The war was fought in the eastern and western Pyrenees, at the French port of Toulon, and at sea. In 1793, a Spanish army invaded Roussillon in the eastern Pyrenees and maintained itself on French soil through April 1794. The French Revolutionary Army drove the Spanish Army back into Catalonia and inflicted a serious defeat in November 1794. After February 1795, the war in the eastern Pyrenees became a stalemate. In the western Pyrenees, the French began to win in 1794. By 1795, the French army controlled a portion of northeast Spain.
Kingdom of Sardinia. After winning the Battle of Jemappes, the French army occupied the Austrian Netherlands. Emboldened, the French government decreed annexation of the territory (modern Belgium), provoking a diplomatic break with Great Britain. On 1 February, France declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic. On 7 March, France declared war on its former ally, Spain.[1]
Toulon
Spanish forces took part in the
ships of the line burned and 15 more captured. French casualties numbered 2,000, and Allied losses were twice as great. Afterward, the victors massacred up to 2,000 French royalists, who had been taken prisoner.[2]
Dominique-Catherine de Pérignon took command of the French and led them to victory. Figueres and its Sant Ferran Fortress quickly fell to the French with 9,000 prisoners.[12]
Fluvià River by José de Urrutia y de las Casas at the Battle of Bascara.[13] After peace was signed but before word had reached the fighting front, Cuesta recaptured Puigcerdà and Bellver from the French on 26 and 27 July.[14]
José Urrutia y de las Casas. Spanish casualties numbered 335, and French losses were 235.[16] On 3 June, a 2,300-man French brigade commanded by Lavictoire stormed the Casa Fuerte position at Izpegi Pass (Col d'Ispeguy) 13.5 km west of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. The 1,000 defenders, including a battalion of the Spanish Zamora Infantry Regiment, three companies of the Aldudes Rifles, and the French émigréLégion Royal battalion, lost 94 killed and wounded, and 307 were captured. The losses of the French brigade, which were part of Mauco's division, were described as "light". The same day, Jacques Lefranc's 2,000 French Republican troops seized the Izpegi Ridge.[17]
On 3 March 1794, the bordering villages of
Landes of Gascony. Men and women were segregated, and their valuable possessions seized or burnt. The victims of the massive deportation may amount to several thousand, and in five months, some 1,600 had died, 600 being from Sara.[18]
In a few years, many survivors would manage to return home.
On 23 June,
Captain General Ventura Caro with 8,000 infantry and 500 cavalry and artillery tried unsuccessfully to oust a French force from a fortified position atop Mont Calvaire. The Spanish suffered 500 killed and wounded, as well as 34 captured. The French admitted 30 killed and 200 wounded. On 10 July, Antoine Digonet with a brigade of 4,000 troops overwhelmed the Zamora Infantry and the Légion Royal defending Mount Argintzu (Mont Arquinzu), at 43°3′23″N1°29′40″W / 43.05639°N 1.49444°W / 43.05639; -1.49444 (Monte Argintzu), 10 km south of Elizondo. Spanish losses numbered 314, and the French royalist commander, Marquis de Saint-Simon, was badly wounded. The French Republicans executed 49 French royalist prisoners.[19]
War of the Pyrenees, Western Theater
On 23 July, the Army of the Western Pyrenees attacked Spanish fortified positions with the divisions of Moncey,
Hondarribia (Fuenterrabia), near the coast. In the latter operation, Moncey captured Don Vicente de los Reyes, 2,000 Spanish soldiers and 300 cannon on 1 August. Moncey followed the exploit by capturing San Sebastián without resistance on 3 August, with an additional 1,700 Spanish soldiers and 90 cannon falling into French hands. Soon afterward, the French also captured the town of Tolosa, and Moncey was soon promoted to army commander.[20][21]
On 14 August 1794, the
region specific laws, allegiance of Gipuzkoa to France, free Catholic practice and a set of rules for the management of war-related circumstances.[22] However, with negotiations leading to the Peace of Basel being in place, the French army's representatives of the National Convention, Jacques Pinet and Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac refused to accept the demands, and the Gipuzkoan representatives were imprisoned or exiled. Given the circumstances, another assembly was held in Mondragón on 13 September in which the attending regional representatives decided this time to support Ferdinand VII[23] and mustered an autonomous provincial militia against the French army. However, on an unspecified date soon afterward, the more diplomatic Moncey restored the governing institutions of Gipuzkoa. The news of the declaration issued in Getaria by the Gipuzkoan representatives spread like fire to Madrid and sparked outrage in Spanish ruling circles and press, which lashed out at the Basque province and its inhabitants.[24]
Also, after the imprisonment in Bayonne, the Gipuzkoan representatives were persecuted by Spanish authorities and tried on high treason charges and unpatriotic behaviour.
From 15 to 17 October, Moncey, launched a broad front offensive from the Baztan Valley and the
Gabriel Mendizabal, who was to be promoted to general during the Peninsular War, managed to recapture it.[24]
During the winter, Moncey reorganised his army, which had lost 3,000 men to disease. He finally secured a siege train and in June 1795, 12,000 reinforcements arrived from the Army of the West. Moncey's offensive began on 28 June and soon drove back Crespo's Spanish forces. Vitoria fell to the French on 17 July and Bilbao two days later. When news of the Peace of Basel arrived in early August, Moncey had crossed the Ebro and was preparing to invest Pamplona.[27]
Conclusion
The
Basques fearing abolition of their self-government and Spanish Prime Minister Manuel Godoy panicking at the prospect of the still-autonomous Basque region switching allegiances to France and detaching from Spain. In the peace, Spain gave up the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola in exchange for keeping Gipuzkoa.[24] Additionally, at the behest of Moncey and the Committee of Public Safety (Jean-Lambert Tallien), an annex was added to the treaty by which the Spanish Basques and specifically the Gipuzkoans, who had shown sympathies for the French, were given guarantees of receiving no reprisals from Spanish authorities, which was agreed. Notwithstanding that provision, at least the city council of San Sebastián was arrested and put to a court-martial trial in Pamplona that was held as of February 1796.[28]
Under the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso on 19 August 1796, an alliance was established between France and Spain. However, peace was not concluded with the Portuguese, who remained part of the anti-French coalition.
^Smith, p 72. Smith located the camp "between Hendaye and Ainhoa", but that is unhelpful since the towns are 23 km apart. Beckett cites a battle at Hendaye on 5 February and so it is probable that the action was fought near that town.
French Republic
Portugal
Army of Catalonia
