French Revolutionary Wars facts for kids

Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David. In one of the famous paintings of Napoleon, the Consul and his army are depicted crossing the Swiss Alps on their way to Italy. The daring maneuver surprised the Austrians and forced a decisive engagement at Marengo in June 1800. Victory there allowed Napoleon to strengthen his political position back in France.

The French Revolutionary Wars consisted of conflicts between 1792 and 1802; there was fighting between French Revolutionary government and several European states. Characterized by French Revolutionary fervour and military innovations, campaigns saw French Revolutionary Armies take out a number of opposing coalitions and expand French control into the Low Countries, Italy and the Rhineland. These wars involved huge numbers of soldiers owing into applications of modern mass conscription. The wars are divided between First Coalition (1792 to 1797) and the Second (1798 to 1801), although France was under war with Great Britain constantly from 1793 until 1802. Hostilities ceased with Treaty of Amiens 1802, though conflicts soon flared up again with the Napoleonic War.

Images for kids

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  General Jourdan at the battle of Fleurus, 26 June 1794

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  General Bonaparte and his troops crossing the bridge of Arcole

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  General Moreau at the Battle of Hohenlinden, a decisive French victory in Bavaria which precipitated the end of the Revolutionary Wars

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  The armies of the Revolution at Jemappes in 1792. With chaos internally and enemies on the borders, the French were in a period of uncertainty during the early years of the Revolutionary Wars. By 1797, however, France dominated much of Western Europe, conquering the Rhineland, the Netherlands, and the Italian peninsula while erecting a series of sister republics and puppet states stretching from Spain to the German heartland.

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  In July 1798, French forces under Napoleon annihilated an Egyptian army at the Battle of the Pyramids. The victory facilitated the conquest of Egypt and remains one of the most important battles of the era.