it seemed, was about
to be strangled in its crib.

The Committee of Public Safety

The French answered this existential threat with violence. The Committee of
Public Safety, formed in April 1793 in answer to Dumouriez's treason, was
given near-dictatorial powers in the name of state security; the Committee
used this power to oversee the Reign of Terror, during which hundreds of
thousands were arrested under suspicion of foreign collusion or other
counter-revolutionary activity, and 30-40,000 people were killed. The Terror
was extended to the armies; any officer who refused an order from the
Committee or failed to achieve victory faced arrest and execution. No fewer
than 84 French generals were executed between 1793-94.
The Committee's concentrated authority allowed it to enact much-needed
reforms in the summer of 1793, mostly orchestrated by Lazare Carnot,
nicknamed "Organizer of Victory" for his efforts. The infamous levee en
masse, enacted in August 1793, called for all citizens to contribute in some
way to the war effort and made all unmarried males between the ages of 18
and 25 available for conscription. By September 1794, the French armies
boasted over a million men, 700,000 of whom were under arms, creating the
largest military force Europe had yet seen. Carnot also reorganized the army
by merging new recruits with veterans, thereby fostering discipline and
training. These reforms contributed to the success of France's counterattacks.

The Coalition Unravels: 1793-96

As the French were busy reorganizing, the Allied invasions had stalled. In
Flanders, the Allied army decided to besiege each of the frontier fortresses
before risking an attack on Paris, which gave the French time to prepare.
When this Allied army made the additional mistake of dividing its forces, the
French struck, defeating it piecemeal first at the Battle of Hondschoote (7-8
September 1793), then at the Battle of Wattignies (15-16 October). The
opposing forces settled into winter quarters, but the next year's fighting saw
more French victories at the Battle of Tourcoing (17-18 May 1794) and, most
decisively, at the Battle of Fleurus (26 June). These defeats greatly
demoralized the Allies, especially the Austrians; convinced the Austrian
Netherlands was no longer worth defending, the Austrians withdrew from the
Low Countries, leaving the British and the now exposed Dutch Republic to
fend for themselves. By the end of July, the French were back in control of
Belgium and commenced an invasion of Holland. They made use of the
coldest winter of the century to cross over frozen rivers, and the Dutch
Republic fell in January 1795. It was replaced with the Batavian Republic,
the first of the French satellite states known as 'sister republics'.

This success was mirrored by French victories elsewhere. In 1793, the

Vendean rebel force known as the Catholic and Royal Army was defeated,
and the Vendée region was subjected to brutal punitive measures. Likewise,
the French were victorious at the Siege of Toulon, which launched the career
of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1794, the French drove the Prussians back in the
Rhineland and were successful against the Spanish in the Pyrenees. The next
year, both nations withdrew from the war, with Prussia recognizing French
claims to the left bank of the Rhine at the Treaty of Basel (April 1795).

As the Coalition unraveled, Britain continued the fight; the British won a
naval action against the French in the so-called Glorious First of June, but
their attempt to land an invasion force of French émigrés failed at the Battle
of Quiberon (23 June-21 July 1795). In 1796, French General Lazare Hoche
led a failed French expedition to Ireland. Austria also kept fighting; in 1796,
the French Rhineland campaign ended in failure when two French armies
were repulsed by an Austrian army under Archduke Charles. Gone was the
illusion of the French soldiers as benevolent liberators, as they had proven
themselves no better than any other occupying army. Despite a few setbacks,
the French armies were clearly ascendant, though France's treasury was
running out of funds. By 1796, the Terror had long been over, and the
Republic was now being run by an ineffective government called the French
Directory. To keep the war going, the Directory relied on the armies to pay
for themselves by living off the land of occupied territories, leading to
widespread looting and destruction that would decimate the landscapes of the
Rhineland and northern Italy. Victorious French generals would extort
captured cities for outrageous sums of money and priceless works of art,
which were sent to Paris to fill the Directory's coffers. Gone was the illusion
of the French soldiers as benevolent liberators, as they had proven themselves
no better than any other occupying army. Gone, too, were the days of tight
governmental control on the armies; strings of consistent victories and
plunder put more influence and power in the hands of the generals.

Victory: 1796-97

Napoleon's Italian Campaign was initially supposed to be a sideshow, to

distract the Austrians from the main thrust toward Vienna through Germany.
Although the Rhineland campaign failed spectacularly, Bonaparte made up
for it with the brilliance of his war in Italy; beginning with the Battle of
Montenotte on 12 April 1796, Bonaparte separated the armies of
Piedmont-Sardinia and Austria and defeated each in turn. He forced Sardinia
to accept peace in May before capturing Milan and laying siege to Mantua.

Bonaparte resisted several Austrian attempts to relieve the siege of Mantua

and won famous victories such as the Battle of Arcole (15-17 November) and
the Battle of Rivoli (14 January 1797). He established several sister republics
in Italy and looted cities of their priceless works of art. As his star continued
to rise, Bonaparte paid less heed to the Directory in Paris. Once Mantua fell
in February 1797, Bonaparte advanced toward Vienna, coming within 100
miles of the city before the Austrians asked for an armistice in April. This
was followed by the Treaty of Campo Formio, signed on 17 October 1797, in
which Austria exited the war, leaving Britain as the only nation to remain at
war with France. The First Coalition had finally collapsed.

War of the Second

Coalition(1799-1800)
Origins: Victory of the Great Nation

With the signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio on 17 October 1797, the
War of the First Coalition (1792-1797) came to an end. Born out of tensions
surrounding the French Revolution (1789-1799), the war saw the infant
French Republic take on most of the great powers of Europe, including
Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and Spain, while simultaneously dealing with
several counter-revolutionary rebellions within its borders. Through
draconian efforts such as mass conscription and the bloodshed of the Reign of
Terror, the French Republic managed not only to survive the existential threat
posed by these enemies but to triumph. By 1796, French armies had won a
succession of victories in the Netherlands, on the Rhine, and in Italy. The
frustrated nations of the First Coalition gradually dropped out of the war until
October 1797, when Austria made peace at Campo Formio and left Great
Britain as the only power to remain at war with France.

The victory left the French Republic as the preeminent power in Western
Europe, rivaled only by Britain. France had annexed Belgium, Luxembourg,
and the west bank of the Rhine and indirectly ruled Holland and northern
Italy through a collection of client states known as 'sister republics'. For the
French, who had succeeded in their war goals to both preserve their
Revolution and expand it into Europe, this was not just a victory but also an
indicator of the greatness of the French people. Around this time, the French
increasingly referred to themselves as "the Great Nation," a state superior to
all others and unencumbered by international rules. This rise in nationalism
coincided with a sharp turn back into extremist Jacobinism. The Coup of 18
Fructidor (4 September 1797) purged the Republic's government, called the
French Directory, of its conservative and royalist members, many of whom
were exiled to French Guiana. This neo-Jacobin resurgence resulted in a new
wave of violence against priests and political opponents and reignited the
disdain for the old regime monarchies of Europe. The new Fructidorian
Directory promptly broke off preliminary peace talks with Britain and began
to make plans for further territorial expansion.

At the Congress of Rastatt, which met in November 1797 to finalize the

peace between France and the Holy Roman Empire, the first signs of France's
aggressive post-war foreign policy became apparent. Despite Holy Roman
Emperor Francis II's promise to the Imperial Diet that the empire would
retain its "complete integrity," the French still compelled the German states to
cede all lands on the west bank of the Rhine. The French also stipulated that
German princes who lost land from the deal could be compensated by the
secularization of ecclesiastical states, dealing a further blow to the unity of
the empire.

The nations of Europe, unnerved by France's belligerent attitude at Rastatt,

were further alarmed in January 1798 when a French-backed coup overthrew
the government of Switzerland, which was replaced with a French puppet
state called the Helvetic Republic. Meanwhile, a riot in Rome that led to the
death of a French general was used as the pretext for the French invasion of
the Papal States on 15 February 1798. The Eternal City was integrated into
the patchwork of French client states as the Roman Republic, and Pope Pius
VI was taken prisoner. Though the "Great Nation" was now at the center of a
zone of influence that stretched in an almost unbroken line from Amsterdam
to Rome, its appetite for conquest remained unsatisfied.

Egyptian Expedition

The "Great Nation" could not claim total victory over its rivals until Britain
was defeated. Although France initially considered a direct invasion of
Britain, this was deemed too risky. An alternative plan was proposed by the
crafty foreign minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand and the popular
General Napoleon Bonaparte, who suggested establishing a French colony in
Egypt. Such a colony could compensate for the recent loss of France's
colonies in the West Indies and could be used as a base to menace British
interests in India. Although Egypt was nominally ruled by the Ottoman
Empire, it was under the de facto control of the Mamluks, a military class
whose rule was unpopular. The Directory approved the plan and in May
1798, a fleet of 13 ships-of-the-line, 13 frigates, and 200 transports set out
from Toulon, ferrying Bonaparte's army across the Mediterranean.

After evading a squadron of British warships under Horatio Nelson, the

French fleet landed at Malta on 10 June. The island was promptly captured,
and the Knights of St. John were expelled. The French continued on to Egypt
and occupied Alexandria on 2 July. After a dreadful march through the
desert, Bonaparte defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids (21
July) and entered Cairo days later. Just when it seemed that Napoleon's
Campaign in Egypt and Syria had been a success, Nelson caught up with the
French fleet that was anchored at Aboukir Bay. The subsequent Battle of the
Nile (1 August) resulted in the complete destruction of the French fleet,
trapping Bonaparte's army in Egypt. In September, the Ottoman Empire
formally declared war on France and began marshaling an army in Syria to
reclaim Egypt.

The Second Coalition Forms

France's invasion of Egypt proved too much for the other European powers to
bear. Nelson's victory on the Nile made France look weak, emboldening
France's enemies to finally strike. Somewhat unexpectedly, this second
anti-French coalition was spearheaded by Russia, which had remained neutral
in the first coalition war. Emperor Paul I of Russia (r. 1796-1801), a great
admirer of the Knights of St. John, was incensed by Bonaparte's occupation
of Malta, an act that seemed to confirm Paul's suspicions that Revolutionary
France would keep on expanding until it was stopped by military force.
Emperor Paul sent a Russian fleet into the Mediterranean, which set about
capturing the French-occupied Ionian Islands. Meanwhile, he assembled a
new anti-French alliance which, by March 1799, had grown to include
Britain, Austria, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Naples; the War
of the Second Coalition had begun.

Like its predecessor, the Second Coalition suffered from poor communication
between its member nations. This was evidenced on 12 November 1798,
when Naples kicked off the war by invading the Roman Republic, eager to
restore papal authority. In their haste, the Neapolitans acted without
consulting any other Allied nation, and although they briefly occupied Rome,
they were forced out again by the French on 12 December. The French
advanced into Naples, forcing the Neapolitan royal family to evacuate on 22
December aboard Admiral Nelson's flagship. By January 1799, the Kingdom
of Naples had fallen and was reorganized as the Parthenopean Republic, yet
another French client state. The French scored another victory in Italy the
same month when they annexed Piedmont after forcing King Charles
Emmanuel IV of Piedmont-Sardinia to abdicate. The French now controlled
all of Italy aside from Venice and Venetia. For the Allies, the war was not off
to a great start.
Campaigns in Germany, Switzerland, & Italy

Despite these early victories, the French Republic was left in the precarious
position of having to defend a frontier stretching from Holland to Naples. On
5 September 1798, the Directory enacted the Jourdan Law which called for
the mass conscription of all unmarried males between the ages of 20-25.
These conscripts were sent to the three major French armies, each positioned
on a critical frontier: General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan commanded an army on
the Rhine, General André Masséna commanded in Switzerland, and
Barthélemy Schérer commanded the Army of Italy. They were faced with
several Austrian armies consisting of a combined 300,000 men across the
board. The Austrians were to wait until the arrival of 60,000 Russian
reinforcements before beginning their offensive.

In Germany, French General Jourdan decided to strike before the Russians

could arrive. In early March 1799, he led his army across the Rhine and
through the Black Forest until he finally caught up with an Austrian army
commanded by Archduke Charles, brother of Emperor Francis. Despite being
outnumbered nearly 3 to 1, Jourdan attacked on 25 March at the Battle of
Stockach and suffered a devastating defeat. Jourdan retreated back across the
Rhine and resigned his command. Archduke Charles had a chance to pursue
Jourdan's army and eliminate it, thereby opening up a path into France, but
inadequate supplies prevented him from doing so. By the time he finally
advanced, Jourdan's old army had joined with General Masséna in
Switzerland. Archduke Charles attacked them at the First Battle of Zurich (4
June) but was repelled. Despite his victory, Masséna realized he could not
withstand a second assault and withdrew to a better defensive line along the
Limmat River, allowing Charles to enter Zurich unopposed.

While they were being pushed back in Germany and Switzerland, the French
were also losing ground on the Italian front. On 25 March, French General
Schérer crossed the Mincio River with 35,000 men and attacked a
58,000-man Austrian army in a series of engagements collectively known as
the Battle of Magnano (5 April). The French were defeated and retreated
back across the Mincio after losing 8,000 casualties. On 15 April, the
Austrian army in Italy was joined by a Russian expeditionary force led by the
celebrated General Alexander Suvorov, who had been appointed as the
commander-in-chief of all Allied armies. Suvorov's Austro-Russian army
crossed the Adda River and dealt the French a stinging defeat at the Battle of
Cassano (27 April). The next day, General Schérer resigned and was replaced
by General Jean Victor Moreau, a distinguished veteran who had achieved
fame for his conquest of Holland. However, not even Moreau could stop the
Austro-Russian juggernaut. Following another defeat at the Battle of the
Trebbia (17-20 June), the French were pushed out of northern Italy. On 30
June, the Allies entered Turin, the capital of Piedmont, and reinstalled
Charles Emmanuel IV as king.

A successful French counterattack occurred on 15 August when General

Barthélemy Joubert retook Genoa. Unfortunately, Joubert died soon after
while leading an army into battle against Suvorov at Novi (15 August), and
the French were defeated once again. Suvorov's performance in Italy was
nothing short of brilliant. By August 1799, he had swept the French out of the
peninsula, re-establishing most of the old monarchical order in Italy. Venice
and Venetia were returned to Austrian control, while Tuscany and the Papal
States saw their monarchies restored. In their place, the French established
two new client states: the Ligurian and Cisalpine Republics, which provided
the Austrians with bases in northern Italy from which they could attack
France.

Second Battle of Zurich

The Allied high command intended to follow up Suvorov's success in Italy

with a massive attack on Masséna's Army of Switzerland. Three
Austro-Russian armies were to converge on the French along the Limmat
River and force their way through the Alps and Jura mountains into the
Rhone Valley. General Suvorov was to lead an army through the Saint
Gotthard Pass and rendezvous with Archduke Charles, who was leading an
Austrian army of 30,000 across the Linth River. Meanwhile, the third army,
commanded by Russian General Alexander Korsakov, would join the
Austrians already in Zurich and await Suvorov's arrival. If all went to plan,
the French would be crushed between the three armies, which could then
advance through the Rhone Valley and into France. However, plans changed
drastically on 18 August when the British diplomat William Wickham, who
was stationed in Switzerland, sent an intercepted letter to the Austrian high
command in which Tsar Paul I insulted the Austrian Army and accused
Archduke Charles of timidity. In retaliation, Charles withdrew his forces
from Switzerland on 20 August, leaving General Korsakov's 30,000 Russians
in Zurich without Austrian support.

Upon discovering the Allied plans, General Masséna abandoned the Limmat
River and withdrew into Zurich, only to abandon it days later in the face of a
Russian advance. When Korsakov arrived on 14 September, Masséna's army
was waiting in the hills above Zurich, harassing his men with constant
skirmishes. On 25 September, Masséna launched a surprise attack, capturing
Zurich's bridges and seizing most of the city by nightfall. The next day, he
shattered Korsakov's army at the Second Battle of Zurich (26 September),
killing and wounding 8,000 Russians while capturing 2,000 more.
Meanwhile, General Suvorov entered Switzerland from Italy, only to be
attacked by the French while traversing the Saint Gotthard Pass. By the time
he arrived outside Zurich on 1 October, he had learned that Korsakov's army
had been defeated and that Masséna's French were waiting for him. Suvorov
withdrew and began a grueling journey through the mountains with the
French in hot pursuit. He finally crossed into Austria on 10 October, losing
5,000 men in the process. While the brilliant Russian general had achieved
success in Italy, his one foray into Switzerland ended in disaster.

Netherlands Campaign & End of the War

The defeat at Zurich prompted Emperor Paul I to withdraw from the Second
Coalition and recall his troops, leaving the Allies with little to no hope of
victory. As a last-ditch effort, Britain launched an amphibious invasion of the
Netherlands with the aim of restoring the Dutch monarchy. On 27 August
1799, a British-Russian force of 32,000 men landed at Den Helder and
quickly captured the Dutch fleet. This allowed the British to ferry another
12,000 men into the Netherlands, bringing their total strength to 44,000. On
19 September, a combined French-Dutch army attempted to repel the Allies
at Bergen but was driven off. Despite this early success, the Allies found
themselves unable to dislodge the French-Dutch army from its defenses at
Alkmaar and Bergen. After two inconclusive battles on 2 and 6 October, the
Allies withdrew to Den Helder and began negotiating for an armistice. By 19
November, the Allied army had evacuated to Britain. While Britain retained
control of the Dutch fleet, the Dutch Republic was spared the destruction of
its government and military. The Allies' final defeat in the Netherlands and
the signing of the treaty of Amiens marked the end of the War of the Second
Coalition.

Consequences of the War

Although the War of the Second Coalition ended in a stalemate, it had

significant consequences for the balance of power in Europe. The French
Republic emerged from the war with its influence over Europe intact, and the
Treaty of Lunéville (1801) confirmed French control over the Rhineland and
northern Italy. The war also led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte as a
political and military leader. His victories in Italy and Egypt solidified his
reputation as a brilliant general, and he capitalized on his popularity to stage
a coup in November 1799, establishing himself as First Consul of France.
This marked the beginning of the Napoleonic era, during which France would
continue to challenge the established order in Europe. Meanwhile, the
collapse of the Second Coalition left Britain as the only major power still at
war with France, setting the stage for the prolonged conflict between these
two nations that would dominate the early 19th century.
Prelude to the Napoleanic wars
Britain was irritated by a number of French actions following the Treaty of
Amiens. Bonaparte had annexed Piedmont and Elba, made himself President
of the Italian Republic, a state in northern Italy that France had set up, and
failed to evacuate Holland. France continued to interfere with British trade
despite peace having been made and complained about Britain harboring
certain individuals and not cracking down on their anti-French press.

Malta had been captured by Britain during the war and was subject to an
complex arrangement in the 10th article of the Treaty of Amiens where it was
to be restored to the Knights of St. John with a Neapolitan garrison and
placed under the guarantee of third powers. However, the weakening of the
Knights of St. John by the confiscation of their assets in France and Spain
along with delays in obtaining guarantees prevented the British from
evacuating it after three months as stipulated in the treaty.

The Helvetian Republic had been set up by France when they invaded
Switzerland in 1798. France had withdrawn its troops, but violent strife
subsequently broke out against the government, which many Swiss saw as
overly centralized. Alarmed, Bonaparte reoccupied the country in October
1802 and imposed a compromise settlement. This action caused widespread
outrage in Britain, who protested this as violation of the Treaty of Luneville.
Although continental powers were unprepared to act, the British decided to
send an agent who would help the Swiss obtain supplies, and also sent orders
for their military not to return Cape Colony to Holland as they had committed
to do so in the Treaty of Amiens.

Swiss resistance collapsed, however, before anything could be accomplished

and after a month Britain countermanded the orders not to restore Cape
Colony. At the same time Russia finally joined the guarantee with regards to
Malta. Concerned that there would be hostilities when Bonaparte found out
that Cape Colony had been retained, the British began to deliberately
procrastinate on the evacuation of Malta. In January 1803 an official
government paper in France published a report from a commercial agent
which noted the ease with which Egypt could be conquered. The British
seized on this to demand some sort of satisfaction and security before
evacuating Malta, which was a convenient stepping stone to Egypt. France
disclaimed any desire to seize Egypt and asked what sort of satisfaction was
required but the British were unable to give a response.

There was still no thought of going to war, Prime Minister Addington

publicly affirmed Britain was in a state of profound peace.

In early March 1803 the Addington ministry received word that Cape Colony
had been re-occupied by the British army in accordance with the orders
which had subsequently been countermanded. On 8 March they ordered
military preparations to guard against possible French retaliation, but publicly
justified them by falsely claiming that it was only in response to French
preparations and that they were conducting serious negotiations with France.
In a few days it was known that Cape Colony had been surrendered in
accordance with the counter-orders, but it was too late. Bonaparte berated the
British ambassador in front of 200 spectators over its unjustified military
preparations.

The Addington ministry realized they would face an inquiry over their false
reasons for the military preparations, and during the month of April
unsuccessfully attempted to secure the support of William Pitt the Younger to
shield them from damage. That same month the ministry suddenly issued an
ultimatum to France demanding the retention of Malta for at least ten years,
the permanent acquisition of the island of Lampedusa from the Kingdom of
Sicily, and the evacuation of Holland. In addition they offered to recognize
French gains in Italy if they evacuated Switzerland and compensated the
King of Sardinia for his territorial losses. France offered to place Malta in the
hands of Russia to satisfy British concerns, pull out of Holland when Malta
was evacuated, and form a convention to give satisfaction to Britain on other
issues. The British falsely denied that Russia had made an offer and their
ambassador left Paris. Desperate to avoid war Bonaparte sent a secret offer
which he agreed to let Britain retain Malta if France could occupy the Otranto
peninsula in Naples. All efforts were futile and Britain declared war on 18
May 1803.

Key Events Leading to Napoleans

Corranation
25/2/1803: Reichsdeputationshauptschluss

●​ A major reorganization of the German territories within the Holy

Roman Empire, implemented by the Imperial Deputation. It resulted in
the secularization of numerous ecclesiastical states and the
consolidation of smaller secular states into larger entities.

11/5/1803: Rupture of the Peace of Amiens

●​ France rejected the British ultimatum to evacuate Holland, leading to

the breakdown of the Peace of Amiens.

18/5/1803: Britain Declares War on France

●​ Following the collapse of the Peace of Amiens, Britain officially

declared war on France, resuming hostilities.

26/5/1803: French Troops Enter Hanover

●​ French forces occupied Hanover, a significant move in Napoleon's

strategy to control key territories in Europe.

14/6/1803: French Forces Enter Naples

●​ French troops entered Naples to occupy the Puglia region, further

expanding French influence in Italy.
15/6/1803: Massing of French Army at Boulogne

●​ Napoleon began concentrating his army at Boulogne, preparing for a

potential invasion of England.

21/6/1803: British Forces Capture Santa Lucia

●​ British forces captured the Caribbean island of Santa Lucia from the
French.

25/6/1803: Batavian Republic Signs Treaty with France

●​ The Batavian Republic (Netherlands) signed a treaty of alliance with

France, solidifying their support for Napoleon.

30/6/1803: British Capture Tobago

●​ British forces captured the island of Tobago in the Caribbean from the
French.

30/6/1803: War Breaks Out in India

●​ Hostilities began between British forces and the French-backed

Maratha Confederacy in India.

1/7/1803: Concentration of Army and Fleet

●​ Napoleon amassed an army and fleet along the Baltic Sea coast, from
Boulogne to Anvers, in preparation for an invasion of Britain.

11/9/1803: Lake Defeats Marathas

●​ General Gerard Lake defeated the Maratha forces in India, weakening

French influence in the region.

20/9/1803: British Capture Demerara and Essequibo

 ●​ British forces captured the Dutch colonies of Demerara and Essequibo
in South America.

23/9/1803: Wellington Defeats Marathas at Assaye

●​ Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) achieved a significant

victory over the Marathas at the Battle of Assaye in India.

1/11/1803: Lake Defeats Marathas at Laswari

●​ General Lake secured another victory over the Marathas at the Battle of
Laswari.

28/11/1803: Wellington Defeats Marathas at Argaon

●​ Arthur Wellesley achieved another victory over the Marathas at the

Battle of Argaon.

5/10/1803: British Attack Spanish Treasure Fleet

●​ British ships attacked a Spanish treasure fleet, escalating tensions with

Spain.

6/11/1803: Austro-Russian Defense Agreement Signed

●​ Austria and Russia signed a defense agreement, aiming to counter

French aggression.

French Garrison Capitulates in Sainte Domingue

●​ The French garrison in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) capitulated to the

British at Cap-Français.

15/3/1804: Arrest of the Duc d'Enghien

●​ Napoleon ordered the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien, a Bourbon prince,

who was subsequently executed for alleged involvement in a royalist
plot.
16/3/1804: Serbian Uprising

●​ After two years of unrest, Serbs rose against their Janissary governors
in defense of the rights of Sultan Selim III, leading to the siege of
Belgrade.

29/4/1804: British Land in Surinam

●​ British forces landed in Surinam (Dutch Guiana) as part of their

strategy to capture Dutch colonies.

5/5/1804: Capitulation of Surinam

●​ The Dutch garrison in Surinam capitulated to British forces.

18/5/1804: Introduction of the Hereditary Empire

●​ The French Senate declared Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the

French, establishing the hereditary empire (Erbkaisertum).

19/5/1804: Creation of the First Eighteen Marshals

●​ Napoleon appointed the first eighteen Marshals of the Empire,

solidifying his control over the military.

25/5/1804: Annexation of the Ligurian Republic

●​ France annexed the Ligurian Republic (Genoa), expanding its territory

in Italy.

5/8/1804: Serbs Take Belgrade

●​ Serbian forces captured Belgrade, demanding greater autonomy while

allowing the Ottomans to install a garrison.

7/9/1804: Triumphant Tour through Belgium and the Rhineland

 ●​ Napoleon undertook a tour through Belgium and the Rhineland,
visiting significant locations such as the tomb of Charlemagne at
Aix-la-Chapelle, and strengthening alliances with Bavaria and
Württemberg.

2/12/1804: Napoleon's Coronation

●​ Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in a grand ceremony

at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, with Pope Pius VII officiating.
This event marked the formal establishment of the First French Empire.

Alliances in the Napoleanic wars

Allies of France

●​ France: under Napoleon, widespread influence in Europe.

●​ Batavian Republic (Netherlands): Allied with France.

●​ Satellite Countries: Cisalpine Republic, Helvetic Republic, Ligurian

Republic under France

●​ Spain: Tensions with Britain but not actively involved in a coalition

against France at this time.

Alliance against France:

●​ Great Britain: Led resistance against French expansionism, saved

the colonies and fixed defenses.
●​ Austria and Russia: preparing for possible conflict with France,
signing defense treaties.

●​ Ottoman Empire: Concerned about regional stability, especially the

Serbian rebellion.