Western Civilization - History Of European Society

The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789–1815 407

joined the Jacobin club. His revolutionary politics and
the emigration of royalist officers led to Napoleon’s
rapid promotion. Then, in 1793, Napoleon found him-
self in the right place at the right time. Returning from
Corsica to the south of France shortly after the people
of Toulon had turned their port over to the British,
Napoleon was placed in command of the artillery. In
three months, Napoleon had forced the British to with-
draw. Toulon capitulated to the army of the republic,
and Napoleon became a general at age twenty-five.
The fall of Robespierre resulted in Napoleon’s impris-
onment for Jacobinism, but the republic needed suc-
cessful generals and soon restored his rank. When
royalist demonstrations in Paris threatened the Direc-

tory, General Bonaparte used his artillery, loaded with

small balls (the size of grapes), on the crowd. By killing

demonstrators with “a whiff of grapeshot,” he preserved

the government, won powerful friends, and received his

choice of commands.

French armies were in a strong position in 1795.

The lowland provinces of modern Belgium had been

taken from the Austrians and annexed to France. The

coalition had collapsed over the division of Poland. A

peace treaty with Prussia had given France the left bank

of the Rhine River and recognized a French claim to

Holland. The Dutch had been given their own repub-

lic, the first of several “sister republics” in western Eu-

rope created by French armies (see map 21.1). Spain

ROMAN

REPUBLIC

SPAIN (1798)

FRANCE

BELGIUM

GERMAN

STATES

GREAT

BRITAIN

AUSTRIA

PRUSSIA

HESSE RUSSIA

BADEN

SARDINIA

OTTOMAN

EMPIRE

BATAVIAN

REPUBLIC

(1795)

HOLLAND

PARTHENOPEAN

REPUBLIC

(KINGDOM OF THE

TWO SICILIES)

(1799)

TUSCANY

HELVETIC

REPUBLIC

(1798)

CISALPINE

REPUBLIC

(1797)

LIGURIAN

REPUBLIC

(1797)

DENMARK

Corsica

Marseilles

Naples

Rome

Genoa

Milan Venice

Campo Formio

Vienna

Buda

Berlin

Paris

Valmy

Varennes

London

Bordeaux Lyons

Koblenz

Avignon

Mediterranean Sea

Atlantic

Ocean

North Sea

Rh

ine

R.

Danube

R.

PoR.

Ebr

o

R.

SWEDEN

Balt

icS

ea

Pyr

ene

esM

ts.

Alp

sMt

s.

0 125 250 Miles

0 125 250 375 Kilometers

French Republic

Members of First

Coalition against

France (1792-1797)

Sister Republics

SPAIN

MAP 21.1

The Spread of the French Revolution: The Sister Republics