Siege of Toulon (1793)

The Siege of Toulon took place between September and December 1793. The Southern French city of Toulon was occupied by British and Spanish forces assisting the Royalist French. Napoleon Bonaparte first made his name here as a young Captain of Artillery, by spotting an ideal place for his guns to be set up in such a way that they dominated the city's harbour. Once this was done (by means of a sharp assault on an enemy position-- the British had also seen the threat), the Royal Navy ships (under Admiral Hood) were compelled to withdraw, and the resistance crumbled. As a result, the 24-year old Napoleon was made an Artillery Commander, bringing him to (inter)national attention.

Context : The Reign of Terror

Main article: Reign of Terror

After the arrest of the Girondist deputies on the 31st May, 1793, there followed a series of insurrections within the French cities of Lyons, Avignon, Nimes and Marseille. In Toulon, the revolutionaries evicted the existing Jacobin faction but were soon supplanted by the more numerous royalists. Upon the announcement of the recapture of Marseille and of the reprisals which had taken place there at the hands of the revolutionaries, the royalist forces, directed by the Baron d'Imbert, called for aid from the Anglo-Spanish fleet. On August 28, admirals Hood and Langara committed a force of 13,000 English, Spanish, Neapolitan and Piedmontese troops to the French government's cause. On October 1, Baron d'Imbert proclaimed the young boy Louis XVII to be King of France, and hoisted the French monastic flag of the Fleur de Lys, delivering the town of Toulon to the English navy.

The Siege

The troops of the Convention, the army said to be of the "Carmagnoles", under the command of General Jean François Carteaux, after having recovered Avignon and Marseille, and then Ollioules, on September 8, arrived at Toulon and joined up with the 6000 men of the Alpine Maritime Army, commanded by General Lapoype, who had just taken La Valette, and was seeking to take the forts of Mount Faron, dominating the city to the East. They were reinforced by 3000 sailors under the orders of Admiral de Saint Julien, who refused to serve the British with his chief, Trogoff.

The Chief of Artillery for Carteaux, commander Elzear Auguste Donmartin, having been wounded at Ollioules, had the young captain Napoleon Bonaparte imposed upon him by the special representatives of the Convention - Robespierre the Younger and Antoine Christophe Saliceti. Bonaparte had been present in the army since Avignon, and was imposed in this way despite the mutual antipathy between these two men.

After some reconnaisance, Napoleon Bonaparte conceived a plan which would envisage the capture of the forts of l'Eguillette and Balaguier, on the hill of Cairo, which would then prevent passage between the small and large harbours of the port, which would cut maritime resupplying, necessary for those under siege. Carteaux, reluctant, sent only a weak detachment under Major General Delaborde, which would fail in its attempted conquest on September 22. The allies, having been alerted, built "Fort Mulgrave," so christened in honour of the British commander, on the summit of the hill. It was supported by three smaller ones, called Saint-Phillipe, Saint-Côme, and Saint-Charles. The apparently impregnable collection was nicknamed, by the British, "Little Gibraltar."

Bonaparte was unsatisfied by this sole battery - called the "Mountain," which was positioned on the height of Saint-Laurent since the 19th. He established another, on the 21st, on the shore of Brégallion, called the "Sans Culottes." The admiral attempted to silence it, without success, but the British fleet was obliged to harden its resolve along the coast anew, because of the high seabed of Mourillon and la Tour Royale. On the first of October, after the failure of General Lapoype against the "Eastern Fort" of Faron, Bonaparte was asked to bombard the large fort of Malbousquet, whose fall would be required to enable the capture of the city. He therefore requisitioned artillery from all of the surrounding countryside, holding the power of fifty batteries of six cannon. Promoted to Chief of Battalion on October 19, he organised a grand battery, said to be "of the Convention," on the hill of Arènes and facing the fort, supported by those of the "Camp of the Republicans" on the hill of Dumonceau, by those of the "Farinière" on the hill of Gaux, and those of the "Poudrière" at Lagoubran.

On November 11, Carteaux was dismissed and replaced by Doppet, formerly a doctor, whose indecision would cause an attempted surprise against Fort Mulgrave to fail on the 16th. Aware of his own incompetence, he resigned. He was succeded by a career soldier, Dugommier, who immediately recognised the virtue of Bonaparte's plan, and prepared for the capture of Little Gibraltar. On the 20th, as soon as he arrived, the battery "Jacobins" was established, on the ridge of l'Evescat. Then, on the left, on November 28, the battery of the "Men Without Fear," and then on December 14, the "Chasse Coquins" were constructed between the two. Two other batteries were organised to repel the eventual intervention of the allied ships, they were called "The Great Harbour" and the "Four Windmills."

Pressured by the bombardment, the Anglo-napolitans executed a sortie, and took hold of the battery of the "Convention." A counterattack, headed by Dugommier and Bonaparte, pushed them back and the British general, O'Hara, was captured. He initiated negotiations with Robespierre the Younger and Antoine Louis Albitte for an honorable surrender. The Federalist and Royalist battalions were thereby disarmed.

Dugommier, Lapoype, and Bonaparte, now a colonel, following the capture of O'Hara, agreed to launch a general assault during the night of December 16. Around midnight, the assault began on Little Gibraltar and the fighting continued all night. Bonaparte was injured in the thigh by a British sergent with a bayonet. However, in the morning, the position having been taken, Marmont was able to place artillery there, against l'Eguillette and Balaguier, which the British had evacuated without confrontation on the same day. During this time, Lapoype finally was able to take the forts of Faron and Malbousquet. The allies then decided to evacuate by their maritime route. Commodore Sydney Smith had the delivery fleet and the arsenal burnt.

The suppression

The troops of the Convention entered into the city on December 19. The Suppression, directed by Paul Barras and Stanislas Fréron, was extremely bloody. It is estimated that between 800 and 2000 prisoners were shot or slain by bayonet on the Champ de Mars. Bonaparte, treated for his injuries by Jean François Hernandez, was not present at the massacre. Promoted to Brigadier General on December 22, he was already on his way to his new post in Nice as the artillery commander for the Italian Army. A door, which comprises part of the old mural of the city of Toulon, evokes his departure; a commemorative plaque has been affixed there. This door is called the "Porte d'Italie."

See also

• French Revolution
• French Revolutionary Wars