The War of the Second Coalition (17981802) was the second war on revolutionary France by the

European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire,
Portugal and Naples. Their goal was to contain the spread of chaos from France, which was
bankrupt after its expenditures in support of the American War of Independence. They failed to
overthrow the revolutionary regime and French territorial gains since 1793 were conrmed. The
Allies formed a new alliance and attempted to roll back France's previous military conquests. The
Coalition did very well in 1799, but Russia pulled out. Napoleon took charge in France in late 1799,
and he and his generals defeated the Coalition. In the Treaty of Lunville in 1801, France held all of
its previous gains and obtained new lands in Tuscany, Italy, while Austria was granted Venetia and
the Dalmatian coast. Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, bringing an
interval of peace in Europe that lasted for 14 months. By May 1803 Britain and France were again at
war and in 1805 Britain assembled the Third Coalition to resume the war against France.
 War of the Second Coalition

Part of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Coalition Wars

Louis-Franois Lejeune: the Battle of Marengo

Date 17981802

Location Europe, Middle East, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea

Result French victory; Treaty of Lunville, Treaty of Amiens

Survival of the French Republic

Previous annexations by France conrmed

Hostilities resume in 1803 between France and Great Britain; Third Coalition later formed
against France

Belligerents

Second Coalition: France

Holy Roman Empire[1] Spain
Polish Legions
Austria
DenmarkNorway[2]
Great Britain (until 1801) French client republics:
United Kingdom (from 1801)
Russia (until 1799) Batavian Republic
Portugal
Helvetic Republic
Naples
Grand Duchy of Tuscany Cisalpine Republic
Order of Saint John (1798)
Roman Republic (until 1799)[3]
Ottoman Empire
French Royalists Parthenopaean Republic (1799)[4]
 United States
(Quasi-War) (until 1800)

Commanders and leaders

Francis II Paul Barras

(Until 1799)
William Pitt
(Until 1801) Napoleon Bonaparte
(From 1799)
Henry Addington
(From 1801) Charles IV

Paul I Christian VII

(Until 1799)

Mary I

Ferdinand IV

Ferdinand III

Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim

Selim III

John Adams

Strategic overview of operations in Europe and the Mediterranean in

17981799

Background
 Main articles: French Revolutionary Wars and War of the First Coalition

On 20April 1792, the French Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria. In this War of the First
Coalition (179297), France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water
borders with her, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. Although the Coalition forces achieved
several victories at the outset of the war, they were ultimately repulsed from French territory and
then lost signicant territories to the French, who began to set up client republics in their occupied
territories. The efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in the northern Italian campaigns of the French
Revolutionary Wars pushed Austrian forces back and resulted in the negotiation of the Peace of
Leoben (17April 1797) and the subsequent Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797).[5]

In the summer of 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte led an expedition to Egypt, where his army was trapped
and which, after he returned to France, surrendered. Meanwhile, during his absence from Europe, the
outbreak of violence in Switzerland drew French support against the old Swiss Confederation. When
revolutionaries overthrew the cantonal government in Bern, the French Army of the Alps invaded,
ostensibly to support the Swiss Republicans. In northern Italy, Russian general Aleksandr Suvorov
won a string of victories, driving the French under Moreau out of the Po Valley, forcing them back on
the French Alps and the coast around Genoa. However, the Russian armies in the Helvetic Republic
were defeated by French commander Andr Massna, and Suvorov eventually withdrew. Ultimately
the Russians left the Coalition when Great Britain insisted on the right to search all vessels it
stopped at sea. In Germany, Archduke Charles of Austria drove the French under Jean-Baptiste
Jourdan back across the Rhine and won several victories in Switzerland. Jourdan was replaced by
Massena, who then combined the Armies of the Danube and Helvetia.

Peace interrupted

For more details on this topic, see Mediterranean campaign of 1798.

From October 1797 until March 1799, the signatories of the Treaty of Campo Formio avoided armed
conict. Despite their agreement at Campo Formio, two primary combatants, France and Austria,
remained suspicious of each other and several diplomatic incidents undermined the agreement.
The French demanded additional territory not mentioned in the Treaty. The Habsburgs were
reluctant to hand over designated territories, much less additional ones. The Congress at Rastatt
proved inept at orchestrating the transfer of territories to compensate the German princes for their
losses. Ferdinand of Naples refused to pay tribute to France, followed by the Neapolitan rebellion
and the subsequent establishment of the Parthenopaean Republic. Republicans in the Swiss
cantons, supported by the French army, overthrew the central government in Bern and established
the Helvetic Republic.[6]
Other factors contributed to the rising tensions. On his way to Egypt, Napoleon had stopped at the
heavily fortied port city of Valletta. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim, who ruled
the island, would only allow two ships at a time into the harbor, in accordance with the island's
neutrality. Bonaparte immediately ordered the bombardment of Valletta and on 11 June, General
Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers directed a landing of several thousand French troops at strategic locations
around the island. The French Knights of the order deserted, and the remaining Knights failed to
mount a successful resistance. Bonaparte forcibly removed the other Knights from their
possessions, angering Paul, Tsar of Russia, who was the honorary head of the Order. The French
Directory, furthermore, was convinced that the Austrians were conniving to start another war.
Indeed, the weaker the French Republic seemed, the more seriously the Austrians, the Neapolitans,
the Russians and the British actually discussed this possibility.[7]

Preliminaries to war

Military planners in Paris understood that the northern Rhine Valley, the south-western German
territories, and Switzerland were strategically important for the defense of the Republic. The Swiss
passes commanded access to northern Italy; consequently, the army that held those passes could
move troops to and from northern and southern theaters quickly.[8]

Toward this end, in early November 1798, Jourdan arrived in Hningen to take command of the
French forces there, the so-called Army of Observation because its function was to observe the
security of the French border on the Rhine. Once there, he assessed the quality and disposition of
the forces and identied needed supplies and manpower. He found the army woefully inadequate
for its assignment. The Army of the Danube, and its two anking armies, the Army of Helvetia and
the Army of Mayence, or Mainz, were equally short of manpower, supplies, ammunition, and training;
most resources were already directed to the Army in Northern Italy, and Army of Britain, and the
Egyptian expedition. Jourdan documented assiduously these shortages, pointing out in lengthy
correspondence to the Directory the consequences of an under-manned and under-supplied army;
his petitions seemed to have little effect on the Directory, which sent neither signicant additional
manpower nor supplies.[9]

Jourdan's orders were to take the army into Germany and secure strategic positions, particularly on
the south-west roads through Stockach and Schaffhausen, at the western-most border of Lake
Constance. Similarly, as commander of the Army of Helvetia (Switzerland), Andre Massena would
acquire strategic positions in Switzerland, in particular the St. Gotthard Pass, the passes above
Feldkirch, particularly Maienfeld (St. Luciensteig), and hold the central plateau in and around Zrich
and Winterthur. These positions would prevent the Allies of the Second Coalition from moving
troops back and forth between the northern Italian and German theaters, but would allow French
access to these strategic passes. Ultimately, this positioning would allow the French to control all
western roads leading to and from Vienna. Finally, the army of Mayence would sweep through the
north, blocking further access to and from Vienna from any of the northern Provinces, or from
Britain.[10]

The War

Britain and Austria organized a new coalition against France in 1798, including for the rst time the
Russian Empire, although no action occurred until 1799 except against the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies.

1799
See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1799

In Europe, the allies mounted several invasions, including campaigns in Italy and Switzerland and an
Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands. Russian general Aleksandr Suvorov inicted a series of
defeats on the French in Italy, driving them back to the Alps. However, the allies were less
successful in the Netherlands, where the British retreated after a defeat at Castricum, and in
Switzerland, where after initial victories a Russian army was completely routed at the Second Battle
of Zurich. These reverses, as well as British insistence on searching shipping in the Baltic Sea led to
Russia withdrawing from the Coalition.[11]

Napoleon himself invaded Syria from Egypt, but after a failed siege of Acre retreated to Egypt,
repelling a British-Turkish invasion. Alerted to the political and military crisis in France, he returned,
leaving his army behind, and used his popularity and army support to mount a coup that made him
First Consul, the head of the French government.[12]

1800
See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1800

General Moreau at the Battle of

 General Moreau at the Battle of
Hohenlinden

Napoleon sent Moreau to campaign in Germany, and went himself to raise a new army at Dijon and
march through Switzerland to attack the Austrian armies in Italy from behind. Narrowly avoiding
defeat, he defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo and reoccupied northern Italy.[13]

Moreau meanwhile invaded Bavaria and won a great battle against Austria at Hohenlinden. Moreau
continued toward Vienna and the Austrians sued for peace.[14]

1801
See also: French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1801

On January 1, the Acts of Union joined together the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of
Ireland to form the United Kingdom, thus starting the war for the whole of the British Isles.

The Austrians negotiated the Treaty of Lunville, basically accepting the terms of the previous
Treaty of Campo Formio. In Egypt, the Ottomans and British invaded and nally compelled the
French to surrender after the fall of Cairo and Alexandria.[15]

Britain continued the war at sea. A coalition of non-combatants including Prussia, Russia, Denmark,
and Sweden joined to protect neutral shipping from Britain's blockade, resulting in Nelson's surprise
attack on the Danish eet in harbor at the Battle of Copenhagen.[16]

France and Spain invaded Portugal, in the War of Oranges, forcing Portugal to sign the Treaty of
Badajoz (1801).

In December 1801, an expedition was sent to Saint-Domingue to quell the revolution that had
started there in 1791 once and for all, but the blockade of the Caribbean island by the British eet
made the sending of reinforcements impossible.

1802

In 1802, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the war. Thus began the longest
period of peace during the period 17921815. The treaty is generally considered to be the most
appropriate point to mark the transition between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic
Wars, although Napoleon was not crowned emperor until 1804.

See also

War of the First Coalition

 War of the Third Coalition

Quasi-War

French Revolutionary Wars:

Campaigns of 1797

Campaigns of 1798

Campaigns of 1799

Campaigns of 1800

Campaigns of 1801

Sources

Notes and citations

1. Nominally the Holy Roman Empire, of which the Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan
were under direct Austrian rule. Also encompassed many other Italian states, as well as other
Habsburg states such as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

2. Ofcially neutral but Danish eet was attacked by Britain at the Battle of Copenhagen.

3. Abolished following the restoration of the neutral Papal States in 1799.

4. Short lived state that replaced the Kingdom of Naples in 1799.

5. Timothy Blanning, The French Revolutionary Wars pp. 4159.

6. Blanning, pp. 23032.

7. John Gallagher. Napoleon's enfant terrible: General Dominique Vandamme, Tulsa: University of
Oklahoma Press, 2008, ISBN978-0-8061-3875-6 p. 70.

8. Gunther E. Rothenberg. Napoleons Great Adversaries: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army,
17921914, Stroud, (Gloucester): Spellmount, 2007, ISBN978-1-86227-383-2 pp. 7074.

9. Jourdan, pp. 6090.

10. Jourdan, pp. 5060; Rothenberg, pp. 7074.

11. Christopher Duffy, Eagles over the Alps: Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799 (1999)

12. Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution Volume II: from 1793 to 1799 (1964) ch 13

13. David Hollins, The Battle of Marengo 1800 (2000)

14. George Armand Furse, 1800 Marengo and Hohenlinden (2009)

15. Piers Mackesy, British Victory in Egypt, 1801: The End of Napoleon's Conquest (1995) online

16. Dudley Pope, The Great Gamble: Nelson at Copenhagen (1972).

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External links

Media related to War of the Second Coalition at Wikimedia Commons

Last edited 25 days ago by Carlosmarxo73