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VENDEE, WARS OF THE

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 981 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

VENDEE, See also:WARS OF THE , a See also:counter-revolutionary insurrection which took See also:place during the See also:French Revolution (q.v.), not only in Vendee proper but also in See also:Lower See also:Poitou, See also:Anjou, Lower See also:Maine and See also:Brittany. The See also:district was mainly inhabited by peasants; it contained few important towns, and the See also:bourgeois were but a feeble minority. The ideas of the Revolution were slow in penetrating to this ignorant See also:peasant- See also:population, which had always been less civilized than the See also:majority of Frenchmen, and in 1789 the events which roused See also:enthusiasm throughout the See also:rest of See also:France See also:left the Vendeans indifferent. Presently, too, signs of discontent appeared. The priests who had refused to submit to the See also:Civil Constitution of the See also:Clergy perambulated these retired districts, and stigmatized the revolutionists as heretics. In 1791 two " representatives on See also:mission " informed the See also:Convention of the disquieting See also:condition of Vendee, and this See also:news wa quickly followed by the exposure of a royalist See also:plot organized by The See also:marquis de la Rouerie. The See also:signal for a widespread rising was the introduction of See also:conscription acts for the recruiting of the depleted armies on the eastern frontiers. In See also:February 1793 the Convention de-creed a See also:levy on the whole, of France, and on the See also:eve of the See also:ballot the Vendee, rather than comply with this requisition, See also:broke out in insurrection. The Vendean peasant refused to join the republican See also:army, not for want of fighting qualities or ardour, but because the army of the old regime was recruited from See also:bad characters and broken men, and the peasant, ignorant of the See also:great See also:change that had followed the Revolution, thought that the barrack-See also:room was no place for a See also:good See also:Christian. In See also:March 1793 the officer commanding at See also:Cholet was killed, and republicans were massacred at Machecoul and St Florent. Giving See also:rein to their See also:ancient antipathy, the revolted peasantry attacked the towns, which were liberal in ideas and republican in sympathies. The leaders of these first risings were men of humble See also:birth, such as J.

See also:

Cathelineau, a pedlar, J. N. Stofffet, a gamekeeper, and the See also:barber Gaston. Cholet, See also:Bressuire, Fontenay-le-See also:Comte and Samur were surprised. The See also:influence of the priests kept up the fanaticism of the peasants, and a great manifestation of religious feeling took place on See also:Easter eve, but the republican soldiers taken prisoners were often maltreated and even tortured. These first successes of the Vendeans coincided with See also:grave republican reverses on the frontier--'See also:war with See also:England, See also:Holland and See also:Spain, the defeat of See also:Neerwinden and the defection of See also:Dumouriez. The emigres then began to throw in their See also:lot with the Vendeans. Royalist nobles like the marquis de Bonchamp, F. A. Charette de la Contrie, Gigot d'Elbee, See also:Henri de la Rochejaquelein and the marquis de See also:Lescure placed themselves at the See also:head of the peasants. Although several of these leaders were Voltairians, they held up See also:Louis XVI., who had been executed in See also:January 1793, as a See also:martyr to Catholicism, and the Vendeans, who had hitherto styled them-selves the Christian Army, now adopted the name of the See also:Catholic and Royal Army. The Convention took See also:measures against the emigres and the refractory priests.

By a See also:

decree of the 19th of March 1793 every See also:person accused of taking See also:part in the counter-revolutionary revolts, or of wearing the See also:white See also:cockade (the royalist See also:emblem), was declared an outlaw. The prisoners were to be tried by military commissions, and the See also:sole See also:penalty was See also:death with See also:confiscation of See also:property. The Convention also sent representatives on mission into Vendee to effect the purging of the municipalities, the reorganization of the See also:national See also:guards in the republican towns, and the active See also:prosecution of the revolutionary propaganda. These measures proving insufficient, a decree was promulgated on the 3oth of See also:April 1793 for the despatch of See also:regular troops; but, in spite of their failure to See also:capture See also:Nantes (where Cathelineau was mortally 'Wounded), the successes of the Vendeans continued. On the 3rst of See also:July, therefore, at Barere's See also:suggestion, it was decreed that the See also:woods of the Vendee should be burnt, the See also:harvest carried off to safe places in See also:rear of the army, the See also:cattle seized, the See also:women and See also:children concentrated in camps in the interior, and that every male from the See also:age of sixteen in the neighbouring regions should be called upon to take arms. Further, on the 1st of See also:August, the troops that had formed the See also:garrison of See also:Mainz, which were unavailable against See also:foreign enemies by the terms of their See also:capitulation to the Austrians, were ordered to Vendee. The See also:programme was carried out by the so-called " infernal columns." At the end of August 1793, the republicans had three armies in the Vendee—the army of Rochelle, the army of See also:Brest and the Mayencais; but their generals ,were either ciphers, like C. P. H. Ronsin, or divided among themselves, like J. A. Rossignol and J.

B. C. Canclaux." They were uncertain whether to cut off the Vendeans from the See also:

sea or to drive them westwards; and moreover, their men were undisciplined. Although the peasants had to leave their chiefs and See also:work on the See also:land, the Vendeans still remained formidable opponents. They were equipped partly with arms supplied by England, and partly with fowling-pieces, which at that See also:period were See also:superior to the small-arms used by the regular troops, and their intimate knowledge of the See also:country gave them an immense See also:advantage. They gathered and burst like a See also:storm on their enemies, and, if repulsed, dispersed at the famous See also:order, " Egaillez-See also:vous See also:les gars," to unite again some days later. The dissensions of the republican leaders and the demoralizing See also:tactics of the Vendeans resulted in republican defeats at Chantonnay, Torfou, Coron, St See also:Lambert, Montaigu and St Fulgent. The Convention resolved to bring the war to an end before See also:October, and placed the troops under the undivided command, first of See also:Jean Lechelle and then of Louis Turreau, who had as subordinates such men as Marceau, Kleber and Westermann. On the 7th of October the various divisions concentrated at Rressuire, took See also:ChAtillon after two bloody engagements, and defeated the Vendeans at Cholet, Beaupreau and La Trem-blaye. After this repulse, the royalists, under See also:Stofflet and La Rochejaquelein, attempted to rouse the Cotentin and crossed the See also:Loire. Beaten back at See also:Granville, they tried to re-enter the Vendee, but were repulsed at See also:Angers. They re-formed at Le Mans, where they were defeated by Westermann, and the same officer definitively annihilated the See also:main See also:body of the insurgents at Savenay (See also:December 1793.).

Regular warfare was now at an end, although Turreau and his " infernal columns " still continued to scour the disaffected districts. After the 9th See also:

Thermidor attempts were made to pacify the country. The Convention issued conciliatory proclamations allowing the Vendeans See also:liberty of See also:worship and guaranteeing their property. See also:General See also:Hoche applied these measures with great success. He restored their cattle to the peasants who submitted, " let the priests have a few crowns," and on the 2oth of July 1795 annihilated an emigre expedition which had been equipped in England and had seized Fort Penthievre and See also:Quiberon. See also:Treaties were concluded at La Jaunaie (February 15, 1795) and at La Mabillaie, and were fairly well observed by the Vendeans; and nothing remained but to See also:cope with the feeble and scattered remnant of the Vendeans still under arms, and with the See also:Chouans (q.v.). On the 3oth of July 1796 the See also:state of See also:siege was raised in the western departments. During the See also:Hundred Days there was a revival of the Vendean war, the suppression of which occupied a large See also:corps of See also:Napoleon's army, and in a measure weakened him in the See also:northern See also:theatre of war (see See also:WATERLOO See also:CAMPAIGN). In 1832 again an abortive insurrection broke out in support of the Bourbons, at the instigation of the duchess of • See also:Berry; the Vendean See also:hero on this occasion was the See also:baron de Charette. There are numerous articles on the Vendean insurrection of 1793 in the Revue du Bas. Poitou, Revue historique de l'Anjou, Revue de Bretagne, de Vendee et d'Anjou, Revue historique de l'Ouest, Revue historique et archeologique du Maine, and La Vendee historique. See also R.

Bittard See also:

des Portes, " Bibliographie historique et critique des uerres de' Vendee et de la Chouannerie" in the Revue du Bas-Poitou 1903 •seq.) ; C. L. Chassin,,.Etudes sur la Vendee et la Chouannerie (La Preparation de la guerre—La Vendee patriote—Les Pacifications de l'Ouest), See also:Paris, 1892 seq., 11 vols. (the best general work on' the subject) ; C` See also:Port, Les Origines de la Vendee (Paris, 1888) ; C. See also:Leroux-Cesbron, " See also:Correspondence des representants en mission a 1'armee de 1'ouest (1794-95) " in the Nouvelle Revue retrospective (1898) ; Blachez, See also:Bonchamps et l'insurrection vendeenne (Paris, 1902); P. Mautouchet, Le Conventionnel Philippeaux (Paris, 1901). On 1815 a See also:modern work is Les Cent fours en Vendee le general Lamarque, by B. Lasserre (Paris, 1907) ; on 1832 see La Vendee, by Vicomte A. de Courson (1909). (R. A.*) VEND$MIAIRE (from See also:Lat. vindemia, vintage), the name given during the French Revolution to the first See also:month of the See also:year in the Republican See also:Calendar. Vendemiaire began oti the 22nd, 23rd or 24th of See also:September, and ended on the 22nd, 23rd or 24th of October according to the year, and was the See also:season' of the vintage in the See also:wine districts of northern France. In accordance with the suggestion of See also:Fabre d'See also:Eglantine, each of the days of the republican year was consecrated to Some useful See also:object.

For' instance, , Vendemiaire was the festival of the See also:

grape, to Vendemiaire of the vat, 13 Vendemiaire of the See also:pumpkin, 15 Vendemiaire of the See also:ass, 20 Vendemiaire of the wine-See also:press, and 30 Vendemiaire of the cask. The most important event in this month was the quelling of the royalist rising on 13 Vendemiaire year IV. (4th of October 1795), in which General See also:Bonaparte (afterwards the See also:emperor Napoleon)' distinguished himself by his See also:energy and skill in using See also:artillery. See Baron R. de Larcy, Le i3 Vendemiaire (Paris, 1872).

End of Article: VENDEE, WARS OF THE

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