Second coalition

The Second Coalition (1798 - 1800) is the second grouping of several European powers to contain the revolutionary France, if possible to cut down the republican mode and to restore monarchy.

The coalition was made of:

the Archduchy of Austria,
the Kingdom of Great Britain (in war against France since 1793),
the imperial Russia,
the Ottoman Empire,
the Sweden,
the Deux-Siciles.

Definition

Name given to the one of the seven coalitions formed by the European powers against France during the Revolution and the Empire. The second coalition, formed at the instigation of the Great Britain, of September 1798 at March 1799, included/understood the Russia, the Austria, the Turkey, the Deux-Siciles, some princes German and the Sweden. It ended after the signature of the Paix of Lunéville (1801) and of Amiens (1802).

Formation

France declares the war with the Austria (April 1799). Austria joined thus against France, the Great Britain, the Russia, the Turkey, Ferdinand IV of Naples. The Prussia, in spite of solicitudes of the Austria and the Russia, and also thanks to the interventions of the ambassador of France, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, remains neutral. The second coalition is formed.

Strategy

With the difference of the First coalition (1793 - 1797) which, in 1793 had attacked France without overall plan, she intends to act by coordinating the efforts of her troops and the action of risen of the interior. The British Minister for the Foreign affairs, William Wyndham Grenville, after multiple letters with his Austrian, Russian counterparts, Neapolitan, Turkish, as at Louis XVIII of France which directs the royalist secret societies of the interior of France (in particular the philantropic Institut ) develops the following plan: a Russian army transported by British vessels will attack the French troops of Holland. Austrian armies will take the offensive in Germany and in Suisse, in direction of the the Rhine, to the Russian armies, Austrian and Turkish will endeavor to drive out the French of Italy. At the same time will burst with the Netherlands, in the Rhineland, Suisse, Italy, of the insurrections against the French. When the armies of united reach the borders of France, i.e., towards mid-August the 1799, of royalist risings will occur in the areas of Toulouse and Bordeaux, in the Vendée, Brittany and Normandy. After the victory, Louis XVIII will go up on the throne and the Ancien Mode will be restored, according to the program exposed by Louis XVI to the General states of 1789 and confirmed by the proclamation of Louis XVIII with Vérone the June 24th 1795.

Chronology

May 1798: Rising of the patriotic Irish, combined French Republic, against the Kingdom of Great Britain.
July 7th 1798: Beginning of the Quasi-war, conflict without declaration of war enters the French Republic and the the United States.
September 1798: The Archduchy of Austria and the imperial Russia are combined with the Royaume of Great Britain and declare the war with the French Republic.
September 9th 1798: The Ottoman Empire declares the war with the French Republic.
September 15th 1799: Rising of the Chouans and the Vendean against the French Republic.
October 22nd 1799: The imperial Russia makes peace with the French Republic.
February 14th 1800: Treaty of Beauregard, the Chouans sign peace with the French Republic.
September 30th 1800: Treaty of Mortefontaine, the French Republic and the the United States sign peace.
February 9th: 1801: Treaty of Lunéville, the Archduchy of Austria and the French Republic sign peace.
December 14th 1801: The French Republic attacks Haiti.
March 25th 1802: Peace of Amiens, the the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Republic sign peace.
January 1st 1804: End of the war between the French Republic and Haiti which becomes independent.

See too

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