French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1792
Encyclopedia
The French Revolutionary Wars
began in 1792.
and other powers had allied themselves with Austria in the expectation of conflict, and thus France faced a coalition and not a single power at the moment when the "emigration
", the ferment of the Revolution
, and want of material and of funds had thoroughly disorganised her army.
The army behaved badly in the first engagements. Near Lille
(29 April) the French soldiers fled at sight of the Austrian outposts and murdered their general Théobald Dillon
, whom they accused of betraying them. The commanders-in-chief of the armies became political "suspects"; and before a serious action had been fought, the three armies commanded respectively by Rochambeau, Lafayette and Luckner
had been reorganized into two commanded by Dumouriez
and Kellermann
. Thus the disciplined soldiers of the Allies had apparently good reason to consider the campaign would be easy.
On the Rhine, a combined army of Prussians, Austrians, Hessians
and émigré
s under the Duke of Brunswick
was formed for the invasion of France, flanked by two smaller armies on its right and left, all three being under the supreme command of King Frederick William II of Prussia
. In the Southern Netherlands
, plans called for the Austrians to besiege Lille
, and in the south the Piedmontese also took the field.
The first step was the issue (25 July) of the Brunswick Manifesto, a proclamation which, couched in terms in the last degree offensive to the French nation, generated the spirit that was afterwards to find expression in the "armed nation" of 1793–1794, and sealed the fate of King Louis
. It was issued against the advice of Brunswick himself, whose signature appeared on it; the duke, a model sovereign in his own principality, sympathised with the constitutional side of the French Revolution, while as a soldier he had no confidence in the success of the enterprise.
After completing its preparations in the leisurely manner of the previous generation, his army crossed the French frontier on 19 August 1792. The Allies readily captured Longwy
and slowly marched on to Verdun, which appeared more indefensible even than Longwy. The commandant there, Colonel Beaurepaire, shot himself in despair, and the place surrendered on 3 September 1792.
Brunswick now began his march on Paris and approached the defiles
of the Argonne
. But Dumouriez, who had been training his raw troops at Valenciennes
in constant small engagements, with the purpose of invading Belgium, now threw himself into the Argonne by a rapid and daring flank march, almost under the eyes of the Prussian advance guard, and barred the Paris road, summoning Kellermann to his assistance from Metz
. Kellermann moved but slowly, and before he arrived the northern part of the line of defence had been forced. Dumouriez, undaunted, changed front so as to face north, with his right wing on the Argonne and his left stretching towards Châlons
, and in this position Kellermann joined him at Sainte-Menehould
on 19 September 1792.
Brunswick meanwhile had passed the northern defiles and had then swung round to cut off Dumouriez from Châlons. At the moment when the Prussian manoeuvre was nearly completed, Kellermann, commanding in Dumouriez's momentary absence, advanced his left wing and took up a position between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy
. The result was the world-renowned Cannonade of Valmy
(20 September 1792). Kellermann’s infantry, nearly all regulars, stood steady. The French artillery justified its reputation as the best in Europe, and eventually, with no more than a half-hearted infantry attack, the duke broke off the action and retired.
This seemingly minor engagement proved the turning point of the campaign and a watershed in world history. Ten days later, without firing another shot, the invading army began its retreat. Dumouriez did not press the pursuit seriously; he occupied himself chiefly with a series of subtle and curious negotiations which, with the general advance of the French troops, brought about the complete withdrawal of the enemy from the soil of France.
and Nice
.
Another French success was the daring expedition into Germany made by Custine
from Alsace
. Custine captured Mainz
on 21 October 1792 and penetrated as far as Frankfurt
.
In the north, the Austrian siege of Lille
had completely failed, and Dumouriez now resumed his interrupted scheme for the invasion of the Netherlands. Controlling enormously superior forces, he made his advance late in the season and surprised the Austrians. On 6 November he won the first great victory of the war at Jemappes
near Mons
and, this time advancing boldly, he overran the whole country from Namur
to Antwerp within a month.
Original text from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
began in 1792.
Preparations
France declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792. But PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and other powers had allied themselves with Austria in the expectation of conflict, and thus France faced a coalition and not a single power at the moment when the "emigration
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
", the ferment of the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and want of material and of funds had thoroughly disorganised her army.
The army behaved badly in the first engagements. Near Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
(29 April) the French soldiers fled at sight of the Austrian outposts and murdered their general Théobald Dillon
Théobald Dillon
Théobald Dillon was count of Dillon and an Irish-born general in the French army. He was the grandson of Arthur Dillon, the nephew of the bishop Arthur Richard Dillon and the cousin of general Arthur Dillon .On 29 April 1792, following the loss of a skirmish with Austrian forces, Dillon was...
, whom they accused of betraying them. The commanders-in-chief of the armies became political "suspects"; and before a serious action had been fought, the three armies commanded respectively by Rochambeau, Lafayette and Luckner
Nicolas Luckner
Nikolaus, Count Luckner was a German in French service who rose to become a Marshal of France. ....
had been reorganized into two commanded by Dumouriez
Charles François Dumouriez
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon.-Early life:Dumouriez...
and Kellermann
François Christophe Kellermann
François Christophe Kellermann or de Kellermann, 1st Duc de Valmy was a French military commander, later the Général d'Armée, and a Marshal of France...
. Thus the disciplined soldiers of the Allies had apparently good reason to consider the campaign would be easy.
On the Rhine, a combined army of Prussians, Austrians, Hessians
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
and émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s under the Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
was formed for the invasion of France, flanked by two smaller armies on its right and left, all three being under the supreme command of King Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
. In the Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...
, plans called for the Austrians to besiege Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, and in the south the Piedmontese also took the field.
The first step was the issue (25 July) of the Brunswick Manifesto, a proclamation which, couched in terms in the last degree offensive to the French nation, generated the spirit that was afterwards to find expression in the "armed nation" of 1793–1794, and sealed the fate of King Louis
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
. It was issued against the advice of Brunswick himself, whose signature appeared on it; the duke, a model sovereign in his own principality, sympathised with the constitutional side of the French Revolution, while as a soldier he had no confidence in the success of the enterprise.
Invasion
Longwy
Longwy is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.The inhabitants are known as Longoviciens.-Economy:Longwy has historically been an industrial center of the Lorraine iron mining district. The town is known for its artistic glazed pottery.-History:Longwy initially...
and slowly marched on to Verdun, which appeared more indefensible even than Longwy. The commandant there, Colonel Beaurepaire, shot himself in despair, and the place surrendered on 3 September 1792.
Brunswick now began his march on Paris and approached the defiles
Defile (geography)
Defile is a geographic term for a narrow pass or gorge between mountains or hills. It has its origins as a military description of a pass through which troops can march only in a narrow column or with a narrow front...
of the Argonne
Argonne
Argonne may refer to:*The Forest of Argonne in France*Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. D.O.E. National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois*Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of Argonne Forest, a World War I battle*Argonne, Wisconsin, a town, US...
. But Dumouriez, who had been training his raw troops at Valenciennes
Valenciennes
Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
in constant small engagements, with the purpose of invading Belgium, now threw himself into the Argonne by a rapid and daring flank march, almost under the eyes of the Prussian advance guard, and barred the Paris road, summoning Kellermann to his assistance from Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
. Kellermann moved but slowly, and before he arrived the northern part of the line of defence had been forced. Dumouriez, undaunted, changed front so as to face north, with his right wing on the Argonne and his left stretching towards Châlons
Chalons
Chalons may refer to:Places* Châlons, in France's Isère département* Châlons-en-Champagne, formerly Châlons-sur-Marne, in the Marne département* Chalon-sur-Saône, in the Saône-et-Loire département* Roman Catholic Diocese of Châlons...
, and in this position Kellermann joined him at Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.The town and its several restaurants pride themselves on serving a local specialty called pied de cochon or pig's trotters....
on 19 September 1792.
Brunswick meanwhile had passed the northern defiles and had then swung round to cut off Dumouriez from Châlons. At the moment when the Prussian manoeuvre was nearly completed, Kellermann, commanding in Dumouriez's momentary absence, advanced his left wing and took up a position between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy
Valmy
Valmy is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.-Geography:The town stands on the west flank of the Argonne massif, mid-way between Verdun and Paris, near Vouziers.-History:...
. The result was the world-renowned Cannonade of Valmy
Battle of Valmy
The Battle of Valmy was the first major victory by the army of France during the French Revolution. The action took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris...
(20 September 1792). Kellermann’s infantry, nearly all regulars, stood steady. The French artillery justified its reputation as the best in Europe, and eventually, with no more than a half-hearted infantry attack, the duke broke off the action and retired.
This seemingly minor engagement proved the turning point of the campaign and a watershed in world history. Ten days later, without firing another shot, the invading army began its retreat. Dumouriez did not press the pursuit seriously; he occupied himself chiefly with a series of subtle and curious negotiations which, with the general advance of the French troops, brought about the complete withdrawal of the enemy from the soil of France.
Other fronts
Meanwhile, the French forces in the south had driven back the Piedmontese and had conquered SavoySavoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
and Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
.
Another French success was the daring expedition into Germany made by Custine
Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine
Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine was a French general. Born in Metz, he began his military career as a captain in the Seven Years' War, where he learned to admire the modern military organisation of Prussia....
from Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
. Custine captured Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
on 21 October 1792 and penetrated as far as Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
.
In the north, the Austrian siege of Lille
Column of the Goddess
The Column of the Goddess is the popular name given by the citizens of Lille to the Memorial of the siege of 1792. The memorial is still in the center of the Grand' Place of Lille, and has been surrounded by a fountain since around 1990.-The Siege:The siege of September 1792 was one of the many...
had completely failed, and Dumouriez now resumed his interrupted scheme for the invasion of the Netherlands. Controlling enormously superior forces, he made his advance late in the season and surprised the Austrians. On 6 November he won the first great victory of the war at Jemappes
Battle of Jemappes
The Battle of Jemappes took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Belgium, near Mons. General Charles François Dumouriez, in command of the French Revolutionary Army, defeated the greatly outnumbered Austrian army of Field Marshal Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and his second-in-command...
near Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
and, this time advancing boldly, he overran the whole country from Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
to Antwerp within a month.
Cultural representations
- The situation of 1792, and the feeling of dire threat felt by the invaded French, are reflected in large parts of the wording of the French anthem "La Marseillaise", written at the time: Against us, tyranny/The bloodied banner has raised./Do you hear in the countryside/Those ferocious soldiers roaring?/They come up/To slit the throats of your sons and wives!
- Custine's invasion of the German Palatinate forms the background for Goethe's "Hermann and DorotheaHermann and DorotheaHermann and Dorothea is an epic poem, an idyll, written by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe between 1796 and 1797, and was to some extent suggested by Johann Heinrich Voss's Luise, an idyll in hexameters, first published in 1782-84...
", written a few years later. The epic poem's plot takes place in a small town near MainzMainzMainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, flooded by refugees who fled their villages on the western side of the Rhine in order to seek refuge from the French troops on the eastern side.
Original text from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica