by Rob Harper
Fighting the French Revolution
To Jackie with love
(and appreciation for your patience)
Fighting the French Revolution
The Great Vendée Rising of 1793
by Rob Harper
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by
Pen & Sword Military
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Yorkshire - Philadelphia
Copyright © Rob Harper 2019
ISBN 978 1 47386 896 0
eISBN 978 1 47386 898 4
Mobi ISBN 978 1 47386 897 7
The right of Rob Harper to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Contents
Glossary of Political Factions and Terms
Timeline for 1793
Introduction
Chapter 1 Fighting the Revolution, a Brief Background to the Vendée Rising
Chapter 2 ‘Patriots, Robbers and Cowards’: The Republican Armies in the Vendée Rising
Chapter 3 ‘For God and the King’: The Catholic and Royal Armies
Chapter 4 ‘Running like a Trail of Gunpowder’: The Rising Takes Hold
Chapter 5 ‘In less than a month the troubles in the Vendée will be at an end’
Chapter 6 The Rise of the Grand Army
Chapter 7 The Republic in Crisis
Chapter 8 The Sans-Culotte Army
Chapter 9 ‘Destroy the Vendée!’
Chapter 10 ‘The Promenade of the Sovereign People’
Chapter 11 ‘The rebels fought like tigers and our soldiers like lions’
Chapter 12 The Coastal Vendée stands Alone: October and November
Chapter 13 The March on Granville
Chapter 14 The Race to the Loire
Chapter 15 The Death of an Army
Chapter 16 Charette ‘King of the Vendée’
Chapter 17 The End of the ‘War of Giants’
Appendix 1 Biographies of Vendéen and Republican Leaders
Appendix 2 Selected details of the Republican Armies
Appendix 3 Selected details of the Royalist Armies
Endnotes
Bibliography
Glossary of Political Factions and Terms
Ancien Régime: The regime in place before the French Revolution.
Ci-devant: ‘Former’: A term derisively used in reference to officers who could claim noble descent.
Committee of Public Safety (CPS): Created in April 1793 following the treason of Dumouriez and the outbreak of the Vendée Rising. It was formed of nine (later twelve) members, appointed for a month at a time, from Deputies of the National Convention. It was effectively the executive government of France responsible for internal and external security and in time came to direct the Convention. Danton controlled it in the early months but it was firmly under Robespierre’s influence from late July 1793. The conduct of the war and appointment of generals was a key function of the CPS.
Enragés: Literally the ‘madmen’ or ‘enraged’. The most extreme of Revolutionary movements who assisted in the violent overthrow of the Girondists. Their core leadership would be crushed by the Montagnards in September 1793. Many were absorbed into the Hébértist faction.
Girondists: A loosely organised group of Jacobins formed around Jacques-Pierre Brissot and other Deputies from the Gironde. They were in effective control from 1792 until 2 June 1793 and sought to weaken the grip on power held in Paris and backed by the Paris Commune, by promoting a less centralised and more federal form of government. Their attempts to stem the power of the Paris Commune led to their downfall. Supporters were sometimes called Federalists.
Hébértists: Followers of policies espoused by Jacques Hébért, considered more radical than the Montagnards, notoriously anti-Christian, and determined to destroy the Girondists, they manipulated the National Convention through their power within the Paris Commune. They endured a fierce power struggle with the Montagnards in late 1793 and were brought down in March 1794. Leading figures included Bourbotte, Ronsin, Momoro and Carrier.
Montagnards: Known as ‘the Mountain’ from their habit of sitting in the upper tier of the Assembly. A Jacobin group led by Maximilien Robespierre, more extreme than the Girondists (their ideological opponents), who believed in a centralised form of government. Strongly influenced by the Jacobin Club and its links to the sansculottes. They were instrumental in implementing the Terror and were effectively in power from mid-1793 until July 1794. Key figures included St-Just and Marat. Many Montagnard Representatives served in the Vendée.
National Convention: The elected assembly of deputies who formed the first republican government of France. Created September 1792.
Paris Commune: The elected governing authority for Paris, centred on the Hotel-de-Ville. It frequently refused to follow orders issued from the National Convention and exerted great influence and power during the critical days of 1793. For most of the year it was firmly under the control of the Hébértists.
Representatives on Mission: Deputies sent on mission to the Departments to apply the law and maintain order. Those sent on mission to the armies would help raise troops, maintain morale, ensure supplies, and keep an eye on the generals. During the Terror they were vested with extensive power.
Sans-culottes: Literally ‘without breeches’; used to define the lower class revolutionaries who would have worn loose fitting trousers not the knee breeches associated with wealthier classes. It came to be a name proudly adopted by militant revolutionaries.
The Terror: The name given to the period between June 1793 and July 1794 when the law allowed for swift and brutal punishment through Revolutionary Tribunals, often with little formal trial. More people were executed in the region affected by the Vendée Rising than anywhere else in France. Representative Carrier was especially notorious for the implementation of the Terror and the mass execution of Vendéen rebels and refugees. The extent of his brutality resulted in his own recall and execution.
Unit of Distance Measurement
League: A distance frequently used in contemporary sources. Although, theoretically, a standard eighteenth century French league was equivalent to between 6 and 7km (depending on which league was being used), measuring the known distance referred to in several accounts indicates that the term was applied loosely. Where c
ontemporaries do not pinpoint locations, enabling a metric distance to be inserted in the text, I have retained the use of the term ‘league’.
Key to maps
Timeline for 1793
Date
France
Battles of the Vendée Rising
Republican Victory (R),
Vendéen Victory (V). Major/
strategically-significant
engagements in CAPITALS.
January
21
Execution of Louis XVI
February
1
France declares war on Britain and Holland.
13
The First Coalition formed against France by Britain, Prussia, Austria, Holland, Spain and Sardinia.
24
The National Convention decrees conscription of 300,000 men to be raised by lottery.
March
1
France annexes Belgium.
4
Armed rioters force national guards out of Cholet.
7
France declares war on Spain.
9
82 Representatives sent out to raise the 300,000.
10
Creation of the Revolutionary Tribunal to address counterrevolutionary offences.
Machecoul (V)
10-18
Hundreds of parishes take up arms in the Vendée and large parts of surrounding Departments to resist the Lottery. Numerous settlements fall under their control.
11
Clisson (R)
12
St Florent-le-Vieil (V); St-Mesmin(V); Paimboeuf (R)
13
Jallais (V); Chemillé (V); Les Herbiers (V)
14
CHOLET (V)
15
Chantonnay (V)
16
Coron (V)
18
Dumouriez defeated at Neerwinden.
19
Death penalty declared for rebels found bearing arms.
LA GUÉRINIÈRE (V); The Rising now refered to as the ‘War in the Vendée’.
21
Revolutionary Committees of Surveillance established.
23
Pornic, twice (V/R)
24
1st LES SABLES D’OLONNE (R)
27
Pornic (V)
29
2nd LES SABLES D’OLONNE (R)
April
1
France evacuate Rhineland (except for Mayence (Mainz)).
St-Lambert-de-Lattay (inconclusive).
5
Dumouriez deserts to Austrians.
6
Committee of Public Safety (CPS) established.
8
Seige of Condé begins.
La Grassière (R)
9
Austrian army invades France. Deputies sent on mission to the armies.
10
Seige of Mayence begins.
Roc-de-Cheffois (R)
11
ST-PIERRE-DE-CHEMILLÉ (V)
12
Marat arrested for inciting violence and murder.
La Châtaigneraie.(R)
13
LES AUBIERS (V); Challans (R); St-Gervais(R)
19
PAGANNES (V); Port-St-Père(R)
21
Machecoul (R)
22
BEAUPRÉAU (V)
24
Marat’s acquittal celebrated by the sans-culottes.
28
Noirmoutier (R)
30
Legé (V)
May
2
Palluau (R)
3
Mareuil-sur-Lay (R)
4
‘Maximum’ price of grain fixed by law.
5
THOUARS (V)
12
Girondist ‘Commission of Twelve’ established to investigate actions of the Paris Commune and Sections leads to serious disturbances.
13
LA CHTAIGNERAIE (V)
15
Palluau (R)
16
1st FONTENAY-LA-COMTE (R)
23
French defeated at Famars.
24
The Committee of Twelve orders arrest of Hébért, leading to widespread unrest in Paris instigated by the Commune.
Enragés leaders arrested.
25
2nd FONTENAY-LA-COMTE (V)
26
Robespierre and Marat call for insurrection against the Convention.
29
Lyons revolts against Jacobin authorities.
31
‘Journée de 31 Mai’: Paris Commune provokes mass demonstrations calling for expulsion of Girondist Deputies from the Convention.
June
2
‘Journée de 2 Juin’: Leading Girondists ousted from Convention and twenty-nine arrested.
6-7
Federalists take control in Caen, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nîmes and Marseille, along with widespread national protest at the expulsion of Girondists.
7
DOUÉ-LA-FONTAINE (V)
8
MONTREUIL-BELLAY (V)
9-10
SAUMUR (V)
10
MACHECOUL (V)
17-25
Vendéens occupy Angers
24
Democratic constitution approved by the Convention, but events cause it not to be put into effect.
25
Parthenay (R)
29-30
NANTES (R)
30
1st Luçon (R)
July
3
BOIS-AUX-CHÈVRES (R)
5
1st CHTILLON–SUR–SÈVRE (V). Nantes declares for Federalist cause.
10
Condé falls to the Allies.
12
The Jacobins overthrown in Toulon.
13
Charlotte Corday, a Girondist supporter, murders Marat.
14
Château d’Aux (R)
15
MARTIGNE-BRIAND (R). Nantes authorities retract declaration of 5th.
18
VIHIERS (V).
23
Fall of Mayence.
25
Pont Charron and Pont Charrault (R)
26
LES PONTS-DE-CÉ (V)
27
Robespierre elected to the CPS which uses Terror to maintain its position.
28
Fall of Valenciennes.
LES PONTS-DE-CÉ (R)
30
2nd LUÇON (R)
August
1
A policy of destruction of the Vendée agreed by the Convention.
5
Doué-la-Fontaine (R)
9
Seige of Lyons begins.
14
Carnot elected to CPS.
3rd LUÇON (R)
23
Levée-en-Masse ordered.
24
The Duke of York beseiges Dunkirk.
25
The Republic recaptures Marseilles.
26
La Roche-sur-Yon (R)
26-31
Assaults on NAUDIÈRES and SORINIÈRES (R)
27
The Allies occupy Toulon.
September