The tragic story of the last Royalist attempt to overthrow the French revolution In the summer of 1793 French Royalists surrendered the great naval base at Toulon to the British, intending this to be the springboard for a full-scale counter-revolution. A multi-national taskforce led by the British, and including Spanish, Austrian and Italian forces, landed in the city. But the Royalists' hopes were dashed: the Revolutionaries reacted with great speed and violence. Instead of striking into France, the Royalists and their foreign allies were besieged in Toulon. Among the Republican forces was a young artillery officer who soon made a name for himself: Napoleon Bonaparte. The stage was set for tragedy. Bernard Ireland's popular and accessible account of the fall of Toulon brings to life a savage episode in European history.

In August 1793 of the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), Republican France teetered on the brink of collapse. On every front her enemies' armies swept forward across her borders – the very survival of the Revolution itself was at stake. In Toulon, the strategically vital home port of France's Mediterranean fleet, a coup had overthrown the Republican government and handed over the city to the blockading British navy. In this, perhaps her darkest hour, France's saviour was at hand in the shape of a Captain of Artillery whose name all Europe would soon know - Napoleon Bonaparte. This title describes the Republican victory at Toulon that not only saved the Revolution but also saw the young Napoleon Bonaparte begin his meteoric rise to power.

The tragic story of the last Royalist attempt to overthrow the French revolution In the summer of 1793 French Royalists surrendered the great naval base at Toulon to the British, intending this to be the springboard for a full-scale counter-revolution. A multi-national taskforce led by the British, and including Spanish, Austrian and Italian forces, landed in the city. But the Royalists' hopes were dashed: the Revolutionaries reacted with great speed and violence. Instead of striking into France, the Royalists and their foreign allies were besieged in Toulon. Among the Republican forces was a young artillery officer who soon made a name for himself: Napoleon Bonaparte. The stage was set for tragedy. Bernard Ireland's popular and accessible account of the fall of Toulon brings to life a savage episode in European history.

The Fall and Rise of French Sea Power explores the renewal of French naval power from the fall of France in 1940 through the first two decades of the Cold War. The Marine national continued fighting after the Armistice, a service divided against itself. The destruction of French sea power--at the hands of the Allies, the Axis, and fratricidal confrontations in the colonies--continued unabated until the scuttling of the Vichy fleet in 1942. And yet, just over twenty years after this dark day, Charles de Gaulle announced a plan to complement the country's nuclear deterrent with a force of nuclear-powered, ballistic missile-carrying submarines. Completing the rebuilding effort that followed the nadir in Toulon, this force provided the means to make the Marine national a fully-fledged blue-water navy again, ready to face the complex circumstances of the Cold War. An important continuum of cooperation and bitter tensions shaped naval relations between France and the Anglo-Americans from World War II to the Cold War. The rejuvenation of a fleet nearly wiped out during the hostilities was underpinned by a succession of forced compromises, often the least bad possible, reluctantly accepted by French politicians and admirals but effectively leveraged in their pursuit of an independent naval policy within a strategy of alliance. Hugues Canuel demonstrates that the renaissance of French sea power was shaped by a naval policy formulated within a strategy of alliance closely adapted to the needs of a continental state with worldwide interests. This work fills a distinct void in the literature concerned with the evolution of naval affairs from World War II to the 1960s. The author, drawing upon extensive research through French, British, American, and NATO archives (including those made public only recently regarding the sensitive circumstances surrounding the French nuclear deterrent) maps out for readers the unique path adopted in France to rebuild a blue-water fleet during unprecedented circumstances.

On September 1, 1910, France became the last great naval power to lay down a dreadnought battleship, the Courbet. The ensuing Courbet and Bretagne-class dreadnoughts had a relatively quiet World War I, spending most of it at anchor off the entrance to the Adriatic, keeping watch over the Austro-Hungarian fleet. The constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty prevented new battleships being built until the 1930s, with the innovative Dunkerque-class and excellent Richelieu-class of battleships designed to counter new German designs. After the fall of France in 1940, the dreadnoughts and fast battleships of the Marine Nationale had the unique experience of firing against German, Italian, British, and American targets during the war. This authoritative study examines these fascinating ships, using detailed colour plates and historical photographs, taking them from their inception before World War I, through their service in World War II including the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon in 1943, and the service of Richelieu in the war against Japan.

Why France, the major European continental victor in 1918, suffered total defeat in six weeks at the hands of the vanquished power of 1918 only two decades later remains moot. Why the stunning reversal of fortunes? In this volume thirteen prominent scholars reexamine the French debacle of 1940 in interwar perspectives, utilizing fresh analysis, original approaches, and new sources. Although the tenor of the volume is critical, the contributors also suggest that French preparations for war knew successes as well as failures, that French defeat was not inevitable, and that the Battle of France might have turned out differently if different choices had been made and other paths been followed.

The Napoleonic Wars have an important place in the history of Europe, leaving their mark on European and world societies in a variety of ways. In many European countries they provided the stimulus for radical social and political change - particularly in Spain, Germany, and Italy - and are frequently viewed in these places as the starting point of their modern histories. In this Very Short Introduction, Mike Rapport provides a brief outline of the wars, introducing the tactics, strategies, and weaponry of the time. Presented in three parts, he considers the origins and course of the wars, the ways and means in which it was fought, and the social and political legacy it has left to the world today. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.