The French Revolutionary Wars

by FREMONT-BARNES, GREGORY

• ISBN13: 9781841762838
• ISBN10: 1841762830
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-09-25
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

Europe's great powers formed two powerful coalitions against France, yet force of numbers, superior leadership and the patriotic fervour of France's citizen-soldiers not only defeated each in turn, but closed the era of small, professional armies fighting for limited political objectives. This period produced commanders whose names remain a by-word for excellence in leadership to this day, Napoleon and Nelson. From Italy to Egypt Napoleon demonstrated his strategic genius and mastery of tactics in battles including Rivoli, the Pyramids and Marengo. Nelson's spectacular sea victories at the Nile and Copenhagen were foretastes of a century of British naval supremacy.

Author Biography

Gregory Fremont-Barnes was born in San Francisco and studied history at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Chicago and Oxford. Since 1993 he has lectured in British and American history in Japan, principally at Kobe University. He has published over ten articles on British diplomatic and military history.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(3)
Chronology	10	(2)
Background to war
Historical rivalries	12	(5)
Warring sides
Opposing strength	17	(2)
Outbreak
A clash of ideologies	19	(6)
The fighting
The first and second coalitions	25	(42)
Portrait of a sailor
A midshipman in the Royal Navy	67	(5)
William Dillon
The world around war
The impact of conflict	72	(6)
Portrait of a civilian
British Ambassadress at Naples	78	(4)
Emma Hamilton
How the war ended
Hohenlinden and Copenhagen	82	(3)
Conclusion and consequences	85	(8)
Further reading	93	(1)
Index	94