I.

Introduction

French Revolutionary Wars, the title given to the series of conflicts that broke out in Europe in 1792 in the wake of the French Revolution and that raged unabated for the next ten years. Finally brought to an end by the Treaty of Amiens in May 1802, they saw France ranged against two different coalitions of which the first survived from 1792 to 1797 and the second from 1798 to 1801. At no time, however, were these alliances static in their make-up. At the beginning of the War of the First Coalition in April 1792, France faced Austria and Prussia alone, but in 1793 these two powers were joined by Britain, Spain, Portugal, the United Provinces (or Netherlands), most of the minor states of Germany and Italy and, in theory, Russia. Yet by 1797 only Austria and Britain remained at war with the French, and in that year even the former was also forced to make peace. And, as for the War of the First Coalition, so for the War of the Second Coalition. In 1798, France faced Britain—the only power to remain continuously at war with France once it had entered the conflict—Naples, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire; in 1799 this array was joined by Austria; and in 1800 Russia suddenly abandoned her allies and switched to a policy of neutrality. Nor was France fighting alone. Thanks to the conquests of its armies, it was able to establish a variety of satellite states in the Low Countries, Switzerland, and Italy, and in 1796 it was voluntarily joined by Spain.