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((Short description|Invasion by counter-revolutionaries and British))
((About|the Revolutionary Wars battle|the Seven Years' War battle|Battle of Quiberon Bay))
((more citations needed|date=September 2014))
((Infobox military conflict
| image             = File:Siège Quiberon.jpg
| caption           = ''Un épisode de l'affaire de Quiberon'', by [[Paul-Émile Boutigny]]
| conflict          = Invasion of France
| partof            = the [[Federalist revolts]] during the [[War of the First Coalition]]
| date              = 23 June – 21 July 1795
| place             = [[Quiberon]], France
| result            = French Republican victory
| combatant1        = ((flagicon|France|1794)) [[French First Republic|French Republic]]
| combatant2        = ((flagicon|Kingdom of France)) [[Kingdom of France|French Royalists]]
* [[Chouannerie|Chouans]]
* [[émigré armies of the French Revolutionary Wars|Émigrés]]
((flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain))
| commander1        = ((flagicon|France|1794)) [[Lazare Hoche]] <br /> ((flagicon|France|1794)) [[Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux|Jean Baptiste Canclaux]]
| commander2        = ((flagicon|Kingdom of France)) [[Joseph-Geneviève de Puisaye]] <br /> ((flagicon|Kingdom of France)) [[Louis Charles d'Hervilly]]((DOW)) <br /> ((flagicon|Kingdom of France)) [[Georges Cadoudal]] <br /> ((flagicon|Kingdom of France)) [[Charles Eugène Gabriel de Sombreuil|Charles de Sombreuil]]((Executed)) <br />((flagicon|Kingdom of France)) [[Vincent de Tinténiac]]((KIA)) <br /> ((flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain)) [[Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport|Alexander Hood]] <br /> ((flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain)) [[John Borlase Warren]]<br />
| casualties1       = Unknown
| casualties2       = Around 5,000 dead and 6,332 captured<ref>Of which 751 would be shot and around 2,500 managed to escape.</ref>
| notes             = 
| strength1         = 13,000 men
| strength2         = 15,000 Chouans <br /> 5,437 émigrés <br /> 80 cannons <br /> 9 British warships <br /> 60 transports
| map_type          = Europe
| map_relief        = 1
| map_size          = 300
| campaignbox       = ((Campaignbox French Revolutionary Wars Royalist Revolts))
((Campaignbox First Coalition))
))

The '''Invasion of France in 1795''' or the '''Battle of Quiberon''' was a major landing on the [[Quiberon|Quiberon peninsula]] by [[émigré]], counter-revolutionary troops in support of the [[Chouannerie]] and [[Vendée Revolt]], beginning on 23 June and finally definitively repulsed on 21 July.  It aimed to raise the whole of western France in revolt, bring an end to the [[French Revolution]] and restore the [[French monarchy]]. The invasion failed; it had a major negative impact, dealing a disastrous blow to the [[Chouannerie|royalist]] cause.

==Preparations==
[[Louis XVIII]] and the comte d’Artois (the future [[Charles X of France]]) divided the counter-revolutionary activities and theatres between them  - to Louis went political generalities and the region from the Alps to the Pyrénées (including Lyon), and to the comte the western provinces (Vendée, Brittany, Normandy).   The comte named [[Joseph de Puisaye]] général en chef of Brittany, a good choice since de Puisaye had military talent and political and diplomatic experience.

Playing the English card((explain|date=December 2021)), Joseph de Puisaye headed the preparations for the expedition to Quiberon but at precisely the same time a Royalist alliance was operating on Louis XVIII's behalf in Paris.  This alliance had a representative in London, through whom they managed to half-discredit Joseph de Puisaye even before the expedition set out and impose a deputy chosen by the alliance, comte [[Louis Charles d'Hervilly]].  The alliance sent d'Hervilly such ambiguous instructions that he was even in a position to contest de Puisaye's orders, or even to claim that it was he, not de Puisaye, who had been given supreme command of the expedition.

Even the chosen landing-point - Brittany - was not unanimously accepted.  Several émigrés preferred a landing in the Vendée, but this was mainly down to [[François de Charette]], who put himself up as a rival to Joseph de Puisaye.  The surrounding of the Île de Quiberon were thus chosen as the landing-point despite their many disadvantages to the invaders - it was only a narrow strip of land, with the shoals blocking access to part of the coasts.  It was also decided to put some of the émigré soldiers in British military uniforms, which proved unwise owing to the Bretons' dislike for the British, and to make up the numbers by using Republican prisoners held on British prison hulks (many of whom would clearly have split loyalties and re-join the Republic forces, seeing as they disliked the British as much as the émigrés).  The comte d'Artois was not even consulted on the choice of date for the expedition, yet it was in his name that Joseph de Puisaye was acting, since the comte d'Artois had theoretically assumed command for all Royalist operations in western France.

==The expedition==
((See also|Order of Battle for the Invasion of Quiberon))

===Naval crossing===
((Main|Battle of Groix))((See also|Cornwallis' Retreat))
On 23 June two squadrons of nine warships (including three [[ship of the line|ships of the line]] and two frigates) and 60 [[troop transports]] (carrying two [[émigrés|émigré]] [[division (military)|divisions]], totalling 3,500 men and the British [[90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers)|90th]], [[19th Regiment of Foot|19th]], [[27th Regiment of Foot|27th]] Regiments of Foot, as well as muskets, uniforms, shoes, food and supplies for an army of at least 40,000) set out under the command of British admirals [[Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport|Hood]] and [[John Borlase Warren|Warren]]. [[Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse|Villaret-Joyeuse]] left Brest and attacked Warren's squadron above [[Glénan islands|Îles de Glénan]] on 23 June 1795, but was forced to retire quickly towards the île de Groix and lost two ships of the line. [[Charles Alexandre Léon Durand de Linois|Linois]] lost an eye in this encounter, and the British retained naval superiority for the rest of the expedition.

===Divisions===
On 26 June 1795, the squadrons anchored off Quiberon and could at this point have begun to disembark their troops.  However, it was at this point that comte [[Louis Charles d'Hervilly]] took out his letter of nomination and claimed supreme command of the expedition.  The two officers were not even operating the same plan - Puisaye wanted to take advantage of the element of surprise and attack immediately to relieve Royalist troops throughout western France, but d'Hervilly thought the [[Chouannerie|Chouans]] were undisciplined and incapable of holding out in open battle, and so planned to remain at Quiberon, fortifying it for use as a base and for pouring in reinforcements.  The division was not only strategic but political - Puisaye was a former [[Girondin]], favouring the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, whereas d'Hervilly wished for the wholesale reinstatement of the ((lang|fr|Ancien Régime)).  A whole day was lost in heated discussions between the two of them, and a courier was even sent to London to confirm who was to be supreme commander. Hervilly finally submitted, but the delay lost them the vital element of surprise and allowed the Republican troops of the ((lang|fr|[[armée des côtes de Brest]])) to gather themselves, with the émigré troops demonstrating their impatience and astonishment at this inexplicable delay, and with their subsequent early successes proving illusory. As for the Chouan Bretons gathered by [[Georges Cadoudal]], they already suspected a betrayal and the delay only confirmed them in this, with a disastrous effect on morale.

===Disembarkation===
On the morning of 27 June, the weather cleared after two days of mist and the Republican forces spotted the British ships in Quiberon bay, with the fort at Penthièvre signalling all day to Quiberon, "They are disembarking ''en grande force''."  A British [[frigate]] cruised to the eastern point of [[Belle-Île]] and a British [[brig]] and [[cutter (ship)|cutter]] cruised to its western point, and in the evening another frigate joined the first at the east, anchoring beside it - thus Belle-Île was blockaded.<ref>It was commodore [[Clisson]] who summoned Belle-Île to put itself under the protection of [[George III of the United Kingdom|king George]] and recognize [[Louis XVII]], stating that in the Courault de Belle-Ile were a ship of the line, two frigates and six [[corvettes]] of the British fleet and that the squadron cruising to the south of the Ile often came within a league of the island.</ref>

On 27 June, the British disembarked 8,000 troops at [[Carnac]], and summoned Belle-Île to surrender, which it was unwilling to do. The disembarkation happened without difficulty, since the garrison of [[Auray]] had been beaten by the Chouans, who had also taken [[Carnac]], [[Landévant]] and [[Locoal-Mendon]], putting the coast in Royalist hands.

Fort Penthièvre, known as Fort Sans-culotte by the Republicans, blocked the route to the north of the island and was held by 700 men of the 41e de ligne (commanded by [[Delize]]) but it put up only an insignificant resistance and surrendered on 3 July.  The Royalist troops thus linked up with the Chouans as foreseen and the villages were occupied, but none of the combined force's operations was put into action by Joseph de Puisaye quickly enough to disquiet the Republicans.

===Republican counter-attack===
Divisions among the Royalist command greatly profited the Republicans, leaving the disembarked troops scattered. [[Lazare Hoche]] (then at [[Vannes]]) had only 2,000 men under his command but headed for Quiberon, sending for urgent reinforcements en route, and by 4 July had an army of 13,000 men, not having been slowed down by the Chouans in the interior.  In [[Ille-et-Vilaine]], [[Aimé du Boisguy]], with 5,000 men, had enough men to stop Hoche's advance, but he had not even been informed of the landing and was only able to meet him in minor clashes.  On 5 July clashes occurred at [[Landevant]] and [[Auray]], with Hoche defeating Chouans under [[Jacques Anne Joseph Le Prestre de Vauban|Vauban]] and [[Bois-Berthelot]].

Hoche thus arrived at Quiberon unimpeded and turned [[Carnac]] into a trap, recapturing it on 6 July and on 7 July re-taking nearly the whole peninsula.  The Chouan divisions placed ahead of Joseph de Puisaye's positions were swept aside, having not been merged into the Royalist divisions.  The comte d'Hervilly did not deign to support them in good time and despite fierce assaults the Republican encirclement could not be broken.

===Royalist reaction===
On 10 and 11 July, the Royalists launched a plan to break through the Republican lines. Two Chouan columns, one of 2,500 men under [[Lantivy]] and [[Jean Jan]] and the other of 3,500 men under [[Vincent de Tinténiac|Tinténiac]] and [[Georges Cadoudal|Cadoudal]], would embark on British ships and land at [[Sarzeau]]. The Chouans, wearing British uniforms, had the task of attacking the Republican lines from the rear. However, the first column dispersed and the second was ready to attack but was met by chevalier [[Charles de Margadel]] with news from the Royalist alliance in Paris of a new landing near [[Saint-Brieuc]] and diverted towards the [[Côtes-d'Armor]] against Cadoudal's advice. Tinténiac was killed in an ambush on 17 July and no further landing took place to reinforce them. Angered at this, the Chouans threw off their British uniforms and, led by Cadoudal, managed to evade the Republican troops and get back to their homes.

In the meantime, on 15 July, 2,000 more émigré soldiers, commanded by [[Charles Eugène Gabriel de Sombreuil]] landed at [[Quiberon]] as reinforcements. The émigrés, then the Chouans, thus launched new offensives but were beaten back, with [[Louis Charles d'Hervilly]] mortally wounded in the attack and émigré losses already risen to 1,500 dead.

===The assault on Quiberon===
[[Image:Combat Quiberon 1795.jpg|thumb|500px|''Combat de Quiberon en 1795'', painting by Jean Sorieul]]
Lazare Hoche thus ordered a decisive assault on the night of 20 July against the fort de Penthièvre and its garrison of 4,000 men, despite a violent storm and the fort being covered by the British naval guns.  However, the Republican prisoners brought over as part of the Royalist force deserted and delivered the fort to Hoche by treachery, with many of its defenders being massacred.<ref>General [[Claude-Augustin Tercier]] was in command of a garrison of 400 men at the fort on 19 July, but was replaced by [[Charles du Val de Beaumetz]] on midday the following day, thus escaping the massacre.  Beaumetz was a young man from a noble family from [[Artois]], and was shot by firing squad at [[Vannes]] on 21 September 1795.</ref>  The British ships then opened fire on the fort, but their shots landed on Royalist, Republican and civilian alike. [[Joseph de Puisaye]] judged the situation hopeless and ordered his men to re-embark onto the admiral's flagship so as to limit the extent of the Royalist defeat and so, despite his later being accused of deserting to save his own life, 2,500 émigré and Chouan troops were evacuated in British rowing-boats.

Only Sombreuil and his men, cornered as they were, stood in the way of the Republican advance and they put up a last resistance. However, on the morning of 21 July Hoche and Sombreuil began negotiations and the Royalists capitulated shortly afterwards, apparently with the promise that the lives of all the Royalist troops would be spared.

==Massacre of the Royalist prisoners==
6,332 Chouans and émigrés were captured, along with members of their family. [[Lazare Hoche]] verbally promised that the Royalists would be treated as prisoners of war, but this promise was not kept. The women and children were freed a few days after the battle, but the soldiers were charged by commissaire [[Jean-Lambert Tallien]]. [[Charles Eugène Gabriel de Sombreuil|Charles de Virot, Marquis de Sombreuil]] and 750 of his companions were condemned by a military tribunal and shot by firing squad at [[Auray]]. 430 of these were nobles, many of whom had served in the fleet of [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]. The site of the execution is known as the ''Champ des martyrs'', and those shot there remained buried on the site until 1814. In 1829, an expiatory chapel was built there in the form of a temple.

The Chartreuse at Auray holds the list of prisoners, printed quickly, and a vault with the remains of 952 prisoners from the Royal army who died between 1 and 25 August 1795 after the defeat of the Quiberon landings.

==In literature==
* One chapter of ''[[Mr. Midshipman Hornblower]]'' (adapted for television as ''[[The Frogs and the Lobsters]]'') was based on this landing.
* In ''[[The Black Moon]]'', the fifth novel of the [[Poldark]] saga by [[Winston Graham]], Ross Poldark uses the landing to spring his friend Dwight Enys from prison in [[Quimper]].
* ''[[The Marquis of Carabas]]'', also known as ''[[The Master-at-Arms]]'', by Rafael Sabatini, uses the incident as historical background for this novel.
* The battle of Quiberon is featured in [[Sir Isumbras at the Ford]], a historical novel by [[D. K. Broster]].

==Notes==
<references />

==Sources==
* [[Abbé Angot]], ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20071022010613/http://www.lamayenne.fr/uploadfiles/publications/8002/FR-AD53-BN-0124.pdf.V37.aspx Quiberon, du 6 juin au 25 juillet 1795]'', in ''Revue historique et archéologique du Maine'', t. XLI (1897), p.&nbsp;335-347 ((in lang|fr))
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080705032309/http://museequiberon.port-haliguen.com/francais/1795.htm L'Affaire de Quiberon]
* [http://www.napoleonguide.com/battle_quiberon.htm Quiberon] in the Napoleonic guide
((authority control))
((DEFAULTSORT:France, Invasion of (1795)))
[[Category:Battles of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Battles involving France]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1795]]
[[Category:Military history of Brittany]]
[[Category:1795 in France]]
[[Category:Invasions of France]]
[[Category:Invasions by Great Britain|France 1795]]
[[Category:War of the First Coalition]]

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