French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

"Coalition Wars" redirects here. For the general concept of coalitions of co-belligerents, see coalition war.

Coalition Wars

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The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, sometimes called the Coalition Wars or the Great French War, were a series of seven wars waged by various military alliances of great European powers, known as Coalitions, against Revolutionary France between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars against the newly declared French Republic and from 1799 onwards the Napoleonic Wars against First Consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Coalition Wars were:

• War of the First Coalition (April 1792 – October 1797)
• War of the Second Coalition (1798 – 1802)
• War of the Third Coalition (1803 – 1806)
• War of the Fourth Coalition (October 1806 – July 1807)
• War of the Fifth Coalition (April – October 1809)
• War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814)
• War of the Seventh Coalition, also known as the Hundred Days (March – July 1815)

Terminology

Etymology

The term Coalition Wars encompasses both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, though, strictly speaking, it excludes conflicts like the French invasion of Switzerland that did not pit France against a coalition of powers.

One of the first usages of the term can be found in the 1803 Tribunat report, titled Résultats des guerres, des négociations et des traités qui ont préced́é et suivi la coalition contre la France ("Results of the Wars, Negotiations and Treaties that preceded and followed the Coalition against France"). About the situation in April 1793, when General Dumouriez had just been defeated at Neerwinden and defected to Austria, causing despair in France, it states: "Les événements de cette époque sont les plus pénibles à décrire de tous ceux qui ont signalé les guerres de la coalition." ("The events of that time are the most painful to describe of all those that marked the wars of the coalition.")

In January 1805, the Salzburger Intelligenzblatt was one of the first to number the Coalition Wars when it discussed "Das Staatsinteresse von Baiern bei dem dritten Koalitions-Kriege" ("The national interest of Bavaria in the Third Coalition War"). Although the Third Coalition had been formed by that time, war had not yet broken out; the Austrian newspaper discussed why the neighbouring Electorate of Bavaria was likely to side with the French Republic rather than the Austrian-led Coalition. On 30 September 1805, a few days after the launch of the Ulm Campaign, Emperor Napoleon addressed his troops in Strasbourg, starting his speech with the words: "Soldats, la guerre de la troisième coalition est commencée." ("Soldiers, the war of the third coalition has begun.")

Compared to other terms

The term is distinct from "French Revolutionary Wars", which covers any war involving Revolutionary France between 1792 and 1799, when Napoleon seized power with the Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), which is usually considered the end of the French Revolution. Since the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802) had already begun when Napoleon seized power, the war as a whole may or may not be counted amongst the French Revolutionary Wars, which therefore may end in 1799, 1801 (Treaty of Lunéville) or 1802 (Treaty of Amiens).

It also differs from "Napoleonic Wars", which is variously defined as covering any war involving France ruled by Napoleon between 1799 and 1815 (which includes the War of the Second Coalition, 1798–1802), or not commencing until the War of the Third Coalition (1803/05, depending on periodisation). In the latter case, historians do not term the War of the Second Coalition "Napoleonic", since Napoleon did not initiate it himself, but merely "inherited" it from the Revolutionary French Directory which he overthrew during the war.

Because it only pertains to wars involving any of the Coalition parties, not all wars counted amongst the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars are considered "Coalition Wars". For example, the French invasion of Switzerland (1798, between the First and Second Coalition), the Stecklikrieg (1802, between the Second and Third Coalition) and the French invasion of Russia (1812, between the Fifth and Sixth Coalition) were not "Coalition Wars", since France fought against a single opponent.

•       Phase
•       French victory
•       Anti-French victory
•       Indecisive/compromise
•       Coalition

Coalition parties

The main European powers who forged the various anti-French Coalitions were Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia, although except for Great Britain not all of them were involved in every Coalition. Smaller powers that occasionally joined the Coalitions include Spain, Naples, Piedmont–Sardinia, the Dutch Republic, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark–Norway and various German and Italian states. The First until Fifth Coalitions fell apart when one or more parties were defeated by France and were forced to leave the alliance, and sometimes became French allies; the Sixth and Seventh were dissolved after Napoleon was defeated in 1814 and 1815 and a new balance of power was established between the parties at the Congress of Vienna.

Members of each Coalition

Members	First (1792–1797)	Second (1798–1802)	Third (1803–1806)	Fourth (1806–1807)	Fifth (1809)	Sixth (1812–1814)	Seventh (1815)
Great Britain	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Holy Roman Empire (to 1806)	Yes	Yes	Yes (until Dec 1805)
Baden (from 1806)						Yes (from Oct 1813)
Bavaria (from 1806)						Yes (from Oct 1813)	Yes
Nassau (from 1806)							Yes
Saxony (from 1806)				Yes (until Dec 1806)		Yes (from Oct 1813)
Württemberg (from 1806)						Yes (from Oct 1813)
Black Brunswickers (from 1809)					Yes	Yes	Yes
Hanover (from 1814)							Yes
Austrian Empire (from 1804)			Yes (1805)		Yes	Yes	Yes
Prussia	Yes (until 1795)			Yes		Yes	Yes
Sardinia	Yes (until 1796)						Yes
Portugal	Yes	Yes (until 1801)			Yes	Yes	Yes
Spain	Yes (until 1795)				Yes	Yes	Yes
Ottoman Empire		Yes (until 1801)
Russia		Yes (until 1799)	Yes (1805)	Yes		Yes	Yes
Tuscany (to 1801 and from 1815)		Yes (until 1801)					Yes
Malta		Yes (1798–1800)
Order of St. John of Malta		Yes (1798)
Naples	Yes	Yes (until 1801)	Yes (from 1805)
Sicily			Yes (from 1806)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Netherlands	Yes (until 1795)					Yes	Yes
Sweden			Yes (from 1805)	Yes		Yes	Yes
Switzerland							Yes

Map of European belligerents, August 1813

  French Empire and allies

  Sixth Coalition and allies

See also

• Coalition forces of the Napoleonic Wars
• Ireland in the Coalition Wars