France’s revolutionary government executes Louis XVI on January 21, 1793, after a trial.

This unites all Europe, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the revolution.

Even Great Britain, initially sympathetic to the assembly, has by now joined the First Coalition against France, and armies are raised against France on all its borders.France responds by declaring a new levy of hundreds of thousands of men, beginning a French policy of using mass conscription to deploy more of its manpower than the aristocratic states can, and remaining on the offensive so that these mass armies can commandeer war material from the territory of their enemies.France suffers severe reverses at first, being driven out of Belgium and suffering revolts in the west and south.

One of these, in Toulon, sets the stage for the first recognition of a hitherto unknown artillery captain named Napoleon Bonaparte.

His contribution in planning the successful siege of the city and its harbor with well-placed artillery batteries provide the spark for his subsequent meteoric rise.By the end of the year, new large armies and a fierce policy of internal repression including mass executions has repelled the invasions and suppressed revolts.

The year endswith French forces in the ascendant, but still close to France's pre-war borders.