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Siege of Toulon

The Siege of Toulon (29 August to 19 December 1793) was a decisive military operation during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), conducted by a French Republican army to retake the port city of Toulon from rebels, who were supported by allied forces. The siege was a significant milestone in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).

A Republic in Danger

By the summer of 1793, the French Revolution (1789-1799) was moving in increasingly radical directions. The Kingdom of France had been abolished in favor of a French Republic, King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) had been deposed and executed, and the guillotine had become a permanent fixture on the Place de la Revolution in Paris. The fall of the Girondins on 2 June left the destiny of France solely in the hands of the extremist Jacobins, and those who did not share their radical views faced the prospect of being arrested and executed as suspected counter-revolutionaries.

This led to a rapid expansion of the list of France's enemies. Austria and Prussia, who had been at war with France since 1792, were joined the following February by Great Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic; these nations coalesced into an alliance later known as the First Coalition, their purpose being the destruction of France's insolent revolution. Internally, the Jacobins' radicalism had caused moderate parts of the country to rebel, as important cities like Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, and Toulon cast off their Jacobin administrations and renounced the authority of Paris. These federalist revolts threatened to unravel the infant French Republic from the inside even as the nations of Europe were slowly chipping away at France's frontier defenses. It was no exaggeration when the Republic's legislative body, the National Convention, announced that the patrie (fatherland) was in danger.

The Convention scraped together enough soldiers to put down the rebellions in the south and placed this force under the command of General Jean-François Carteaux, who had been a painter before the war. Carteaux advanced toward the federalist rebels of Marseille, who had seized the nearby city of Avignon. These rebels put up little opposition; Avignon fell to Carteaux on 25 July, and Marseille was recaptured a month later. The victorious Republicans flooded Marseille with Jacobin propaganda and guillotined the main perpetrators of the revolt. After pacifying Marseille, Carteaux prepared to march against Toulon, but before he left, he received dire news: the citizens of Toulon had handed over their city to the Coalition.

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[whencyclopedia]

Siege of Toulon

The Siege of Toulon (29 August to 19 December 1793) was a decisive military operation during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), conducted by a French Republican army to retake the port city of Toulon from rebels, who were supported by allied forces. The siege was a significant milestone in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).

Continue reading...