FRENCH EXPANSION to the RHINE RIVER DURING the WAR of the FIRST COALITION, 1792-1797 Jordan R
CONQUERING THE NATURAL FRONTIER: FRENCH EXPANSION TO THE RHINE RIVER DURING THE WAR OF THE FIRST COALITION, 1792-1797 Jordan R. Hayworth, M.A. Dissertation Prepared for Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2015 APPROVED: Michael V. Leggiere, Major Professor Guy Chet, Committee Member Marie-Christine Weidmann Koop, Committee Member Nancy Stockdale, Committee Member Geoffrey Wawro, Committee Member Richard B. McCaslin, Chair of the Department of History Costas Tsatsoulis, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse Graduate School Hayworth, Jordan R. Conquering the Natural Frontier: French Expansion to the Rhine River during the War of the First Coalition, 1792-1797. Doctor of Philosophy (European History), December 2015, 487 pp., 14 maps, references, 445 titles. After conquering Belgium and the Rhineland in 1794, the French Army of the Sambre and Meuse faced severe logistical, disciplinary, and morale problems that signaled the erosion of its capabilities. The army’s degeneration resulted from a revolution in French foreign policy designed to conquer the natural frontiers, a policy often falsely portrayed as a diplomatic tradition of the French monarchy. In fact, the natural frontiers policy – expansion to the Rhine, the Pyrenees, and the Alps – emerged only after the start of the War of the First Coalition in 1792. Moreover, the pursuit of natural frontiers caused more controversy than previously understood. No less a figure than Lazare Carnot – the Organizer of Victory – viewed French expansion to the Rhine as impractical and likely to perpetuate war. While the war of conquest provided the French state with the resources to survive, it entailed numerous unforeseen consequences.
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