Siege of Toulon (1793)

Siege of Toulon (1793)

Part of: First Coalition War

Allied capture of Toulon

date	September 18, 1793 to December 18, 1793
place	Toulon
output	French victory.

Parties to the conflict
Great Britain Spain Naples Sardinia French Royalists	France
Commander
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood , Charles O'Hara , Juan de Lángara , Federico Carlos Gravina y Nápoli	Jean-François Carteaux , François Amédée Doppet , Jacques François Dugommier
Troop strength
18,000 men	32,000 men
losses
4000 men	2000 men

Figures on strength ratios and losses differ in the literature

The capture and siege of Toulon lasted from September 18 to December 18, 1793. The city had previously turned away from the rule of the Jacobins and handed them and the important naval port of Toulon over to the Allies under the leadership of the British. At times they thought of promoting the counter-revolution from there. The French government troops initially besieged the city, led by incompetent commanders, in vain, before command passed to Jacques François Dugommier . The conquest of the city was largely based on the plans of Napoleon Bonaparte , who was still subordinate at the time . After the fall, the victors exercised a bloody criminal court.

Allied occupation of Toulon

The disempowerment of the Girondins by the radical Jacobins led to unrest in various parts of France. In Lyon and Marseilles , the Jacobins were temporarily driven out. Something similar happened in Toulon. The Jacobins suppressed the uprising in Marseilles and the Commissioner Paul de Barras in particular provided a draconian punishment for the losers.

Against this background, the leading citizens of Toulon negotiated together with royalist fleet officers with the Allies under Admiral Hood and Admiral Lángara . They opened the city with the French naval port on August 28th for the English and Spanish fleets. On August 29, the British-Spanish fleet entered the Rade de Toulon. Admiral Saint-Julien then ordered his ships combat readiness at, only four of 17 vessels (the Duguay-Trouin under the command of Julien Cosmao, the Commerce de Marseille commanded by the team that Tonnant and Commerce de Bordeaux from Saint-Julien.) Obeyed the order. They refused to leave Petite rade bay. The British were then able to go ashore unhindered in Toulon.

With that, all forts, weapons, supplies and the French warships fell into the hands of the Allies. Admiral Hood took the city in the name of Louis XVII. owned and promised to return the city to France after the war and the end of the revolution. The rebels now also sided with the royalists.

The Hood Declaration arose out of the situation and was not coordinated with the government under William Pitt in London and contradicted their previous policy. However, the taking of Toulons provided Pitt with tailwind in a severe government crisis. Toulon became an important theater of war for Pitt. Everything was done to assemble a strong British and Allied army in Toulon in order to finally be able to go on the offensive from there. The hopes, however, that the capture of Toulon would lead to more cities in the south joining the counter-revolution openly, were not fulfilled. The Comte de Provence, who later became Louis XVIII. , planned to go to Toulon to promote the royalist cause. This was prevented by the British government because it was feared that the Comte could act there as regent of France.

The Allies subsequently brought a strong army into the city. The city and the fortifications were occupied by Spanish (4000 men), Neapolitan (4000 men), Sardinian (2000 men) and English (8000 men) units. The total number of Allied soldiers was 18,000 men. There were also French royalists. The troops also occupied the defensive positions on the heights above the city. A strong Anglo-Spanish fleet was protecting against attack from the sea. This had 12 ships of the line with a total of 900 cannons.

siege

With the occupation of Toulon, the government in Paris had lost the decisive basis for control of the Mediterranean. It was therefore of great importance for them to regain the city. Therefore a siege army was sent to Toulon. The besiegers with initially around 12,000-14,000 men were initially commanded by General Carteaux. A short time later they were reinforced by another 4,000 men from the Italian army. Jean-François Carteaux was appointed general by the French National Convention because of his political stance and was supposed to lead the siege of Toulon. The commander of the artillery was Napoleon Bonaparte. This was his first higher command.

It was clear to him that the French guns against the Allied fleet could only be successful if they were placed at the extreme point of the Colline du Caire peninsula and its foothills l'Eguilette and Balaguier. The local government commissioners and officers agreed. The Welfare Committee in Paris rejected the plan. Instead, General Carteaux let the city attack with his too weak forces. The defenders managed to repel the attackers without major problems. As a result, they fortified the weak point envisaged by Napoleon.

There were efforts within the French commanders and commissioners on the ground to have the commander replaced. Napoleon also took part in dismantling the general with correspondingly negative reports to the government in Paris. Paris initially sent an artillery general, while Napoleon was appointed deputy artillery chief and major. Ultimately, it was Napoleon who was actually in charge of the artillery. Carteaux was finally deposed on October 25th. His successor, a former dentist, also turned out to be completely unsuitable for the post. He was replaced by General Dugommier in mid-November after the fall of Lyon. This ultimately had 32,000 men and 100 guns.

Recapture of Toulon by the French troops : German re-engraving of a French revolutionary picture by Samuel Gysin from 1816 after Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines

He recognized the quality of Napoleon's ideas and approved them. First attempts to position the artillery to bombard the enemy defense failed when the besieged fell on November 29th. Napoleon led the troops to recapture the batteries. The English general O'Hara, at that time commander in chief and governor of the city, came into French hands. Since December 11th, the guns were brought close to Fort Mulgrave (named after the British commander, Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave ). The fortifications came under massive fire at close range. On December 17th, the defenders' guns were finally destroyed. A first attack on the positions failed, a second attempt led by Napoleon was successful. He was wounded in the process.

This enabled the Allied fleet to be attacked with cannons in the port from this position. The fleet and the Allied troops left the city in a hurry. Before the withdrawal, 14 French warships were destroyed, another 15 warships were taken. The arsenal, forts and magazines were destroyed. On December 18, French troops stormed Toulon.

consequences

The forces of the National Convention entered the city on December 19th. Around 15,000 citizens had already been brought to safety by the British by ship to Valletta .

The revenge on the remaining 7,000 inhabitants by the People's Deputies Paul de Barras and Louis-Marie Stanislas Fréron was bloody. Seven to eight hundred people were shot dead by December 31 on the Field of Mars on allegations made by the republican prisoners freed from the so-called Thémistocle .

At the same time, the Revolutionary Commission pronounced another 290 convictions.

For Napoleon, the success of Toulon was an important factor in his coming ascent. He was promoted to Général de brigade on December 22nd , after the healing of his wound in early 1794, appointed in command of the Armée d'Italie .

On December 24, 1793, the National Convention passed a decree:

«Le nom infâme de Toulon est supprimé. Cette commune portera désormais le nom de "Port-la-Montagne". »

“The infamous name Toulon has been abolished. From now on this municipality will be called "Port-la-Montagne". "

On December 30th, a victory ceremony was held on the Field of Mars in Paris.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gaston Bodart: Military-historical War Lexicon, (1618-1905). Vienna 1908, p. 290.
2. ↑ Rade de Toulon is the name given to the two bays in front of the port of Toulon, Grande rade the outer and larger, Petite rade the inner, smaller bay.
3. ^ Albert Soboul (dir.): Dictionnaire historique de la Révolution française. Quadrige / PUF, 1989, p. 1041, entrée “Toulon” by Michel Vovelle
4. ↑ At what time the re-naming took place is not known.

literature

• Johannes Willms: Napoleon. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-58586-8 , pp. 47-51.
• Robert Forcyk: Toulon 1793. Napoleon's first great victory. Oxford 2005.
• Tony Jaques: Dictionary of battles and sieges. Vol. 3, Westport 2007, p. 1029.
• Michael Wagner: England and the French counter-revolution 1789–1802. Munich 1994, ISBN 3-486-56066-2 .
• Malcom Crook: Toulon in war and revolution. From the ancien regime to the restoration 1750-1820. Manchester 1991.

Web links

• Stefan Winkle: The epidemic of the Napoleonic campaigns - Prologue Valmy 1792. ( Memento from March 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 659 kB). In: Hamburger Ärzteblatt. 2/07, pp. 58-63.