The siege of Angers was a siege of the French town of
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 ...
on 3 December 1793 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 ...
.
Background
Pushed back at
Granville, the
Vendéens hoped to reach the south 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 ...
to which the path was open thanks to their victory in the
Battle of Dol
The Battle of Dol was a succession of battles in the war in the Vendée. They lasted three days and two nights from 20 to 22 November 1793 around Dol-de-Bretagne, Pontorson
Pontorson () is a commune in the Manche department in north-wester ...
. On 23 November, the Vendéen generals met at
Antrain. The chief general
Henri de La Rochejaquelein offered to march to
Rennes where the republican army had sought refuge, in order to finish it off and free
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
, the army could then attack
Nantes to return to
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. while meeting with
Charette's army. On the other hand,
Stofflet wanted to return by the shortest road, thus attacking
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 ...
. Finally,
Antoine-Philippe de La Trémoille wanted to attack
Granville again, the town's garrison was reduced and the English seemed more willing to intervene there. This last plan was chosen by the officers, but the Vendéen soldiers refused to obey and rather followed Stofflet's plan. The generals were forced to follow.
The army thus marched to
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 ...
. The Vendéens were no longer worried about the republican troops too busy reorganizing their forces, but they were ravaged by illnesses (
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
,
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
and
cholera) related to
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
caused by their difficulties in supply and in protecting themselves from the cold of the upcoming winter.
The battle
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 ...
was defended by 4,000 republican soldiers commanded by generals
Louis Michel Auguste Thévenet and
Jean-Pierre Boucret. The general
Michel de Beaupuy, who was still recovering from wounds of the
Battle of Entrames, was also present and wished to participate in the battle nonetheless.
On 3 December the Vendéens attacked, but the initial assault wasn't better planned than at
Granville, they spread into the
faubourgs
"Faubourg" () is an ancient French term historically equivalent to " fore-town" (now often termed suburb or ). The earliest form is , derived from Latin , 'out of', and Vulgar Latin (originally Germanic) , 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, thi ...
abandoned by the republicans but without siege weapons they were unable to pass the fortifications.
All day long, the Vendéen artillery of
Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny bombarded the town gates with very limited success.
On 4 December, the Vendéen tried another attack, on the verge of taking the Cupif gate the republican troops led by general
Jean Fortuné Boüin de Marigny arrived as reinforcements. These troops were the avant-garde of the
Army of the West, their arrival provoked panic in Vendéen lines who abandoned the siege and fled back to the North-East, towards
Le Mans.
Although victorious, the general Boüin de Marigny was killed at the end of the battle, hit by a cannon ball.
After the battle, following the orders of
Marie Pierre Adrien Francastel
Marie Pierre Adrien Francastel (1761–1831) was a French politician. During the French Revolution, he was elected to the National Convention from Eure department, and joined the Mountain. Francastel took part, on the Republican side, in the ...
, the decapitated heads of the Vendéens and
Chouans killed during the fighting were exposed on the fortifications.
Pitre-Chevalier also wrote that the
sans-culottes
The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . T ...
, following orders of
Levasseur "made a lustral procession, and burnt the
frankincense of the fatherland to purify the walls from royalist contact".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angers
Conflicts in 1793
Battles of the War in the Vendée
Battles in Pays de la Loire
History of Maine-et-Loire
Sieges involving France
1793 in France
Sieges of the French Revolutionary Wars