The Army of the West (''armée de l'Ouest'') was one of the
French Revolutionary Armies
The French Revolutionary Army (french: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment ...
that was sent to fight in the
War in the Vendée
The war in the Vendée (french: link=no, Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loir ...
in western France. The army was created on 2 October 1793 by merging the
Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle
The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle (french: Armée des côtes de La Rochelle) was an army of the French Revolution which was created on 30 April 1793 and responsible for defending a region from the mouth of the Loire River south to the Gironde ...
, the so-called
Army of Mayence
The Army of Mainz or Army of Mayence (''Armée de Mayence'') was a French Revolutionary Army set up on 9 December 1797 by splitting the Army of Germany into the Army of Mayence and the Army of the Rhine. Part of it split off on 4 February 1799 to ...
and part of the
Army of the Coasts of Brest
The Army of the Coasts of Brest (french: Armée des côtes de Brest) was a French Revolutionary Army formed on 30 April 1793 by splitting the '' Army of the Coasts'' into this army and the '' Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg''. The formation was f ...
. In 1793 the army or its component forces fought at
Second Châtillon,
First Noirmoutier,
La Tremblaye,
Cholet
Cholet (, , probably from Latin language, Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a Communes of France, commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous c ...
,
Laval,
Entrames,
Fougères
Fougères (; br, Felger; Gallo: ''Foujerr'') is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department in the region of Brittany in northwestern France.
As of 2017, Fougères had 20,418 inhabitants. The Fougères area comprises appr ...
,
Granville,
Dol,
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
,
Le Mans and
Savenay
Savenay (; ''Savenneg'' in Breton) is a town (administratively a commune) in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France which is part of the Pays de la Loire region. It is located on the Sillon de Bretagne (a mountain range defining the ...
. After the main Vendean army was crushed, the revolt evolved into
guerilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
and there were few pitched battles. In 1794
Louis Marie Turreau tried to suppress the rebellion with extremely brutal methods using the infamous
infernal columns
The infernal columns ( French: ''colonnes infernales'') were operations led by the French Revolutionary general Louis Marie Turreau in the War in the Vendée, after the failure of the Royalist Virée de Galerne. Following the passage on 1 Aug ...
. Calmer heads finally prevailed and Turreau was recalled. On 6 January 1796, the army was absorbed into the newly formed
Army of the Coasts of the Ocean. The Army of the West came into existence a second time on 17 January 1800 and was finally suppressed on 21 May 1802.
History
Background
The two chief causes of the War in the Vendée were the attempt by the French
National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nationa ...
to impose
conscription on the population and to force the
Civil Constitution of the Clergy on the priests. The great majority of the priests in the
Vendée
Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442. refused to take the oath and most of the population resented sending their young men to war. By April 1793 the region was in full rebellion led by the country gentry. Since much of the area was covered by woods or hedges and traversed by narrow lanes, it proved to be ideal terrain for the local people to launch ambushes and sudden attacks against the Republican French troops. If the Vendeans were driven off, they would quickly disappear to their homes using secret byways. To a casual observer they would appear to be peaceful farmers. Soon the rebels armed themselves with weapons and ammunition captured from the French Republican forces. Two groups that often supported the Republican government were residents of the larger towns and
Protestants.
Because Revolutionary France was ringed with enemies, very few regular battalions could be spared to fight in the War in the Vendée. At first, local battalions were used, but these men were frightened of the rebels. The French government scraped up more volunteers to send to the Vendée. The 35th Legion of Gendarmes proved to be an effective unit. The German Legion, made up of German and Swiss deserters, fought capably but many promptly deserted to the Vendeans. From the
Army of the North
The Army of the North ( es, link=no, Ejército del Norte), contemporaneously called Army of Peru, was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was fre ...
and the
Army of the Ardennes
The Army of the Ardennes (''armée des Ardennes'') was a French Revolutionary Army formed on the first of October 1792 by splitting off the right wing of the Army of the North, commanded from July to August that year by La Fayette. From July to ...
the government ordered each infantry company to send six men to the Vendée. The battalions formed from these men had poor cohesion. The worst soldiers were the 12 battalions of the Paris
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
under
Antoine Joseph Santerre
Antoine Joseph Santerre (16 March 1752 in Paris6 February 1809) was a businessman and general during the French Revolution.
Early life
The Santerre family moved from Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache to Paris in 1747 where they purchased a brewery know ...
. Time and again, these undisciplined men fled at the mere sight of their enemies.
After a period of confusion, three armies were formed on 1 May 1793. The
Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg covered the area from
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...
east to the
Authie River. The
Army of the Coasts of Brest
The Army of the Coasts of Brest (french: Armée des côtes de Brest) was a French Revolutionary Army formed on 30 April 1793 by splitting the '' Army of the Coasts'' into this army and the '' Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg''. The formation was f ...
guarded the region from Saint-Malo south to the mouth of the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
River. The
Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle
The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle (french: Armée des côtes de La Rochelle) was an army of the French Revolution which was created on 30 April 1793 and responsible for defending a region from the mouth of the Loire River south to the Gironde ...
was responsible for the lands from the Loire south to the
Gironde estuary. In early June, the Vendeans routed a major French Republican force in the
Battle of Saumur and captured 46 guns. This was followed by another disaster on 18 July at the
Battle of Vihiers when 12,000 rebels smashed a 14,000-man Republican force, inflicting losses of 5,000 men and taking 25 of its 30 guns.
On 23 July, the
Siege of Mainz ended in a French surrender. The Prussians carelessly paroled the garrison on the promise not to fight against the Coalition armies for one year. It was noted that the terms did not prevent the troops from being used to fight the Vendeans, so the parolees were hurried west. These 14,000 well-disciplined soldiers became the unofficially named
Army of Mayence
The Army of Mainz or Army of Mayence (''Armée de Mayence'') was a French Revolutionary Army set up on 9 December 1797 by splitting the Army of Germany into the Army of Mayence and the Army of the Rhine. Part of it split off on 4 February 1799 to ...
under
Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet
Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet (19 August 1759, Louisiana – 17 December 1797, Istanbul) was a French General and politician during the period of the French Revolution.
Aubert du Bayet was born in Baton-Rouge in the French American colo ...
. They were soon fighting with the Army of the Coasts of Brest under
Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux
Jean Baptiste Camille de Canclaux (2 August 1740, in Paris – 27 December 1817, in Paris) was a French army commander during the French Revolution and a Peer of France. He joined a cavalry regiment the French Royal Army in 1756 and fought at ...
near
Nantes. The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle was assigned to the incompetent
Jean Antoine Rossignol
Jean Antoine Rossignol (7 November 1759 – 27 April 1802) was a general of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Life Early life
Rossignol began his ''Memoirs'', published in 1820 by Victor Barrucand, with the words: "I was not born into a poor family. ...
who was protected from criticism because of his
Jacobin political views. The strategy adopted by the Republican armies was to attack the Vendée with converging columns.
The month of September 1793 saw Canclaux repulse a Vendean attack on
Nantes and then try to advance into the heart of the Vendée. His efforts were foiled by strong Vendean resistance and because Rossignol failed to fully carry out his part of the plan. Suddenly on 7 October, Canclaux and du Bayet were summarily removed from command. Rossignol was transferred to command the Army of the Coasts of Brest. The intriguer
Charles-Philippe Ronsin
Charles-Philippe Ronsin (1 December 1751 – 24 March 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic, commanding the large Parisian division of ''l'Armée Révolutionnaire''. He was an extreme radical leader ...
brought about the change by persuading Minister of War
Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte
Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte (25 December 1754 – 8 June 1840) was a minister in the French government. He was born in Metz.
At the outbreak of the Revolution he was a captain of cavalry, and his zeal led to his being made colonel and given the ...
that Canclaux and du Bayet caused the recent defeats. The decision to transfer Rossignol also seemed to show that Ronsin and Bouchotte's confidence in that general was waning.
Creation
![Jean Antoine Rossignol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Jean_Antoine_Rossignol.jpg)
By a decree of 2 October 1793, the Army of the West was created by combining the former Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, the Army of Mayence and that part of the Army of the Coasts of Brest operating in the department of
Loire-Inferieure. The decree was put into effect on 6 October when
Jean Léchelle
Jean Léchelle or Jean L'Échelle (2 April 1760 – 11 November 1793) briefly commanded a French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. Having served in the French Royal Army as a youth, the outbreak of the French Revolution found him employed ...
assumed command.
Jean Baptiste Kléber
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
remained in charge of the Army of Mayence until 8 October, while
Alexis Chalbos
Alexis François Chalbos (6 March 1736 – 17 March 1803) was a French general of the French Revolutionary Wars.
In 1751, he joined the régiment de Normandie as a private. In June 1789 he was promoted to captain, then to general in 1793. He s ...
was in temporary control of the eastern part of the army until 17 October. The
Committee of Public Safety believed Léchelle to be the perfect candidate to put down the Vendean rebellion, but he proved to be a worse general than Rossignol. Kléber later described Léchelle as, "the most cowardly of soldiers, the worst of officers, and the most ignorant leader ever seen. He did not understand maps, hardly knew how to sign his name, and did not once approach within cannon shot of the rebels; in a word, there was nothing comparable to his poltroonery and his inefficiency, except his arrogance, his brutality, and his obstinacy".
![François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Fran%C3%A7ois_S%C3%A9verin_Marceau-Desgraviers.png)
Soon there was a significant success. On 17 October 1793 at the
Battle of Cholet, 25,000 Republicans defeated 40,000 rebels, inflicting losses of 8,000 while sustaining 4,000 casualties. Another account stated that there were 41,000 Vendeans against 31,000 Republicans and 30 guns.
Louis Antoine Vimeux commanded the Republican right flank,
François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers the center,
Michel de Beaupuy the left flank and Kléber the reserve. At this point, the Vendean army crossed to the north bank of the Loire, hoping to capture a port and make contact with the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. When Léchelle's army followed, the Vendeans lashed out at it.
At the
Battle of Entrames on 27 October, 31,000 Vendeans defeated 25,000 Republicans, inflicting 4,000 casualties. Against the advice of Kléber and Marceau, Léchelle insisted on keeping the army in a single column and attacking immediately. While Kléber, Marceau and Beaupuy were with the front line units, Léchelle stayed in rear and was unable to send help. The Army of the West was routed and scattered in all directions. As the men fled, the hapless Léchelle called out, "What have I done that I should command such cowards?" A soldier shouted back, "What have we done that we should be commanded by such a shit?" At the next army inspection the soldiers yelled, "Down with Léchelle! Long live du Bayet! Long live Kléber!" In despair, Léchelle resigned his command, retired to Nantes and killed himself.
In the crisis, the Army of the North was ordered to send 10,000 reinforcements to put down the rebellion; these arrived in December. Since the Army of the West was in the territory of the Army of the Coasts of Brest, Rossignol assumed command. However, the generals and the
representatives-on-mission did not want the inept Rossignol to lead the troops, so they appointed Marceau the commander-in-chief with Kléber as his deputy. Since Marceau was only 24 years old,
Louis Marie Turreau was summoned from the
Army of the Eastern Pyrenees
The Army of the Eastern Pyrenees (''Armée des Pyrénées Orientales'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It fought against the Kingdom of Spain in Roussillon, the Cerdanya and Catalonia during the War of the Pyrenees. This army and th ...
to take over. Rossignol was supposed to have overall control of all the armies, but everyone seems to have ignored him. The Vendean army was crushed with terrible losses at the
Battle of Le Mans
The Battle of Le Mans was a German victory during the Franco-Prussian War that ended French resistance in western France.
Background
After capturing the armies of the French Empire at Sedan and Metz in the fall of 1870, the German armies un ...
on 12–13 December and at the
Battle of Savenay on 23 December. The new commander Turreau did not replace Marceau until 30 December.
Infernal columns
![Général Turreau Louis Marie (1756-1816)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/G%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral_Turreau_Louis_Marie_%281756-1816%29.jpg)
Kléber believed that he could end the rebellion, but Turreau brushed his ideas aside. Instead, Turreau embarked on a bloody program starting on 24 January 1794. With 80,000 soldiers, he ordered 12 "infernal columns" to sweep the Vendée, taking away all crops, burning farms and killing all suspected rebels. Not even women and children were spared from massacre. Turreau was encouraged in his horrible work by politicians such as
Jean-Baptiste Carrier
Jean-Baptiste Carrier (, 16 March 1756 – 16 December 1794) was a French Revolutionary and politician most notable for his actions in the War in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror. While under orders to suppress a Royalist counter-revolutio ...
who said, "The women of La Vendée, it is from them that the race of enemies is reborn. The children, they are vipers to be crushed", and, "We will make a cemetery of France". Disgusted with Turreau's "diabolical plan", Marceau left for the Army of the Ardennes in January 1794 and Kléber got a transfer to the Army of the North in April.
The Vendean rebellion, which showed signs of quieting down, flared up again thanks to Turreau's harsh measures. The soldiers of the infernal columns interpreted their orders so loosely that many pro-Republicans were slaughtered along with the rebels. On 13 May, the Committee of Public Safety ordered Turreau to be suspended and sent to command an obscure post. Turreau was replaced by Vimeux. The army counted 103,812 soldiers in April 1794, but only 50,000 were capable of taking the field. Of these, 3,000 men were sent to the
Army of the Western Pyrenees and 15,000 to the armies on the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
. On 16 August, a new order assigned the army command to
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (; known as Alexandre Dumas; 25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806) was a Creole General officer, general, from The French colony of Saint-Domingue, in French Revolution, Revolutionary France. Along ...
. At that time, its strength was 45,000 men.
Turreau was arrested after the
fall of Robespierre
The Coup d'état of 9 Thermidor or the Fall of Maximilien Robespierre refers to the series of events beginning with Maximilien Robespierre's address to the National Convention on 8 Thermidor Year II (26 July 1794), his arrest the next day, and ...
, but he convinced a
court-martial that he was only following orders and was acquitted. He commanded troops under the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
and, astonishingly, was in favor with the
Bourbon Restoration when he died in 1816. Rossignol fell afoul of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and was exiled to the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...
where he died in 1802. Ronsin was
guillotine
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...
d during the
Reign of Terror. Marceau was mortally wounded at
Altenkirchen
Altenkirchen () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, capital of the district of Altenkirchen. It is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz. Altenkirchen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("co ...
during the
Battle of Limburg and died on 20 September 1796.
Pacification
![Lazare Hoche par David](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Lazare_Hoche_par_David.jpg)
In October 1794, Dumas was replaced in command of the Army of the West by Canclaux, who took
Emmanuel de Grouchy
Emmanuel de Grouchy, 2nd Marquis of Grouchy (; 23 October 176629 May 1847) was a French general and Marshal of the Empire.
Biography
Grouchy was born in Condécourt (Val d'Oise), Château de Villette, the son of François-Jacques de Grouchy, 1 ...
as his
chief of staff. On 17 February 1795 a pacification was signed by the political representatives of the warring sides. The Vendeans were allowed complete freedom of worship and were free from conscription for several years. In return, they recognized the
First French Republic. The peace did not last long. Revolt broke out in the Vendée on 24 June under the leadership of
François de Charette
François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie (2 May 1763 – 29 March 1796) was a Franco-Breton Royalist soldier and politician. He served in the French Navy during the American Revolutionary War and was one of the leaders of the Revolt in the V ...
. At this time Canclaux was ill so Grouchy was the acting commander. Grouchy first moved against a threatened invasion and then sent reinforcements to the Army of the Coasts of Brest which was then under the command of
Lazare Hoche
Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...
. On 21 July 1795 at
Quiberon, Hoche smashed an attempted
invasion of France
France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans.
* the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...
by Royalists landed by the British fleet.
In August 1795, the Army of the West numbered 27,000–28,000 men after being reinforced from the Army of the North. Grouchy was opposed by Charette with 8,000–12,000-foot and 900 horsemen. On 22 August, there was a conference at Nantes between two representatives, Hoche, du Bayet, Grouchy and Canclaux, who was still sick. It was decided that the three armies must act together against the insurgents. Canclaux was sent to Paris with the plan while Grouchy temporarily filled his place. The French government appointed Hoche as commander-in-chief of the Army of the West. On 2 October 1795, the
Count of Artois
The count of Artois (French: Comtes d'Artois, Dutch: Graven van Artesië) was the ruler over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790.
House of Artois
*Odalric (c. 850 ...
landed with a Royalist force on the
Île d'Yeu
Île d'Yeu () or L'Île-d'Yeu, is an island and commune just off the Vendée coast of western France. The island's two harbors, Port-Joinville in the north and Port de la Meule to the south, in a rocky inlet of the southern granite coast, are fam ...
. Because Grouchy held the coast with good troops, the Count gave up and returned to England. On 26 December 1795, the French government combined the Army of the West and the Armies of the Coasts of Brest and Cherbourg into a single Army of the Coasts of the Ocean under Hoche. The new army had a nominal strength of 182,956 but really there were 100,000 men present for duty.
Second creation
On 14 January 1800, the Army of England was renamed the Army of the West and the order went into effect on 17 January. The army's area of operations included the 12th, 13th and 22nd Military Divisions.
Guillaume Brune
Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune, 1st Count Brune (, 13 March 1764 – 2 August 1815) was a French military commander, Marshal of the Empire, and political figure who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Early life
Br ...
was commander-in-chief until 16 April. Brune was provisionally replaced by
Gabriel Marie Joseph d'Hédouville who served until 2 May.
Jean Baptiste Bernadotte
sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius
, spouse =
, issue = Oscar I of Sweden
, house = Bernadotte
, father = Henri Bernadotte
, mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pau, ...
became the commander from 3 May to 10 October when he was replaced by interim leader
Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly
Jacques-Louis-François Delaistre de Tilly (2 February 1749, Vernon, Eure – 10 January 1822, Paris) became a general officer in the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a cavalry division in a number of battles during th ...
. On 5 May 1801, Bernadotte reassumed command and served until mid-November. On 23 September the army's district was reduced to the 13th Military Division.
Henri François Delaborde
Henri-François Delaborde (21 December 17643 February 1833) was a French general in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Early career
He was the son of a baker of Dijon. In 1783, Delaborde joined the 2nd Dragoon Regiment (France) ...
was interim commander from mid-November until 20 May 1802 when the Army of the West was suppressed.
Commanders-in-chief
1793–1796
* 6 – 27 October 1793 :
Jean Léchelle
Jean Léchelle or Jean L'Échelle (2 April 1760 – 11 November 1793) briefly commanded a French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. Having served in the French Royal Army as a youth, the outbreak of the French Revolution found him employed ...
* 28 October – 13 November 1793 :
Alexis Chalbos
Alexis François Chalbos (6 March 1736 – 17 March 1803) was a French general of the French Revolutionary Wars.
In 1751, he joined the régiment de Normandie as a private. In June 1789 he was promoted to captain, then to general in 1793. He s ...
(provisional)
* 14 November – 4 December 1793 :
Jean Antoine Rossignol
Jean Antoine Rossignol (7 November 1759 – 27 April 1802) was a general of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Life Early life
Rossignol began his ''Memoirs'', published in 1820 by Victor Barrucand, with the words: "I was not born into a poor family. ...
* 5 – 25 December 1793 :
François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers
* 26 December 1793 – 17 May 1794 :
Louis Marie Turreau
* 18 May – 6 September 1794 :
Louis Antoine Vimeux (provisional)
* 7 September 1794 – 23 October 1794 :
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (; known as Alexandre Dumas; 25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806) was a Creole General officer, general, from The French colony of Saint-Domingue, in French Revolution, Revolutionary France. Along ...
* 24 October 1794 – 6 September 1795 :
Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux
Jean Baptiste Camille de Canclaux (2 August 1740, in Paris – 27 December 1817, in Paris) was a French army commander during the French Revolution and a Peer of France. He joined a cavalry regiment the French Royal Army in 1756 and fought at ...
* 7 – 10 September 1795 :
Emmanuel de Grouchy
Emmanuel de Grouchy, 2nd Marquis of Grouchy (; 23 October 176629 May 1847) was a French general and Marshal of the Empire.
Biography
Grouchy was born in Condécourt (Val d'Oise), Château de Villette, the son of François-Jacques de Grouchy, 1 ...
(interim)
* 11 September – 17 December 1795 :
Lazare Hoche
Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...
* 18 December 1795 – 6 January 1796 :
Amédée Willot (interim)
1800–1802
* 17 January 1800 – 26 April 1800 :
Guillaume Brune
Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune, 1st Count Brune (, 13 March 1764 – 2 August 1815) was a French military commander, Marshal of the Empire, and political figure who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Early life
Br ...
* 27 April – 2 May 1800 :
Gabriel Marie Joseph d'Hédouville (provisional)
* 3 May – 10 October 1800 :
Jean Baptiste Bernadotte
sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius
, spouse =
, issue = Oscar I of Sweden
, house = Bernadotte
, father = Henri Bernadotte
, mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pau, ...
* 11 October 1800 – 4 May 1801 :
Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly
Jacques-Louis-François Delaistre de Tilly (2 February 1749, Vernon, Eure – 10 January 1822, Paris) became a general officer in the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a cavalry division in a number of battles during th ...
(interim)
* 5 May – mid-November 1801 : Jean Baptiste Bernadotte
* mid-November – 20 May 1802 :
Henri François Delaborde
Henri-François Delaborde (21 December 17643 February 1833) was a French general in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Early career
He was the son of a baker of Dijon. In 1783, Delaborde joined the 2nd Dragoon Regiment (France) ...
(interim)
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Army of the West (France)
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...