Content area
Full text
Abstract
General Louis Lazare Hoche was one of the outstanding generals of Revolutionary France. His instructions on how to fight and defeat enemies of that revolution are crisp and precise, and of significant relevance to any exponent of counter-insurgency. As a practical guide to fighting and winning in enemy territory the instructions of General Hoche are of considerable merit and eminently worthy of study. Incredibly they have not been available to English-speaking students of military art until now. In this clear and readable translation General Hoche's advice to officers combating guerrillas and partisans rings out as fresh as the day it was written.
THE French Revolution was born in violence and begat violence. Not every Frenchman responded positively to the cries of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Indeed, the revolutionaries soon found themselves confronted by a reaction from some of the more conservative regions of France. As is so often the case in history, revolution spawned a series of civil wars.
The most serious, and the most stubborn, of these conflicts took place in the northwest of France between 1793 and 1796. Hostility towards the revolution in the Vendee, Brittany, and parts of Normandy quickly developed into more than just passive resistance-a series of hastily organised revolts. Agitation, foreign assistance and the clumsiness of the government exacerbated the situation, turning these revolts into uprisings of serious proportions.
The counter-revolution in the west came at a time when the revolutionary government's resources were stretched to capacity by fighting its foreign enemies and preserving its frontiers. Initial attempts to stamp out the crisis were unsuccessful. Early methods were crude and poorly co-ordinated. Military commissions attempted to root out rebellion but these were not supported by military action. France had few troops of good quality in the area to contain the revolt, initially relying on National Guardsmen and barely-trained conscripts. As failure mounted, the revolutionaries became more aggressive, threatening, and carrying out, large-scale massacres, burning towns and villages and destroying crops. Aided by the difficult terrain, and constant popular support, the Christian Army, as the rebels styled themselves, fought back, inflicting numerous defeats on the republican troops.
In April 1793 the Convention managed to spare sufficient regular troops to mount a series of major counter-offensives against the rebels....