First Coalition War
The First Coalition War was a military conflict pitting Revolutionary France against Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and Spain. The monarchies of these European powers attempted to put an end to the French Revolution and reestablish the absolute monarchy in France. It took place in Europe between 1792 and 1797, ending up with a French victory and the signature of the Treaty of Campo Formio on October 18, 1797.
The First Coalition War was part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It broke out in 1792, when these European monarchies launched an invasion of France by land and sea after the Brunswick Manifesto (an ultimatum sent by the coalition forces commander) had been turned down by the French Legislative Assembly; while Prussia and Austria attacked the French from the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhine, Great Britain laid siege to Toulon.
Although France suffered a series of setbacks at the beginning of the war, the French Revolutionary Army was able to turn the tide of the war in their favor. Thus, on September 20, 1792, the Austrian Army was defeated at the Battle of Valmy by the French forces, commanded by Charles Dumouriez. In August, 1793, the French Committee of Public Safety decided to draft all citizens aged 18 to 25. Then, the new French armies counter-attacked, repelling the invaders as they moved beyond France borders.
Although France was defeated at the Battle of Neerwinden in the Low Countries in 1793, the French Revolutionary Army managed to defeat their enemies in consecutive battles as France established the Batavian Republic (Holland) as a satellite state, in 1795. The French also obtained the Prussian Rhineland by the first Treaty of Basel. With the Treaty of Campo Formio, Austria ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France as Northern Italy was turned into several French Sister Republics. Napoleon played a key role as an artillery commander in the First Coalition War, specially during the First Italian Campaign where the French defeated the Austrians.
