{{flagicon|Kingdom of France}}[[Chouans]]"},"strength1":{"wt":"[[Armée de l'Ouest]]
~50,000–100,000 (?)"},"strength2":{"wt":"60,000 to 100,000 people of which:
20,000–30,000 Vendéens
6,000–10,000 Chouans
30,000–60,000 non-combatants
(old people,wounded,women and children)"},"casualties1":{"wt":"~ 10,000 dead (?)"},"casualties2":{"wt":"50,000–70,000 dead"},"commanders1":{"wt":"[[Jean-Baptiste Kléber|Kléber]]
[[François-Joseph Westermann|Westermann]]
[[François-Séverin Marceau|Marceau]]
[[Jean Léchelle|Léchelle]] †
[[Bouin de Marigny]] †
[[Michel Armand de Bacharetie de Beaupuy|Beaupuy]]
[[Jean Antoine Rossignol|Rossignol]]
[[Louis Michel Auguste Thévenet|Thévenet]]
[[Simon Canuel|Canuel]]"},"commanders2":{"wt":"[[Henri du Vergier de La Rochejacquelein|La Rochejacquelein]]
[[Stofflet]]
[[Prince de Talmont|Talmont]] †
[[Louis Marie de Lescure|Lescure]] †
[[Jacques Nicolas Fleuriot de La Fleuriais|Fleuriot]]
[[Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny|Bernard de Marigny]]
[[Lyrot de la Patouillère|Lyrot]] †
[[Charles Augustin de Royrand|Royrand]] †"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwBw">@media all and (min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .desktop-float-right{box-sizing:border-box;float:right;clear:right}}.mw-parser-output .infobox.vevent .status>p:first-child{margin:0}
Virée de Galerne | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the war in the Vendée | |||||||
The wounded General Lescure crosses the Loire at Saint-Florent | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Republicans | Vendéens Chouans | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Armée de l'Ouest ~50,000–100,000 (?) | 60,000 to 100,000 people of which: 20,000–30,000 Vendéens 6,000–10,000 Chouans 30,000–60,000 non-combatants (old people, wounded, women and children) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
~ 10,000 dead (?) | 50,000–70,000 dead |
The Virée de Galerne was a military operation of the war in the Vendée during the French Revolutionary Wars across Brittany and Normandy. It takes its name from French virée (turn) and Breton gwalarn (northwest wind).
It concerns the Vendean army's crossing of the river Loire after their defeat in the Battle of Cholet on 17 October 1793 and its march to Granville in the hope of finding reinforcements there from England. Unable to take Granville on 14 November 1793, it fell back towards Savenay (23 December 1793) where it was completely destroyed by Republican troops under Kléber. The battle of Savenay marked the end of what would come to be called the First War in the Vendée .
On 17 October 1793, the Republican Army of the West coordinated an attack on the Vendéen Royalists and squeezed them into a pocket at Cholet. Encircled, the Catholic and Royal Army of Anjou and Haut-Poitou desperately attempted to resist but were decisively beaten. In the battle, Charles de Bonchamps was mortally wounded and 8,000 Vendéen Royalists were estimated to be killed, wounded or missing in action. With no choice, the Vendéen forces chose to take the only escape route open and fall back first to Beaupréau to the northwest then later to Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, where they were cornered in a bend of the river Loire. [1]
The Army of the West finally managed to coordinate their attacks properly and defeat the Vendéen forces. After the battle of Cholet however, they made the mistake of believing the war had been definitively won, so they delayed their attack on Saint-Florent-le-Vieil. When they finally entered the town, it was deserted. Until October, the main weakness of the Republican troops was their lack of coordination, due to their division into several armies, and the rivalries of their leaders. The Committee of Public Safety put an end to this division when, on October 1st, it ordered the creation of a single army under a single command: the Army of the West. This army, created by the merger of the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, the Army of Mainz and the Nantes staff, previously under the command of the Army of the Coasts of Brest, was placed under the command of general sans-culotte Jean Léchelle. However, his incompetence soon became well known. As a result, several representatives-on-mission unofficially granted command to Jean-Baptiste Kléber. The main officers of this army were Michel Armand de Bacharetie de Beaupuy, Nicolas Haxo, François-Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, François-Joseph Westermann and Alexis Chalbos. These generals were accompanied and supervised by several representatives-on-mission, including Antoine Merlin de Thionville, Pierre Bourbotte, Pierre-Louis Prieur and Jean-Baptiste Carrier. When the Army set out in pursuit of the Vendéens, it was 30,000 men strong.
North of the Loire, the Republican forces of the Army of the Coasts of Brest, commanded by general Jean Antoine Rossignol, were dispersed. This army, tasked with protecting the coast against an English attack or landing, controlled Brittany and Maine, but its troops were mainly concentrated in coastal towns. Also, inland, Republican troops, underestimating the Vendéens, were systematically swept aside. Soon, they had to ask for reinforcements from the Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg, based in Normandy. The Vendéens managed to reach Laval without encountering any serious resistance, and these few easy victories even had the advantage of boosting their morale. The Republicans reacted by mobilising 1,500 national guards from Manche and 3,000 volunteers from Brittany, mainly from Trégor and Cornouaille who joined the Republican army with enthusiasm. [2]
After occupying Varades, the Vendéen general staff decided to march on Laval, in the former lands of the Prince of Talmont. The latter was convinced that his influence would provoke an insurrection in the country. On 20 October, the Vendeans reached Candé, then Château-Gontier on the 21st, meeting little resistance. On 22 October, they seized Laval after a short battle. The generals then decided to give their men a few days' rest. However, on the same day, the Republican forces of the Army of the West crossed the Loire at Angers and Nantes, determined to pursue the "Brigands". Only Nicolas Haxo remained in the Vendée with his division, in order to fight Charette's troops. On 25 October, the Republican vanguard, 4,000 men strong, commanded by Westermann and Beaupuy, entered Château-Gontier. The republicans were exhausted, but Westermann refused to wait for the bulk of the army and, the very next day, he launched an attack on Laval. It was a rout for the Republican forces who lost 1,600 men at Croix-Bataille. [3]
The next day, Westermann was joined at Villiers-Charlemagne by the rest of the army, commanded by Jean Léchelle. He immediately decided to launch a new attack. Despite the opposition of Kléber, who wanted to rest the troops, the Republicans attacked Laval again on 26 October. The stupidity of Léchelle's plan caused a new rout in the vicinity of Entrammes, and the Republicans had to flee to Lion-d'Angers. In the pursuit, the Vendeans even retook Château-Gontier where General Beaupuy was seriously wounded. The Republicans had 4,000 killed and wounded out of 20,000 men; the Vendeans had only 400 dead and 1,200 wounded out of 25,000 men. [4]
A few days later, Léchelle was arrested on the orders of Merlin de Thionville and sent to Nantes, where he committed suicide on 11 November. The day after the battle, as the Vendéens returned to Laval, Kléber decided to return to Angers with the army in order to reorganize his forces. The representatives appointed Alexis Chalbos as acting general-in-chief. [5]
François Joseph Westermann was a French revolutionary and military leader during the French Revolution. He is best known as one of the main French Republican commanders in the initial stage of the War in the Vendée.
Generalissimo Jacques Cathelineau was a French Vendéan insurrectionist leader during the Revolution. He was known among his followers as the Saint of Anjou.
The War in the Vendée was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loire in western France. Initially, the revolt was similar to the 14th-century Jacquerie peasant uprising, but the Vendée quickly became counter-revolutionary and Royalist. The revolt headed by the newly formed Catholic and Royal Army was comparable to the Chouannerie, which took place in the area north of the Loire.
Henri du Vergier, comte de la Rochejaquelein was the youngest general of the Royalist Vendéan insurrection during the French Revolution. At the age of 21, he served as commander-in-chief of the Catholic and Royal Army.
The Chouannerie was a royalist uprising or counter-revolution in twelve of the western départements of France, particularly in the provinces of Brittany and Maine, against the First Republic during the French Revolution. It played out in three phases and lasted from spring 1794 to 1800. The revolt was comparable to the War in the Vendée, which took place in the Vendée region.
The Second Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Jean Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Maurice d'Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; he was later executed by Republican troops in Noirmoutier. The Royalist insurgent, Charles Melchior Artus de Bonchamps, was fatally wounded in the battle.
The Catholic and Royal Armies is the name given to the royalist armies in western France composed of insurgents during the war in the Vendée and the Chouannerie, who opposed the French Revolution.
The Battle of Savenay took place on 23 December 1793, and marks the end of the Virée de Galerne operational phase of the first war in the Vendée after the French Revolution. A Republican force of approximately 18,000 decisively defeated the Armée Catholique et Royale force of 6,000 at Savenay.
The Army of the West was one of the French Revolutionary Armies that was sent to fight in the War in the Vendée in western France. The army was created on 2 October 1793 by merging the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, the so-called Army of Mayence and part of the Army of the Coasts of Brest. In 1793 the army or its component forces fought at Second Châtillon, First Noirmoutier, La Tremblaye, Cholet, Laval, Entrames, Fougères, Granville, Dol, Angers, Le Mans and Savenay. After the main Vendean army was crushed, the revolt evolved into guerilla warfare and there were few pitched battles. In 1794 Louis Marie Turreau tried to suppress the rebellion with extremely brutal methods using the infamous infernal columns. Calmer heads finally prevailed and Turreau was recalled. On 6 January 1796, the army was absorbed into the newly formed Army of the Coasts of the Ocean. The Army of the West came into existence a second time on 17 January 1800 and was finally suppressed on 21 May 1802.
Jean Léchelle or Jean L'Échelle briefly commanded a French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. Having served in the French Royal Army as a youth, the outbreak of the French Revolution found him employed as a fencing master. He was elected to lead a volunteer National Guard battalion which fought at Valmy and Jemappes in 1792. He earned promotion to general officer after distinguishing himself at the Siege of Valenciennes and saving a representative from an angry mob. He won such favor with the politicians and the war office that he was rapidly catapulted into command of an army in the War in the Vendée. After the capable battalion leader demonstrated his total unfitness for the post of army commander, he was just as quickly arrested and thrown into prison where he died, a probable suicide.
The Battle of Le Mans was a combat in the Virée de Galerne, an operation during the War in the Vendée. It resulted in the rout of the Vendéen forces by Republican troops.
The siege of Angers was a siege of the French town of Angers on 3 December 1793 in the War in the Vendée.
The Battle of Dol was a succession of battles in the war in the Vendée. They lasted three days and two nights from 20 to 22 November 1793 around Dol-de-Bretagne, Pontorson and Antrain.
The Vendéens repelled an offensive by the Republicans against the town of Dol-de-Bretagne, then counterattacked and stormed Antrain, where the patriots' headquarters were located. The Republican forces suffered one of their heaviest defeats of the conflict and retreated to Rennes.
The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle was an army of the French Revolution which was created on 30 April 1793 and responsible for defending a region from the mouth of the Loire River south to the Gironde. Despite its relatively short existence, the army fought numerous battles during the War in the Vendée including Thouars, Fontenay-le-Comte, Saumur, First Châtillon, Vihiers, Luçon, Chantonnay, Coron and Saint-Fulgent. Many of the battles resulted in Republican defeats at the hands of the Vendean Royalists. Of the two principal army commanders, Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron was dismissed and later executed by guillotine while Jean Antoine Rossignol was a political appointee who was generally acknowledged to be incompetent. The army was absorbed by the Army of the West on 5 October 1793.
The First Battle of Châtillon during the War in the Vendée saw the Vendean Royalists defeat a French Republican raiding force led by François-Joseph Westermann. The rebel Catholic and Royal Army virtually destroyed the Republican column, only Westermann and a few hundred cavalrymen escaped the disaster. The Vendée revolt was a bitter civil war waged between those who supported the French Revolution and rural farmers who resented the new government's anti-Catholic laws and conscription decrees.
The battle of La Tremblaye, part of the war in the Vendée, took place near Cholet, and was a Republican victory over the Vendéens.
The battle of Laval took place on 22 October 1793, during the war in the Vendée and saw Vendéen victory over republican troops. This is the first major battle of a particular episode of the war called the Virée de Galerne.
Charles Aimé de Royrand became a Vendean leader in the War in the Vendée, a revolt against the French Revolution. He joined the French Royal Army and served in an infantry regiment during the American Revolutionary War before retiring to his estates in 1780. When the Vendean insurrection broke out in 1793 he was chosen as the leader of the southern army. He led rebel forces at Luçon, Cholet and Entrames. He was fatally wounded at Entrames on 26 October and died at Baugé-en-Anjou.
The Battle of Noirmoutier was a confrontation in the War in the Vendée which took place on 3 January 1794 between the Republicans and the Vendeans for control of the island of Noirmoutier.
The Battle of Chemillé, also referred to as the Clash of Chemillé, occurred on April 11, 1793, during the War in the Vendée. The Vendéens emerged triumphant, repelling the Republicans' assault on the town of Chemillé.
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