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13 Vendémiaire
13 Vendémiaire, Year 4 in the French Republican Calendar (5 October 1795 in the Gregorian calendar), was a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris. This battle was part of the establishing of a new form of government, the Directory, and it was a major factor in the rapid advancement of Republican General Napoleon Bonaparte's career. Background The social reforms of the French Revolution had been well received by the majority of the populace of France, but the Revolution's strongly anti-Catholic stance had created anti-Republican sympathies in many Roman Catholics. In March 1793, this sentiment boiled over into an armed insurrection in the fiercely Catholic Vendée region of western France. A rebel army titled ''Armée catholique et royale'' now proved to be a thorn in the side of the Revolutionary government in Paris, under leaders such as François de Charette de la Contrie and Maurice d'Elbée. The rebels were known a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chouans
Chouan (, "the silent one", or "owl") is a French nickname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Participants in this revolt – and to some extent French anti-revolutionary activists in general – came to be known as ''Chouans'', and the revolt itself came to be known as the ''Chouannerie''. Origin of the word Jean Cottereau and his brothers all inherited the nickname Chouan from their father, a clog merchant and ''homme honorable'' from Saint-Berthevin in Mayenne, on the border with Brittany. One view is that this nickname originated from his talent for impersonating the cry of the owl (''chouette'' in French), or specifically the tawny owl, which was called ''chouan'' in old French (French ''chat-huant''), a designation that survived in the western ''langue d'oïl'' dialect spoken in Mayenne. According to another authority, the onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Émigré Armies Of The French Revolutionary Wars
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The American Revolution Many Loyalists, who made up large portions of colonial United States particularly in the South, emigrated by choice or were forced to leave the United States during and after the American Revolution. Common destinations were other parts of the British Empire, such as Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, Great Britain, Jamaica, and the British West Indies. The new government often awarded the lands of fleeing Loyalists to Patriot soldiers by way of land grants. The French Revolution Although the French Revolution began in 1789 as a bourgeois-led drive for increased political equality for the Third Estate, it soon turned into a violent popular rebell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Nicolas Stofflet
Jean-Nicolas Stofflet (; 3 February 1753 – 25 February 1796) was a French leader of the Revolt in the Vendée against the First French Republic. Born in Bathelémont-lès-Bauzemont (Meurthe-et-Moselle), the son of a miller, he was for long a private in the Swiss Guard, and afterwards gamekeeper to the comte de Colbert-Maulévrier, he joined the Vendéans when they rose against the Revolution to defend Roman Catholicism and Royalist principles. During the war in Vendée, he served first under Maurice d'Elbée, and fought at Fontenay-le-Comte, Cholet and Saumur, and distinguished himself at the battles of Beaupréau, Laval and Antrain. He was appointed major-general of the Royalist army, and in 1794 succeeded Henri de la Rochejaquelein as commander-in-chief of the Catholic and Royal Army. Stofflet established his headquarters in the Forest of Vezins. But his quarrels with another Vendéan leader, François de Charette, and the defeats sustained by the Vendéan troop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis 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 Column 3. Richard Holmes describes him as "quick-thinking, stern, and ruthless... a general of real talent whose early death was a loss to France." Early life Hoche was born on 24 June 1768 in the village of Montreuil, today part of Versailles, to Anne Merlière and Louis Hoche, a groom at the royal hunting grounds. His mother died when he was two years old, and Hoche was mostly raised by an aunt, who was a fruit-seller in Montreuil, and was educated by his maternal uncle, the parish priest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, who arranged for Hoche to become a choirboy at his church. Early career In 1782, Hoche began working as an aide at the royal stables, but soon left in order to join the Army. He entered the French Guards regiment as a ''fus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guémené-sur-Scorff
Guémené-sur-Scorff (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. Inhabitants of Guémené-sur-Scorff are called ''Guémenois''. Geography Guémené is situated on the Scorff river and is unusual in that it is a commune without any outlying land and it is bounded by the town boundaries only. It is located west of Pontivy. Sights The town is surrounded by wooded hillsides and was the seat of the Dukes of Rohan from the 13th to 15th century. The old castle was destroyed in the building of new houses and many townhouses contain parts of chimney breasts, turret stones and gateway posts. The most impressive sight is the 14th century ''Porterie'' - the entrance to what was the old castle. An important market town, Guémené is valued for its ancient buildings that make up the town center and careful renovation of the same. One of Brittany's oldest taverns, ''Les Trois Marchands'', has been serving customers since the mid 17th century. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Convention
The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether. The Convention sat as a single-chamber assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire IV under the Convention's adopted calendar). The Convention came about when the Legislative Assembly decreed the provisional suspension of King Louis XVI and the convocation of a National Convention to draw up a new constitution with no monarchy. The other major innovation was to decree that deputies to that Convention should be elected by all Frenchmen 21 years old or more, domiciled for a year and living by the product of their labor. The National Convent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermidorian Reaction
In the historiography of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction ( or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II, or 27 July 1794, and the inauguration of the French Directory on 2 November 1795. The Thermidorian Reaction was named after the month in which the coup took place and was the latter part of the National Convention's rule of France. It was marked by the end of the Reign of Terror, decentralization of executive powers from the Committee of Public Safety, and a turn from the radical Jacobin policies of the Montagnard Convention to more moderate positions. Economic and general populism, dechristianization, and harsh wartime measures were largely abandoned, as the members of the convention, disillusioned and frightened of the centralized government of the Terror, preferred a more stable political order that would have the approval of the plurality ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Savenay
The Battle of Savenay took place on 23 December 1793, and marks the end of the Virée de Galerne operational phase of the War in the Vendée, first war in the Vendée after the French Revolution. A Republican force of approximately 18,000 decisively defeated the Catholic and Royal Army, Armée Catholique et Royale force of 6,000 at Savenay. Prelude After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Le Mans (1793), battle of Le Mans on 12 December 1793, a few thousand Vendéens fled to Laval, Mayenne, Laval and then to Ancenis, hoping to cross the Loire back into Vendée. Without boats, crossing the river was impossible. Hence the Vendéens built small boats and approximately 4,000 people, including Henri de La Rochejaquelein and Jean-Nicolas Stofflet, managed to cross before the arrival of Republican ships. The Vendéen rear guard was stranded to the north of the Loire and tried another way around. They went to Blain, Loire-Atlantique, Blain, 35 km north of Nantes, but had to go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infernal Columns
The infernal columns () 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 August 1793 and 1 October 1793 by the National Convention of laws, the National Convention stated that the goal was to exterminate "brigands" in the area south of the river Loire (the so-called Vendée), 12 army columns were formed and sent through the Vendée to exterminate the local anti-Republican population. In January 1794, Turreau wrote to the National Convention's Minister for War, to lay out his proposed tactics: "My purpose is to burn everything, to leave nothing but what is essential to establish the necessary quarters for exterminating the rebels." It has been estimated that from 16,000 to 40,000 inhabitants were killed during the first quarter of 1794. Nicolas Delahaye et Pierre-Marie Gaborit, ''Les 12 Colonnes infernales de Turreau'' (in French), p. 53. The e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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-revolution, he commanded the execution of 4,000 civilians, mainly priests, women and children in Nantes, some by drowning in the river Loire, which Carrier described as "the National Bathtub." After the fall of the Robespierre government, Carrier was tried for war crimes by the Revolutionary Tribunal, found guilty, and executed. Early life Carrier was born at Yolet, a village near Aurillac in upper Auvergne, as the fourth of six children born to Jean Carrier and Marguerite Puex. As the son of a middle class tenant farmer, Carrier and his family survived on income reaped from cultivating the land of a French nobleman. After attending a Jesuit school in Aurillac, he was able to pursue a wide variety of career interests. Carrier worked in a law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
