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73-664: Numerous suggestions had been made for the use of balloons during the French Revolutionary Wars , and in 1793 the Committee of Public Safety began testing their potential. Initial tests of airship designs proved unsatisfactory. However, experiments conducted near the Tuileries from September to October 1793 to produce the required hydrogen without the use of sulphuric acid , which was in short supply, were successful, producing more than 20 cubic metres. As

146-905: A Prussian counter-attack in September. Otherwise this sector of the front was largely quiet over the course of the year. At sea, the French Atlantic Fleet succeeded in holding off a British attempt to interdict a vital cereal convoy from the United States on the Glorious First of June , though at the cost of one quarter of its strength. In the Caribbean, the British fleet landed in Martinique in February, taking

219-480: A crowd stormed the Tuileries Palace , seizing the king and his family. The Commune of Paris later assumed the powers of the municipality. On 19 August 1792, the invasion by Brunswick's army commenced, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun . The invasion continued, but at Valmy on 20 September, the invaders came to a stalemate against Dumouriez and Kellermann in which

292-598: A global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian Peninsula , the Low Countries , and the Rhineland due to its very large and powerful military, which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and

365-570: A great victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter. Spain and Portugal entered the anti-French coalition in January 1793. Britain began military preparations in late 1792 and declared that war was inevitable unless France gave up its conquests, notwithstanding French assurances they would not attack Holland or annex

438-652: A result, the Committee determined to use this technique to float tethered balloons. At the end of October 1793, chemist Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle and his assistant, the engineer Nicolas Lhomond , were sent to join the Army of the North , with 50,000 livre to acquire equipment. They were given a letter from Lazare Carnot commending them to General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and representative Ernest Dominique François Joseph Duquesnoy , which informed them that "Citizen Coutelle

511-552: A second aerostatic company had been passed, to be trained at Meudon by Conté. It was provided with two new balloons, Hercule and L'Intrépide , and in March 1795 it was attached to the Army of the Rhine . Coutelle was recalled in order to head the new company, Lhomond being promoted to captain of the first company, while Conté remained at Meudon. In October, he was made head of a new school of ballooning, where replacement soldiers for

584-662: A series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain , Austria , Prussia , Russia , and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed

657-732: A year, French armies under Napoleon destroyed the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching toward Vienna , the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio , ending the First Coalition against the Republic. The War of the Second Coalition began in 1798 with the French invasion of Egypt , headed by Napoleon. The Allies took

730-621: Is not a charlatan". However, on arrival, Jourdan ridiculed the project, ordering Coutelle back to Paris , with the message that an Austrian attack was imminent, and a battalion was required, not a balloon. Back in Paris, the Committee of Public Safety ordered further tests on the balloon technology, to be conducted at the Chateau de Meudon , where the Aerostatic Development Centre was founded. Nicolas-Jacques Conté led

803-458: The Apennines near Altare to attack the enemy position of Ceva . The Montenotte Campaign opened after Johann Beaulieu 's Austrian forces attacked the extreme French eastern flank near Genoa on 10 April. Bonaparte countered by attacking and crushing the isolated right wing of the allied armies at the Battle of Montenotte on 12 April. The next day he defeated an Austro-Sardinian force at

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876-695: The Army of the North and the Army of the Center (name changed in October 1792 to Army of the Moselle ). These armies were subdivided, fresh forces were raised and gradually grew until, by 30 April 1793, eleven armies encircled France on its coastal and the land frontiers. In October 1792, a portion of the army was used to form the Army of the Vosges but these units rejoined the Army of the Rhine on 15 March 1793. In

949-590: The Battle of Arcole southeast of Verona . The French then turned on Davidovich in great strength and chased him into the Tyrol. Wurmser's only sortie was late and ineffectual. The rebellion in the Vendée was also finally crushed in 1796 by Hoche , but Hoche's attempt to land a large invasion force in Ireland was unsuccessful. On 14 February, British admiral Jervis met and defeated a Spanish fleet off Portugal at

1022-643: The Battle of Cape St. Vincent . This prevented the Spanish fleet from rendezvousing with the French, removing a threat of invasion to Britain. However, the British fleet was weakened over the rest of the year by the Spithead and Nore mutinies , which kept many ships in port through the summer. On 22 February French invasion force consisting of 1,400 troops from the La Legion Noire (The Black Legion) under

1095-614: The Battle of Millesimo . He then won a victory at the Second Battle of Dego , driving the Austrians northeast, away from their Piedmontese allies. Satisfied that the Austrians were temporarily inert, Bonaparte harried Michelangelo Colli 's Piedmontese at Ceva and San Michele Mondovi before whipping them at the Battle of Mondovì . A week later, on 28 April, the Piedmontese signed the Armistice of Cherasco , withdrawing from

1168-465: The Battle of Rovereto . Then he followed Wurmser down the Brenta valley, to fall upon and defeat the Austrians at the Battle of Bassano on 8 September. Wurmser elected to march for Mantua with a large portion of his surviving troops. The Austrians evaded Bonaparte's attempts to intercept them but were driven into the city after a pitched battle on 15 September. This left nearly 30,000 Austrians trapped in

1241-580: The Battle of Valmy in September. This victory emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy . A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793. The French suffered additional defeats in the remainder of the year and these difficult times allowed the Jacobins to rise to power and impose the Reign of Terror to unify

1314-474: The Declaration of Pillnitz , which threatened severe consequences should anything happen to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette . After Austria refused to recall its troops from the French border and to back down on the perceived threat of using force, France declared war on Austria and Prussia in the spring of 1792; both countries responded with a coordinated invasion that was eventually turned back at

1387-1845: The Directory passed an act disbanding the balloon corps. The second company was immediately disbanded, but the first was still in action in Egypt and remained in existence until its return to France in 1802. French Revolutionary Wars First Coalition : French victory Second Coalition : French victory [REDACTED] Catholic and Royal Armies [REDACTED]   Holy Roman Empire [REDACTED]   Great Britain (until 1801) [REDACTED]   United Kingdom (from 1801) [REDACTED] Spain (1793–1795) [REDACTED]   Dutch Republic (1793–1795) [REDACTED]   Sardinia [REDACTED]   Old Swiss Confederacy (1798) [REDACTED]   Naples [REDACTED] Order of Saint John (1798) [REDACTED] Malta (1798–1800) [REDACTED]   Ottoman Empire [REDACTED] Portugal [REDACTED]   Russia (1799) Other Italian states [REDACTED] Southern Netherlands peasants ( Peasants' War ) [REDACTED] Saint-Domingue rebels ( Haitian Revolution ) (1791–94) [REDACTED] Kingdom of France (until 1792) [REDACTED] French Republic (from 1792) [REDACTED] Louis XVI   [REDACTED] Austrians (1792–97) 94,700 killed in action 100,000 wounded 220,000 captured Italian campaign of 1796–97 27,000 allied soldiers killed Unknown wounded 160,000 captured 1,600 guns French (1792–97) 100,000 killed in action 150,000 captured Italian campaign of 1796–97 45,000 killed, wounded or captured (10,000 killed) The French Revolutionary Wars ( French : Guerres de la Révolution française ) were

1460-645: The Flanders Campaign , the Austrians and French both prepared offensives in Belgium, with the Austrians besieging Landrecies and advancing towards Mons and Maubeuge . The French prepared an offensive on multiple fronts, with two armies in Flanders under Pichegru and Moreau , and Jourdan attacking from the German border. The French withstood several damaging but inconclusive actions before regaining

1533-687: The Mediterranean and weakening the French Navy. Napoleon's arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire , with Napoleon installing himself as Consul . Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This brought a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, after which

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1606-453: The Army of the Moselle united with the Army of the Rhine on 20 April, to form the Army of the Rhine and Moselle . This army united with the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse to form the Army of Germany on 29 September 1797. In its five-year history, the Army had several Orders of Battle. This is the OOB at the beginning of the 1793 campaign. Positioned at Bingen . Stability of command of

1679-482: The Army of the North, and Custine replaced him as overall commander of the Army of the Rhine in Spring 1793. Under his experienced command, the Army took several important positions on the Rhine, including at Speyer, Mainz, Limburg and Frankfurt (see chart of battles below). On 29 December 1794, the left wing of the Army and the right wing of the Army of the Moselle combined to form the Army besieging Mainz. The rest of

1752-678: The Army of the Rhine reflected the overall chaos of the French Revolutionary governments, especially in the years 1791–1794. Four of the generals serving in those years were guillotined (see chart below). An army of the Bourbon Restoration bore this name. In 1815 during the Hundred Days the V Corps – Armée du Rhin under the command of General Jean Rapp , was cantoned near Strassburg , and fought holding actions against contingents of Russians and Austrians,

1825-534: The Army of the Rhine"), and dedicated the song to Marshal Nicolas Luckner , a Bavarian in French service. The melody soon became the rallying call to the Revolution: Allons enfants de la Patrie (Arise, children of the Fatherland)/ Le jour de gloire est arrivé! (The day of glory has arrived!). It was renamed " La Marseillaise ". The French government ordered Luckner to take command of

1898-538: The Austrians withdrew from the peninsula once again. Another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, Britain found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleon's government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. However,

1971-583: The French armies. On the Alpine frontier, there was little change, with the French invasion of Piedmont failing. On the Spanish border, the French under General Dugommier rallied from their defensive positions at Bayonne and Perpignan , driving the Spanish out of Roussillon and invading Catalonia . Dugommier was killed in the Battle of the Black Mountain in November. On the northern front in

2044-561: The French king's cousin, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé , the leader of an émigré corps within the Allied army , which declared the Allies' 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 . This, however, had the effect of strengthening the resolve of the revolutionary army and government to oppose them by any means necessary. On 10 August,

2117-461: The French took Milan . Bonaparte then advanced eastwards again, drove off the Austrians in the Battle of Borghetto and in June began the Siege of Mantua . Mantua was the strongest Austrian base in Italy. Meanwhile, the Austrians retreated north into the foothills of the Tyrol. During July and August, Austria sent a fresh army into Italy under Dagobert Wurmser . Wurmser attacked toward Mantua along

2190-546: The French. The Dutch fleet was captured , and the stadtholder William V fled to be replaced by a popular Batavian Republic , a sister republic which supported the revolutionary cause and signed a treaty with the French, ceding the territories of North Brabant and Maastricht to France on 16 May. With the Netherlands falling, Prussia also decided to leave the coalition, signing the Peace of Basel on 6 April, ceding

2263-482: The Habsburgs and their allies. At Mons (18–29 April 1792), Tournay (29 April 1792), Bavay (17 May 1792), Rumegies (19 May 1792), Florennes 28 May 1792, and La Glisuelle, a village 5 kilometers (3 mi) north of Maubeuge (11 June 1792), Austrian skirmishers repeatedly defeated French forces. Although much of the spring and summer of 1792 action continued throughout in the border regions with Belgium,

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2336-489: The Italian peninsula. The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine, and Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up in Tyrol and march on Vienna . Jourdan and Moreau advanced rapidly into Germany, and Moreau had reached Bavaria and the edge of Tyrol by September, but Jourdan was defeated by Archduke Charles at Amberg , and both armies were forced to retreat back across

2409-549: The Low Countries. Britain expelled the French ambassador following the execution of Louis XVI and on 1 February, France responded by declaring war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic . France drafted hundreds of thousands of men , beginning a policy of using mass conscription to deploy more of its manpower than the autocratic states could manage to do (first stage, with a decree of 24 February 1793 ordering

2482-637: The Pillnitz Declaration as a non-committal gesture to placate the sentiments of French monarchists and nobles, it was seen in France as a serious threat and was denounced by the revolutionary leaders. France eventually issued an ultimatum demanding that Leopold renounce any hostile alliances and withdraw his troops from the French border. The reply was evasive, and the French Assembly voted for war on 20 April 1792 against Francis II ,

2555-565: The Revolution with equanimity, but became more disturbed as the Revolution became more radical, although he still hoped to avoid war. On 27 August 1791, Leopold and King Frederick William II of Prussia , in consultation with emigrant French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz , which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of King Louis XVI of France and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw

2628-658: The Rhine The Army of the Rhine ( French : Armée du Rhin ; German : Rheinarmee ) was formed in December 1791, for the purpose of bringing the French Revolution to the German states along the Rhine River . During its first year in action (1792), under command of Adam Philippe Custine , the Army of the Rhine participated in several victories, including Mainz , Frankfurt and Speyer. Subsequently,

2701-481: The Rhine. Napoleon, on the other hand, was completely successful in a daring invasion of Italy . He left Paris on 11 March for Nice to take over the weak and poorly supplied Army of Italy , arriving on 26 March. The army was already being reorganised and supplied when he arrived, and he found that the situation was rapidly improving. He was soon able to carry out the plan for the invasion of Italy that he had been advocating for years, which provided for an advance over

2774-711: The armies on the Pyrenees free to march east and reinforce the armies on the Alps , and the combined army overran Piedmont. Meanwhile, in Africa and Asia, the Dutch Cape Colony and Ceylon were invaded by the British. Meanwhile, Britain's attempt to reinforce the rebels in the Vendée by landing troops at Quiberon failed, and a conspiracy to overthrow the republican government from within ended when Napoleon Bonaparte 's garrison used cannon to fire grapeshot into

2847-497: The army underwent several reorganizations and merged with the Army of the Moselle to form the Army of the Rhine and Moselle on 20 April 1795. The Army of the Rhine ( Armée du Rhin ) was one of the main French Revolutionary armies operated in the Rhineland theater, principally in the Rhine River valley, from 1791 to 1795. At its creation, the Army of the Rhine had 88,390 men. It was formed on 14 December 1791, to defend France's eastern frontier in conjunction with two other armies,

2920-415: The attacking mob (which led to the establishment of the Directory ). On the Rhine frontier, General Pichegru , negotiating with the exiled Royalists , betrayed his army and forced the evacuation of Mannheim and the failure of the siege of Mainz by Jourdan . This was a moderate setback to the position of the French. In northern Italy, victory at the Battle of Loano in November gave France access to

2993-444: The cities along the Upper Rhine, especially the city of Strasbourg , felt under threat of invasion by the Habsburg armies massing on the east side of the Rhine River. On 25 April 1792, Philippe Friedrich Dietrich , mayor of Strasbourg , asked a guest, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle , to compose a song to rally against the Habsburg threat. That evening, Rouget de Lisle wrote "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" (English: "War Song for

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3066-402: The city ). Quasdanovich was overcome at Lonato on 3 August and Wurmser at Castiglione on 5 August. Wurmser retreated to the Tyrol, and Bonaparte resumed the siege. In September, Bonaparte marched north against Trento in Tyrol, but Wurmser had already marched toward Mantua by the Brenta valley, leaving Paul Davidovich 's force to hold off the French. Bonaparte overran the holding force at

3139-421: The command of Irish American Colonel William Tate landed near Fishguard (Wales). They were met by a quickly assembled group of around 500 British reservists , militia and sailors under the command of John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor . After brief clashes with the local civilian population and Lord Cawdor's forces on 23 February, Tate was forced into an unconditional surrender by 24 February. Army of

3212-419: The construction at Meudon of the Martial , a cylindrical balloon, which was supplied to the corps soon after the battle, but it proved too unstable for use. The corps followed the Army of the North into Belgium and was present at battles in Liege and Brussels , although they did not see action. With winter approaching, they constructed a balloon depot at Borcette near Aachen . On 23 June, an Act creating

3285-459: The corps envisaged three roles: reconnaissance, signalling and the distribution of propaganda . Coutelle was created captain, and Lhomond lieutenant. In May 1794, the new corps joined Jourdan's troops at Maubeuge , bringing one balloon: L'Entreprenant . They began by constructing a furnace , then extracting hydrogen. The first military use of the balloon was on 2 June, when it was used for reconnaissance during an enemy bombardment. On 22 June,

3358-455: The corps received orders to move the balloon to the plain of Fleurus, in front of the Austrian troops at Charleroi . This was achieved by twenty soldiers who dragged the inflated balloon across thirty miles of ground. For the three following days, an officer ascended to make further observations. On 26 June, the Battle of Fleurus was fought, and the balloon remained afloat for nine hours, during which Coutelle and Antoine Morlot took notes on

3431-431: The declaration of war, French soldiers deserted en masse and in one case murdered their general, Théobald Dillon . While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, a mostly Prussian Allied army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on the Rhine . The duke then issued a proclamation called the Brunswick Manifesto (July 1792), written by

3504-442: The draft of 300,000 men, followed by the general mobilization of all the young men able to be drafted, through the famous decree of 23 August 1793). Nonetheless, the Coalition allies launched a determined drive to invade France during the Flanders Campaign . France suffered severe reverses at first. They were driven out of the Austrian Netherlands, and serious revolts flared in the west and south of France. One of these, at Toulon ,

3577-422: The east side of Lake Garda , sending Peter Quasdanovich down the west side in an effort to envelop Bonaparte. Bonaparte exploited the Austrian mistake of dividing their forces to defeat them in detail, but in so doing, he abandoned the siege of Mantua, which held out for another six months ( Carl von Clausewitz mentioned in On War that the siege might have been able to be kept up if Bonaparte had circumvallated

3650-439: The end of the year, large new armies had turned back foreign invaders, and the Reign of Terror , a fierce policy of repression, had suppressed internal revolts. The French military was in the ascendant. Lazare Carnot , a scientist and prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety , organized the fourteen armies of the Republic , and was then nicknamed the Organizer of the Victory. The year 1794 brought increased success to

3723-427: The first months of fighting, victories for France were few. Although Custine had succeeded in driving the ecclesiastical authorities from the Swiss village of Porrentruy by 27 April 1792, this singular victory was accomplished largely through the enterprises of a local uprising assisted by some advanced guard and it was the last French victory for several weeks: subsequently, the borders of France had been assaulted by

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3796-451: The fortress. This number rapidly diminished due to disease, combat losses, and hunger. The Austrians sent yet another army under József Alvinczi against Bonaparte in November. Again the Austrians divided their effort, sending Davidovich's corps from the north while Alvinczi's main body attacked from the east. At first they proved victorious over the French at Bassano , Calliano , and Caldiero . But Bonaparte ultimately defeated Alvinczi in

3869-414: The highly professional French artillery distinguished itself. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it gave a great boost to French morale. Further, the Prussians, finding that the campaign had been longer and more costly than predicted, decided that the cost and risk of continued fighting was too great and, with winter approaching, they decided to retreat from France to preserve their army. The next day,

3942-426: The hostilities. On 18 May they signed the Treaty of Paris (1796) , ceding Savoy and Nice and allowing the French bases to be used against Austria. After a short pause, Napoleon carried out a brilliant flanking manoeuvre, and crossed the Po at Piacenza , nearly cutting the Austrian line of retreat. The Austrians escaped after the Battle of Fombio , but had their rear-guard mauled at Lodi on 10 May, after which

4015-405: The initiative at the battles of Tourcoing and Fleurus in June. The French armies drove the Austrians, British, and Dutch beyond the Rhine, occupying Belgium, the Rhineland , and the south of the Netherlands. On the middle Rhine front in July, General Michaud's Army of the Rhine attempted two offensives in July in the Vosges , the second of which was successful but not followed up, allowing for

4088-484: The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, and the Napoleonic Wars began over a year later with the formation of the Third Coalition , continuing the series of Coalition Wars . When the French Revolution started at the end of the 18th century the European continent had five great powers, these being Great Britain , France , Austria , Russia , and Prussia . Weak European states included Sweden , Spain , Poland , Holland , and Turkey . Western Germany

4161-439: The monarchy was formally abolished as the First Republic was declared (21 September 1792). Meanwhile, the French had been successful on several other fronts, occupying Savoy and Nice , which were parts of the Savoyard state , while General Custine invaded Germany, occupying several German towns along the Rhine and reaching as far as Frankfurt . Dumouriez went on the offensive in the Austrian Netherlands once again, winning

4234-431: The movements of the Austrian Army, dropping them to the ground for collection by the French Army, and also signalled messages using semaphore . The French won the Battle of Fleurus, but reports of the usefulness of the balloon corps varied. Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau , who had been present throughout the battle, strongly supported it, but Jourdan believed that it had contributed little. Guyton had already supervised

4307-517: The nation. In 1794, the situation improved dramatically for the French as huge victories at Fleurus against the Austrians and Dutch and at the Black Mountain against the Spanish signaled the start of a new stage in the wars. By 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic . The French also put Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel . A hitherto unknown general named Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796. In less than

4380-464: The opportunity presented by the French effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they gradually pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland – racking up victories at the battles of Magnano , Cassano , and Novi along the way. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, which caused Russia to drop out of

4453-499: The research, refining balloon shapes and materials, and also improving the hydrogen production process. This culminated in a series of ascensions, viewed by leading figures on the Committee, who passed an Act creating the Aerostatic Corps on 2 April 1794. The corps consisted of a captain and a lieutenant, a sergeant-major and sergeant, two corporals and twenty privates. All these men were required to have skills relevant to ballooning, such as chemistry or carpentry . The Act creating

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4526-428: The second company was attached to the reconstructed Army of Sambre-et-Meuse. Coutelle withdrew to Meudon, overcome by fever, and new commander Delaunay was unable to work with the new General, Lazare Hoche , who refused to let them participate in any action. The first company were released in April 1797, under the terms of the Treaty of Leoben , and petitioned for the reinstatement of Coutelle as their commander. This

4599-405: The short-lived Anglo-Corsican Kingdom . By the end of the year French armies had won victories on all fronts, and as the year closed they began advancing into the Netherlands. The year opened with French forces in the process of attacking the Dutch Republic in the middle of winter. The Dutch people rallied to the French call and started the Batavian Revolution . City after city was occupied by

4672-434: The spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. As early as 1791, the other monarchies of Europe looked with outrage at the revolution and its upheavals; and they considered whether they should intervene, either in support of King Louis XVI , to prevent the spread of revolution, or to take advantage of the chaos in France. Austria stationed significant troops on its French border and together with Prussia, issued

4745-422: The successor of Leopold II, after a long list of grievances presented by foreign minister Charles François Dumouriez . Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands , where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule as they had earlier in 1790 . However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the army, and the forces raised were insufficient for the invasion. Following

4818-410: The two companies were trained. The second company conducted ascensions at the Battle of Mainz , and were also active during the evacuation of Mannheim . For the winter, they established a base at Frankheim , then followed the Army north and conducted observations at Stuttgart , Rastatt and Donauwörth . Meanwhile, in 1795, the first company was transferred to the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse , which

4891-458: The war. Meanwhile, Napoleon's forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids , Mount Tabor , and Abukir . These victories in Egypt further enhanced Napoleon's popularity back in France, and he returned in triumph in the autumn of 1799, although the Egyptian campaign ultimately ended in failure. Furthermore, the Royal Navy had won the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of

4964-407: The west bank of the Rhine to France. This freed Prussia to finish the Third Partition of Poland . The French army in Spain advanced in Catalonia while taking Bilbao and Vitoria and marching toward Castile . By 10 July, Spain also decided to make peace, recognizing the revolutionary government and ceding the territory of Santo Domingo , but returning to the pre-war borders in Europe. This left

5037-487: The whole island by 24 March and holding it until the Treaty of Amiens , and in Guadeloupe in April, where they captured the island briefly but were driven out by Victor Hugues later in the year. In the Mediterranean, following the British evacuation of Toulon , the Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli agreed with admiral Samuel Hood to place Corsica under British protection in return for assistance capturing French garrisons at Saint-Florent , Bastia , and Calvi , creating

5110-456: Was divided into hundreds of tiny principalities, cities, and minor states, some of which were independents while others were effectively controlled by Austria. The great powers had agrarian industries , except for Great Britain which was wealthy because of trade . The key figure in initial foreign reaction to the French Revolution was Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II , brother of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Leopold had initially looked on

5183-471: Was now led by Jourdan. They were not directly involved in any action, but Jourdan appears to have warmed to the balloonists, printing official correspondence forms depicting a balloon above his army. In September 1796, they were at the Battle of Würzburg when the French Army was defeated, and the entire company was taken captive with its balloon L'Intrépide , which is now on display at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna. Following this disaster,

5256-609: Was permitted; Coutelle was made a colonel, while Lhomond was promoted to major and permitted to remain second-in-command. In 1798, the company joined the Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt . On arrival, they decided to initially leave the ballooning equipment on their ship. This was destroyed in the Battle of the Nile , and the company was assigned to other duties. They were able to conduct a few demonstrations of more basic balloons for entertainment purposes. On 15 January 1799,

5329-409: Was the first serious taste of action for an unknown young artillery officer Napoleon Bonaparte . He contributed to the siege of the city and its harbour by planning an effective assault with well-placed artillery batteries raining projectiles down on rebel positions. This performance helped make his reputation as a capable tactician, and it fueled his meteoric rise to military and political power. By

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