War of the First Coalition

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War of the First Coalition
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Valmy Battle painting.jpg
The Battle of Valmy was a decisive victory for the French revolutionary army.
Date 1792–1797
Location France, Central Europe, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, West Indies
Result French victory; Peace of Basel, Treaty of Campo Formio
First Coalition:

 Habsburg Monarchy
 Holy Roman Empire[1]
 Prussia (until 1795)[2]
 Great Britain
Kingdom of France French Royalists
 Spain (until 1795)[3]
 Sardinia (until 1796)[4]
 Naples and Sicily
Other Italian states[5]
 Dutch Republic (until 1795)[6]

 Spain (from 1796)[7]
 Batavian Republic (from 1795)[8]
Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) French satellite states
POL COA Ciołek.svg Polish Legions (from 1797)[9]

The War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to defeat Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.

These powers initiated a series of invasions of France by land and sea, with Prussia and Austria attacking from the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhine, and Great Britain supporting revolts in provincial France and laying siege to Toulon. France suffered reverses (Battle of Neerwinden, 18 March 1793) and internal strife (Revolt in the Vendée), and responded with extreme measures: the Committee of Public Safety formed (6 April 1793) and the levée en masse drafted all potential soldiers aged 18 to 25 (August 1793). The new French armies counter-attacked, repelled the invaders, and moved beyond France. French arms established the Batavian Republic as a satellite state (May 1795) and gained the Prussian Rhineland by the first Treaty of Basel. With the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Holy Roman Empire ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France and Northern Italy was turned into several French "Sister Republics". Spain made a separate peace accord with France (second Treaty of Basel) and the French Directory carried out plans to conquer more of Germany and northern Italy (1795).


Revolutionary violence in France[edit]



Early setbacks for France[edit]

Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion. The soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting en masse, and in one case murdering Théobald Dillon, their general.[11]

While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, an allied army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on the Rhine. In July 1792 the invasion commenced. Brunswick's army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, took the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun.[12] The Duke then issued a declaration on 25 July 1792, which had been written by the brothers of Louis XVI, that declared his [Brunswick's] intent to restore the King to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law.[11] This motivated the revolutionary army and government to oppose the invaders by any means necessary,[11] and led almost immediately to the overthrow of the King by a crowd which stormed the Tuileries Palace.[13]

Tide turns in France's direction[edit]

The invaders continued, but at Valmy on 20 September 1792 they came to a stalemate against Dumouriez and Kellermann in which the highly professional French artillery distinguished itself. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it gave a great boost to French morale. Furthermore, the Prussians, facing a campaign longer and more costly than predicted, decided against the cost and risk of continued fighting, and determined to retreat from France to preserve their army.[14]

Meanwhile, the French had been successful on several other fronts, occupying Savoy and Nice in Italy, while General Custine invaded Germany, capturing Speyer, Worms and Mainz along the Rhine, and reaching as far as Frankfurt. Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again, winning a great victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November 1792, and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter.[14]


On 21 January the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a trial.[15] This united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793 and soon afterwards against Spain. In the course of the year 1793 the Empire, the kings of Portugal and Naples and the grand-duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed.[16]

France introduced a new levy of hundreds of thousands of men, beginning a French policy of using mass conscription to deploy more of its manpower than the other states could,[14] and remaining on the offensive so that these mass armies could commandeer war material from the territory of their enemies. The French government sent Citizen Genet to the United States to encourage them into entering the war on France's side. The newly formed nation refused and remained neutral throughout the conflict.


1794 brought increased success to the revolutionary armies. Although an invasion of Piedmont failed,[citation needed] an invasion of Spain across the Pyrenees took San Sebastián, and the French won a victory at the Battle of Fleurus, occupying all of Belgium and the Rhineland.[14]

Action extended into the French colonies in the West Indies. A British fleet successfully captured Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadeloupe, although a French fleet arrived later in the year and recovered the latter.[17]


After seizing the Netherlands in a surprise winter attack, France established the Batavian Republic as a puppet state (Hannay 1911, p. 204). Even before the close of 1794 the king of Prussia retired from any active part in the war, and on the 5 April 1795 he concluded with France the Peace of Basel, which recognized France's occupation of the left bank of the Rhine. The new French-dominated Dutch government bought peace by surrendering Dutch territory to the south of that river. A treaty of peace between France and Spain followed in July. The grand duke of Tuscany had been admitted to terms in February. The coalition thus fell into ruin and France proper would be free from invasion for many years.[18]

Britain attempted to reinforce the rebels in the Vendée by landing French Royalist troops at Quiberon, but failed,[19] and attempts to overthrow the government at Paris by force were foiled by the military garrison led by Napoleon Bonaparte, leading to the establishment of the Directory.[20] [21]



Strategic situation in Europe in 1796

The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau on the Rhine, and Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up in Tyrol and march on Vienna.

In the Rhine Campaign of 1796, Jourdan and Moreau crossed the Rhine River and advanced into Germany. Jourdan advanced as far as Amberg in late August while Moreau reached Bavaria and the edge of Tyrol by September. However Jourdan was defeated by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and both armies were forced to retreat back across the Rhine.[22][23]

Napoleon, on the other hand, was completely successful in a daring invasion of Italy. In the Montenotte Campaign, he separated the armies of Sardinia and Austria, defeating each one in turn, and then forced a peace on Sardinia. Following this, his army captured Milan and started the Siege of Mantua. Bonaparte defeated successive Austrian armies sent against him under Johann Peter Beaulieu, Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser and József Alvinczi while continuing the siege.[23][22]

The rebellion in the Vendée was also finally crushed in 1796 by Louis Lazare Hoche.[23] Hoche's subsequent attempt to land a large invasion force in Munster to aid the United Irishmen was unsuccessful.[17]


On 2 February Napoleon finally captured Mantua,[24] with the Austrians surrendering 18,000 men. Archduke Charles of Austria was unable to stop Napoleon from invading the Tyrol, and the Austrian government sued for peace in April. At the same time there was a new French invasion of Germany under Moreau and Hoche.[24]


Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio in October,[24] ceding Belgium to France and recognizing French control of the Rhineland and much of Italy.[23] The ancient Republic of Venice was partitioned between Austria and France. This ended the War of the First Coalition, although Great Britain and France remained at war.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Nominally the Holy Roman Empire, of which the Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan were under direct Austrian rule. Also encompassed many other Italian states, as well as other Habsburg states such as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
  2. ^ Left the war after signing the Peace of Basel with France.
  3. ^ Left the war after signing the Peace of Basel with France.
  4. ^ Left the war after signing the Treaty of Paris with France.
  6. ^ The French Revolutionary Army overthrew the Dutch Republic and established the Batavian Republic as a puppet state in its place.
  9. ^ Formed in French-allied Italy in 1797, following the abolition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Third Partition in 1795.
  10. ^ a b Holland 1911, The king and the nonjurors.
  11. ^ a b c d Holland 1911, War declared against Austria.
  12. ^ Holland 1911, The revolutionary Commune of Paris.
  13. ^ Holland 1911, Rising of the 10th of August.
  14. ^ a b c d Holland 1911, Battle of Valmy.
  15. ^ Holland 1911, Trial and execution of Louis XVI.
  16. ^ One of more of the preceding sentences text from a publication now in the public domain: Holland 1911, Battle of Valmy
  17. ^ a b Hannay 1911, p. 204.
  18. ^ One of more of the preceding sentences text from a publication now in the public domain: Holland 1911, Progress of the war
  19. ^ Holland 1911, Progress of the war.
  20. ^ Holland 1911, Insurrection of 13 Vendémiaire.
  21. ^ Holland 1911, Character of the Directory.
  22. ^ a b c Hannay 1911, p. 182.
  23. ^ a b c d Holland 1911, Military triumphs under the Directory. Bonaparte.
  24. ^ a b c Hannay 1911, p. 193.


External links[edit]