The national conscript armies raised by the revolutionary republic begin to succeed militarily in December.

Dugommier, while a Deputy of the French Convention, succeeds General Jean François Carteaux as commander of the army besieging Toulon.

Without the Austrian reinforcements the defenders of Toulon are outnumbered and outflanked, coming under sustained attack by French troops directed by twenty-four-year-old artillery officer Captain Napoleon Bonaparte.

The assault on the position, during which Bonaparte is wounded in the thigh, leads to the capture of the city and his promotion to brigadier general at the age of twenty-four.

On December 17, French troops seize the high ground over the city and the allies are forced into a chaotic withdrawal.

As Hood's ships remove the garrison and more than fourteen thousand refugees from the city, boat parties led by Sir Sidney Smith attempt to destroy the French fleet and dockyards with fireships.

These efforts are only partially successful: fifteen ships of the line and five frigates survive the conflagration to form the nucleus of the French Mediterranean Fleet in the war to come.

By the evening of December 18, Toulon is firmly in Republican hands.

France has been at war since early 1792 with four of its neighbors on two fronts, battling Austria and Prussia in the Austrian Netherlands, and the Austrians and Piedmontese in Italy.

On January 2, 1793, almost one year into the French Revolutionary War, republican-held forts at Brest in Brittany had fired on the British brig HMS Childers.

A few weeks later, following the execution of the imprisoned King Louis XVI, diplomatic ties between Britain and France had ben broken.

On February 1 France had declared war on both Britain and the Dutch Republic.

Protected from immediate invasion by the English Channel, Britain had prepared for an extensive naval campaign and dispatched troops to the Netherlands for service against the French.

Throughout the remainder of 1793, the British and French navies had undertaken minor operations in Northern waters, the Mediterranean and the West and East Indies, where both nations maintain olonies.

The closest the Channel Fleet had come to an engagement was when it had narrowly missed intercepting the French convoy from the Caribbean, escorted by fifteen ships of the line on August 2.

The only major clash had been the Siege of Toulon, a confused and bloody affair in which the British force holding the town—alongside Spanish, Sardinian, Austrian and French Royalist troops—had to be evacuated by the Royal Navy to prevent its imminent defeat at the hands of the French Republican army.

The aftermath of this siege had been punctuated by recriminations and accusations of cowardice and betrayal among the allies, eventually resulting in Spain switching allegiance with the signing of the Treaty of San Ildefonso two years later.

Nevertheless, the siege had produced one major success: Sir Sidney Smith, with parties of sailors from the retreating British fleet, had accomplished the destruction of substantial French naval stores and shipping in Toulon.

More might have been achieved had the Spanish raiding parties that accompanied Smith not been issued with secret orders to stall the destruction of the French fleet.

The situation in Europe remains volatile into 1794.

Off Northern France, the French Atlantic Fleet had mutinied due to errors in provisions and pay.

In consequence, the French Navy officer corps has suffered greatly from the effects of the Reign of Terror, with many experienced sailors being executed, imprisoned or dismissed from the service for perceived disloyalty.

The shortage of provisions is more than a navy problem though; France itself is starving because the social upheavals of the previous year had combined with a harsh winter to ruin the harvest.

By this time at war with all her neighbors, France has nowhere to turn for overland imports of fresh provisions.

Eventually a solution to the food crisis is agreed by the National Convention: food produced in France's overseas colonies will be concentrated on board a fleet of merchant ships gathered in Chesapeake Bay, and augmented with food and goods purchased from the United States.

During April and May 1794, the merchantmen have convoyed the supplies across the Atlantic to Brest, protected by elements of the French Atlantic Fleet.

Both Jazzar and his predecessor, Dahir, have presided over a tightly controlled Palestine, where trade with Europe as well as taxation is increasing.

They have used their new wealth from these sources to gain influence in Istanbul, which allows them to gain local autonomy and even intermittent control of many areas outside Palestine.

This period ends with Bonaparte's abortive attempt to carve for himself a Middle Eastern empire, during which he considers establishing a Jewish state in the ancient lands of Israel.

Bonaparte, claiming that Jazzar had insulted his envoy, who had proposed the establishment of good relations and the improvement of commercial links, besieges the key port of Acre.

However, his siege artillery is lost to a Royal Navy flotilla under Commodore Sir William Sidney Smith.

Unable now to batter down the ancient walls of the city, the French attempt to seize it at bayonet point, but eight assaults fail to dislodge the Turkish defenders.

Acre is finally relieved when thirty Ottoman ships land 10,000 Anglo-Turkish troops.

With his army weakened by disease—mostly bubonic plague—and poor supplies, Bonaparte orders the burning of the harvest in the surrounding area and, for the first time in his career, is forced to retreat.

Kléber views the situation of the expeditionary force with pessimism and, like many of the soldiers, wishes to return to the theater of war in Europe.

On January 24, 1800, he signs a convention with Sir Sydney Smith by which the French are to evacuate their troops from Egypt.

However, Smith, the British naval commander in the eastern Mediterranean, has exceeded his powers and is instructed by his superior officer, Admiral Lord Keith, to require the French to surrender as prisoners of war.

Kléber had reopened hostilities, although the Ottoman reoccupation was well underway, defeating a Turkish army at Heliopolis (near Cairo) on March 20 and recapturing Cairo on April 21.

He has begun to restore French authority when a Syrian Muslim, Sulayman al-Halab, assassinates him on June 14.

His successor, 'Abd Allah Jacques Menou, a French officer (and former nobleman) who had turned Muslim, is determined to maintain the occupation and administers at first a tolerably settled country, although he lacks the prestige of his two predecessors.

The French have crushed all Neapolitan resistance by July 1806, except for the uprising in Calabria and a garrison at Gaeta, where André Masséna's force has become embroiled in a lengthy siege.

The British, rather than supporting the defenders or relieving the siege, decide to organize an expedition into Calabria to further the insurrection against the French, and prevent any potential invasion of Sicily.

A British force of over five thousand men commanded by Major-General John Stuart had sailed from Messina on June 27, landing in the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia three days later.

At the same time a French force under the command of General Jean Reynier, the only French force in Calabria, had moved to confront them.

The exact size of the French force is unknown.

Contemporary French sources range between five thousand and fifty and fifty-four hundred and fifty.

Some later historians have suggested a force as large as sixty-four hundred but the most recent estimates are closer to fifty-four hundred.

The British force defeats the French force on July 4 at the Battle of Maida.

Stuart's fifty-one hundred and ninety-six-man force suffers forty-five killed and two hundred and eighty-two wounded for a total of three hundred and twenty-seven casualties.

Reynier loses four hundred and ninety killed and eight hundred and seventy wounded out of a total of sixty-four hundred and forty soldiers.

In addition, the British have captured seven hundred and twenty-two French soldiers and four cannon.

Another authority asserts that the French saved their guns.

The French 1st Light Infantry has lost fifty percent of its strength between killed, wounded, and prisoner.

The action involving the 1st Light Infantry had lasted only fifteen minutes.

Stuart had ordered Sir James Kempt's Advanced Guard to observe Reynier's withdrawal while he and Sidney Smith discussed future actions.

They had decided to move south and pick off Reynier's garrisons on July 6.

That day, a half-battalion of the Polish-Italian Legion in the town of Vibo Valentia (Monteleone di Calabria) had urrendered to Stuart.

Three more companies of Poles had lain down their arms in Tropea on July when summoned by Captain Edward Fellowes in the frigate HMS Apollo.

Reggio Calabria surrenders on July 9 to Brigadier General Broderick with twelve hundred British and Neapolitan troops.

The allies had been transported from Sicily in the frigate HMS Amphion under Captain William Hoste.

On this occasion, six hundred and thirty-two soldiers from the 1st Light and 42nd Line Infantry Regiments are captured.

The long Siege of Gaeta ends when on July 18 when the Neapolitan garrison capitulates after the French siege artillery breaches Gaeta's walls; a major setback for the allies.

Stuart and Smith, by marching south, had missed a chance to intervene in the siege or to land at Naples and attempt to overthrow Joseph's government.

The surrender frees Masséna's force for operations in Calabria.

In Stuart's defense, his expedition has successfully accomplished its main objective, which is to prevent any early invasion of Sicily.

He has also lengthened the revolt, which the French will not bring under control until 1807.

Stuart, marching south, had  reached Reggio on July 23.

Before returning to Sicily, he and Smith mop up all of Reynier's garrisons in southern Calabria.

The fortress of Scilla and two hundred and eighty-one soldiers of the 23rd Light Infantry had surrendered on July 24, to Oswald, who had one battalion each of the 10th Foot, 21st Foot, and Chasseurs Britanniques.

The 3rd battalion of the Polish-Italian Legion, five hundred strong, surrenders to Captain Hoste in the Amphion and the 78th Foot at Crotone on July 28.

Stuart will receive the Order of the Bath and an annuity of one thousand pounds a year from the British government, and the title Count of Maida from King Ferdinand, for the victory.

The political situation in southern Italy will remain unchanged until 1815, with the British and Sicilian troops guarding the Bourbon King Ferdinand in Sicily and the Napoleonic King of Naples controlling the mainland.

The British will fail to use their naval superiority around Italy and will do little to harass the French on the mainland.

Joachim Murat will become the King of Naples in 1808 after Joseph Bonaparte is sent to govern Spain.

Murat will make various attempts to cross the Strait of Sicily, which all end in failure, despite once managing to secure a foothold in Sicily.

King Ferdinand will be finally restored to the Neapolitan throne only when Austria defeats Murat in the Neapolitan War in 1815.

Junot at Abrantes – Portugal’s Last Attempt at Negotiation (November 1807)

Upon reaching Abrantes on November 23, 1807, General Jean-Andoche Junot was met by an emissary from the Prince Regent João of Braganza, who was desperately attempting to avoid a full-scale French occupation.

Portugal’s Offer of Submission

• The Prince Regent’s representative offered to submit to French demands, agreeing to several degrading terms.
• By this point, Portugal was defenseless, with its military in disarray and its rulers preparing to flee.
• Despite this attempt at appeasement, Junot continued his advance, knowing that Napoleon expected complete occupation, not mere submission.

Junot’s Final Push to Lisbon

• Understanding that his army was severely weakened, Junot reorganized his remaining forces.
• He formed four battalions from his best remaining men, leaving the stragglers and exhausted troops behind.
• With Lisbon still 75 miles (121 km) away, Junot pressed forward, determined to seize the Portuguese capital before British forces could intervene.

A Decisive Moment in the French Invasion

Junot’s advance on Lisbon marked the final stage of the French invasion of Portugal. Though his army was in tatters, the Portuguese government’s failure to mount resistance ensured that Lisbon would soon fall—leading to the first French occupation of Portugal and the flight of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil.