Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1978 Jacobin General; Jean Baptiste Jourdan and the French Revolution; 1792 - 1799. (Volumes I and II). Lawrence Joseph Fischer Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Fischer, Lawrence Joseph, "Jacobin General; Jean Baptiste Jourdan and the French Revolution; 1792 - 1799. (Volumes I and II)." (1978). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3228. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3228 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7.903123 FISCHER, LAWRENCE JOSEPH JACOBIN GENERAL; JEAN BAPTISTE JOURDAN AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION; 1792 - 1799. (VOLUMES I AND II) THE LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COL., PH.D., 1978 University MicrcJilms International 300 n.zeeb road, ann arbor,8toe mi « Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. JACOBIN GENERAL; JEAN BAPTISTE JOURDAN AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION; 1792 - 1799 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree cf Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Lawrence Joseph Fischer B.S., Loyola College of Baltimore, 1969 M.A., University of Delaware, 1974 August 1978 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would have been impossible without the help, encouragement, and patience of Dr. James Hardy, and without the editorial assistance of Dr. Gary Crump, Dr. Patrick Lipscomb, Dr. Karl Roider Jr. and Dr. T. Harry Williams. I would also like to thank the staffs of the French Archives de la Guerre at the Chateau de Vincennes and of the Louisiana State University Library for their assistance in researching this book. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the many students who have tolerated my grading and my lectures while I have been a graduate assis­ tant at L.S.U. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I Pa9e Preface vi I. Youth and Early Career 1 II. The Revolutionary Zirmy in 1793 23 1. The Beginnings of the Revolutionary Army 23 2. Jourdan's Predecessors; The Hondschoote Campaign 48 III. Terror and Generalship 87 IV. Commander in Chief of the Army of the Nord 129 1. Wattignies 129 2. The Aftermath of Wattignies; Dismissal 154 VOLUME II V. The Year of Victory; 1794 189 1. Fleurus 189 2. The Completion of the Revolutionary Army 225 3. The Advance to the Rhine 242 VI. Limited War; The Campaign of 1795 262 1. The Operations Around Mayence 262 2. War and Depression 296 VII. The Campaign of 1796 318 1. The Advance 318 2. The Retreat 346 VIII. Jacobin Politician; 1797-1799 380 1. Councilor in the "500". 380 2. Stockach 400 3. Towards Brumaire; The Failure of the Jacobins 422 IX. Epilogue 454 BIBLIOGRAPHY 462 MAPS 469 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Fischer, Lawrence Joseph- B.A. Loyola College, 1969 M.A., University of Delaware, 1975. Doctor of Philosophy, Summer Commencement, 197 8. Major: European History; Minor: Ancient History Jacobin General; Jean Baptiste Jourdan and the French Revolt.uion; 1792-1799. Dissertation directed by professor James Hardy. Pages in Dissertation, 477 Words in Abstract, 234 This work is a study of the totality of revolutionary warfare through the eyes of a general who waged it. Revolu­ tionary warfare during the French Revolution was a unique condition. In addition to the normal problems of strategy, tactics, and administration, it confronted its generals with stupendous problems of personnel, organization, logistics, and political control. Jean Baptiste Jourdan faced all of these problems throughout his difficult career as a general and an army commander during the conflicts of the French Revolution from 1792 to 1799. He assumed command of his first army at the height of the Terror when these problems were most acute, and while other generals buckled under the pressures of their commands to be arrested and often guillo­ tined, Jourdan led his army to a series of victories which saved the Revolution from extinction. He was integrally involved in the creation of the French revolutionary army and in the development of the new methods of waging war which enabled the Revolution to survive, and which later allowed Napoleon to conquer half of Europe. In short, Jourdan's career is a paradigm of the way other generals of the period dealt with the problems of revolutionary warfare. In re- iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. searching this.work, the author has relied most heavily upon the resources of the French War Archives at the Chateau de Vincennes, and upon several printed document collections such as the Correspondence Generale de Carnot. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to investigate the career of a general of the French Revolution: Jean Bap­ tiste Jourdan. Jourdan's career as a soldier, politician and revolutionary is of importance and interest on a number of counts. He was a general officer throughout the con­ flicts of t^e Revolution from 1792 to 1799 a period of warfare unique in military history. War during the vast and earthshattering upheavals of the French Revolution in­ volved problems unparalleled in their newness and intensity. In addition to the normal difficulties of strategy and tac­ tics, administration and supply, the revolution confronted its commanders with stupendous problems of personnel, organization, logistics, and political control. A revolu­ tionary general such as Jourdan was obliged to be a singular type of commander; he had to be a front line minister of war as well as a battle captain. His task was to organize, staff, and maintain a brand new army employing an innovative and untried system of warfare under conditions of acute political and social turmoil at the same time he was attempt­ ing to defeat a competent and dangerous enemy. The Revolu­ tion had destroyed the traditional; Jourdan's task was to help create the modern. Because Jourdan served as an officer, and usually as an army commander, during the long, difficult struggles vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of the Revolution, his career is an ideal paradigm of the way other generals of the period dealt with the problems of revolutionary warfare. He assumed command of his first army during the height of the Terror, and while other gene­ rals buckled under the extreme pressures of their commands to be arrested and often guillotined, Jourdan survived the pressure, led his army to vicLory— and kept his head. His triumphs at Wattignies and Fleurus enabled the Revolution to survive the attempts of the First Coalition to destroy it by military force. He was integrally involved in the creation of the French revolutionary army and in the development of the new methods of total war that caused the Revolution to survive, enabled Napoleon to conquer half of Europe — and have influenced the waging of war to the present day. He was a key figure both as an army commander and a politician in the miasma of Directorial politics until Napoleon Bona­ parte liquidated the Directory in 1799.