Search results
The French Revolutionary Wars ( French: Guerres de la Révolution française) were 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 ...
- 20 April 1792 – 27 March 1802, (9 years, 11 months, and 5 days)
- Overview
- Nature of the wars
French Revolutionary wars, title given to the hostilities between France and one or more European powers between 1792 and 1799. It thus comprises the first seven years of the period of warfare that was continued through the Napoleonic Wars until Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, with a year of interruption under the peace of Amiens (1802–03). The end ...
While warfare is generally undertaken for political reasons, the French Revolutionary wars were exceptional for the degree to which they were concerned with political considerations. They are associated above all with the appearance in France, and with the imposition by France on neighbouring states, of fundamental changes in the structure of the state and society. No other European wars have shown such intimacy with, or novelty in, political motives. The Napoleonic Wars, which grew out of those undertaken by the first French Republic, were characterized by the extent to which they retained and extended the political and social innovations of Revolutionary France. It will be seen that the political situation in Revolutionary France impelled the new government to make war on neighbouring states and that French Revolutionary doctrines as well as French expansionist policies encouraged these states to oppose France in the field. The course of the French military and foreign policy, furthermore, was greatly influenced by the continuation of an internal political and social revolution during hostilities, and in this too the continual interaction of political and military affairs presents a marked contrast with the Napoleonic Wars.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to lose sight of more conventional considerations in the motives and conduct of the belligerent powers. The leaders of the French Revolution took over and expanded traditional objectives of French foreign policy. Conversely, although the restoration of the ancien régime in France and its preservation in the rest of Europe was among the motives of the attack by France’s enemies, so often and so greatly did they allow this objective to be obscured by the demands of their traditional interests that it must be considered as subsidiary to their fundamental objectives in making war. The British especially, being geographically insulated and having a more liberal constitution than their Continental allies, were concerned far less with combating Revolutionary ideology than with preventing French attempts to create a Continental hegemony. In contracting a series of alliances with the powers of the First Coalition in 1793, Great Britain indeed insisted that they abandon their demands for a royalist restoration (virtually, unconditional surrender), so that ultimate war aims were left uncertain. The British sought to uphold a balance of power in Europe that would enable them to affirm their control of the seas, to extend their colonial conquests, and to achieve predominance as a trading and manufacturing nation both beyond Europe and on the Continent.
The wars of the Revolution and of the First Empire were the culmination of an intermittent Franco-British conflict that had begun with the War of the Grand Alliance and the War of the Spanish Succession. At its close Great Britain had succeeded in preventing France’s predominance in Europe and asserted British supremacy overseas. Great Britain, with a population not much more than one-third that of France in 1789, depended for its strength on preponderance in commerce and manufactures. Thus it remained preoccupied with the sources and maintenance of wealth, which required that military efforts should be concentrated on naval and colonial affairs. This diminished still further Great Britain’s ability to mount substantial operations in Europe; for this the Continental allies, immediately threatened by invasion and not lacking in military manpower, had to serve. Great Britain, however, saw that if the French could impose peace on their own terms on Europe, they would be free to mobilize their resources against the British at sea and in the colonies and to close the European markets essential to British commerce. Therefore Great Britain, alone of all the coalition powers ranged against France, remained at war for virtually the entire duration of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, pursuing a strategy dominated by maritime, colonial, and economic motives. The divergences in interests and objectives between the British and their European allies explain some of the dissensions which arose in the allied camp and also the hostility that Great Britain was to encounter among the neutral powers. By blockading French-held ports and issuing licences to control trade with the enemy bloc, the British advanced their own interests to the detriment or at least the expense of the neutrals. Thus, broadly speaking, throughout the wars from 1792 to 1815, Great Britain devoted the profits from an increasingly advantageous position in world trade to furthering the struggle with France, while the French, since they could not match British maritime power, were obliged to master Europe if they were to turn the tables on Great Britain strategically and economically.
Britannica Quiz
A History of War
During the period 1793–99, however, it was by no means certain that France would have to wait until Europe had been pacified before defeating Great Britain. For the first few years of the war the existing strength of the French fleet, if it could gain enough support from other states’ navies, seriously threatened to overcome the British naval supremacy. For some time Great Britain’s preoccupation with colonial warfare proved costly, comparatively unsuccessful, and, eventually, detrimental to the outcome of the war in Europe, where British land forces might have tipped the balance. Only twice in the Revolutionary wars did small British expeditionary forces fight in Europe, and then only in Holland, in 1794 and 1799. By 1796 some 60,000 British troops had fallen in largely indecisive fighting in the West Indies. Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington, would suffer fewer losses during his campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula (1808–14), which not only reconquered Spain and Portugal but also tied down a far larger number of French troops.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
People also ask
What were the French Revolutionary Wars?
Which countries fought in the French Revolution?
What happened during the French Revolutionary War?
Why did France win the Revolutionary War?
Aug 25, 2023 · The French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) were a series of conflicts that arose from the tensions surrounding the French Revolution (1789-1799). The wars were fought between Revolutionary France and several European powers, most notably Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, and Great Britain. Ten years of conflict resulted in a French victory and ...
Apr 19, 2024 · French Revolution, revolutionary movement that shook France between 1787 and 1799 and reached its first climax there in 1789—hence the conventional term ‘Revolution of 1789,’ denoting the end of the ancien regime in France and serving also to distinguish that event from the later French revolutions of 1830 and 1848.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- What was the French Revolution?The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1787 and ended in 1799. It sought to completely change the relationship b...
- Why did the French Revolution happen?There were many reasons. The bourgeoisie—merchants, manufacturers, professionals—had gained financial power but were excluded from political power....
- Why did the French Revolution lead to war with other nations?King Louis XVI of France yielded to the idea of a new constitution and to the sovereignty of the people but at the same time sent emissaries to the...
- How did the French Revolution succeed?In some respects, the French Revolution did not succeed. But the ideas of representational democracy and basic property rights took hold, and it so...
The French Revolution [a] was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789, and ended with the coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799 and the formation of the French Consulate. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, [1] while its values and institutions ...
- 5 May 1789 – 9 November 1799, (10 years, 6 months, and 4 days)
Nov 9, 2009 · The French Revolution was a watershed event in world history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, French citizens radically ...
Jan 12, 2023 · Definition. The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a period of major societal and political upheaval in France. It witnessed the collapse of the monarchy, the establishment of the First French Republic, and culminated in the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the start of the Napoleonic era. The French Revolution is considered one of the defining ...
