13 Vendémiaire

13 Vendémiaire
Part of the French Revolution
Napoleon Bonaparte quelling of the Royalist revolt, 13 Vendémiaire, in front of the Église Saint-Roch, Saint-Honoré Street.
Date 5 October 1795 Location Paris, France Result Decisive Republican victory
Belligerents
French Republic	French Royalists
Commanders and leaders
Paul Barras Napoleon Bonaparte	Richer de Sévigny
Strength
5,000 men 40 cannons	25,000
Casualties and losses
100 dead and wounded	300 dead 2 executed

13 Vendémiaire Year 4 (5 October 1795 in the French Republican Calendar) is the name given to a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris. The battle was largely responsible for the rapid advancement of Republican General Napoleon Bonaparte's career.

The social reforms of the French Revolution had been well received by the majority of the populace of France, but the Revolution's strongly anti-Catholic stance had created anti-republican sympathies in many Roman Catholics. In March 1793, this sentiment boiled over into an armed insurrection in the fiercely Catholic Vendée region of western France. A rebel army titled Armée catholique et royale now proved to be a thorn in the side of the Revolutionary Government in Paris, under leaders such as François de Charette de la Contrie and Louis d'Elbée. The rebels were known as Chouans, a title which comes from early royalist leader Jean Cottereau’s nickname Jean Chouan. He was known for his perfect imitation of an owl’s cry, a noise which had become the rallying cry of the insurgents of Vendée.

The Armée catholique et royale quickly garnered British support and got off to a promising start, severely defeating several Revolutionary Armies. The Revolutionary Committee of Public Safety ordered General Jean-Baptiste Carrier to pacify the region, and over several months Carrier ruthlessly decimated the populace of the Vendée. The local population dubbed Carrier's forces the colonnes infernales (hellish columns). On 22 December 1793, the Chouan rebellion subsided following a major defeat at the Battle of Savenay.

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