Army of the Coasts of Brest
| Army of the Coasts of Brest | |
|---|---|
| Active | 30 April 1793 – 5 January 1796 |
| Country |
 First French Republic
|
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Army |
| Engagements |
War in the Vendée (1793–1796) Chouannerie (1793–1796) Invasion of France (1795) |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux Jean Antoine Rossignol Jean-François-Auguste Moulin Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Lazare Hoche Gabriel Venance Rey |
The Army of the Coasts of Brest (French: Armée des côtes de Brest) was a French Revolutionary Army formed on 30 April 1793 by splitting the Army of the Coasts into this army and the Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg. The formation was first put under the command of Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux and charged with fighting the War in the Vendée, combatting the Chouannerie and protecting the coasts of Brittany against a British invasion. After successfully defending Nantes and suffering setbacks at Tiffauges and Montaigu, Canclaux was recalled on 5 October 1793 and many of the army's soldiers were absorbed into the Army of the West. Over the next few years, Jean Antoine Rossignol, Jean-François-Auguste Moulin, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Lazare Hoche and Gabriel Venance Rey led the army in turn. In June–July 1795 the army crushed a Royalist invasion at Quiberon. On 5 January 1796 the formation and two other armies were merged into the Army of the Coasts of the Ocean and placed under the command of Hoche.
On 15 December 1792 the French National Convention voted to annex Belgium. Its economic interests threatened, the United Kingdom dismissed the French ambassador on 24 January 1793. France thereupon declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic on 1 February. Meanwhile, the armies defending France's eastern borders declined in strength from 400,000 to 225,000 soldiers largely due to desertion. To meet the crisis, the Convention decreed mass conscription. Amid these events, King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. The War in the Vendée was triggered by opposition to conscription, annoyance at the high cost of food and fury at the Convention's anti-Catholic laws.Protestants and the residents of the large towns generally supported the Republican cause.
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