French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

April 20, 1792 – November 20, 1815

Result Coalition victory

Revolutionary and then Napoleonic France fought shifting coalitions of European powers for more than two decades. The wars spread French power across Europe and ended with Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna.

Battles 10

April 20, 1792 – March 25, 1802
French Revolutionary Wars First Coalition: French victory Low Countries William Pitt the Younger, Paul I of Russia, Selim III
April 20, 1792 – October 18, 1797
War of the First Coalition French victory; Treaty of The Hague, Treaty of Paris, Peaces of Basel, Treaty of Tolentino, Treaty of Campo Formio Western Europe George III, William Pitt the Younger, Louis XVI
August 17, 1796
August 18, 1796 – July 1808
June 28, 1798 – March 25, 1802
May 18, 1803 – November 20, 1815
1805 – 1806
April 10 – October 14, 1809
1813 – 1814
July 26 – August 14, 1814

Key commanders

Coalition 45

William Pitt the Younger belligerent leader Paul I of Russia belligerent leader Selim III belligerent leader Horatio Nelson Admiral, Destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 Frederick William II of Prussia belligerent leader Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor belligerent leader Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen belligerent leader Victor Amadeus III belligerent leader József Alvinczi military commander Michael von Melas military commander François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt military commander Prince Josias of Coburg military commander Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé military commander Henri de la Rochejaquelein military commander Jacques Cathelineau military commander George III belligerent leader Henry Addington belligerent leader Spencer Perceval belligerent leader Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington British commander, Led the Peninsular War and won at Waterloo Alexander I of Russia Emperor of Russia, Led Russia against Napoleon and into Paris in 1814 Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool belligerent leader Klemens von Metternich Foreign Minister of Austria, Brought Austria into the final coalition Mikhail Kutuzov Russian field marshal, Commanded the Russian army in 1812 Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Prussian field marshal, Led the Prussian army in 1813-1815 Frederick William III of Prussia belligerent leader Ferdinand VII belligerent leader Charles XIV John belligerent leader Gustav IV Adolf belligerent leader William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville belligerent leader Karl Mack von Leiberich belligerent leader Pyotr Bagration belligerent leader William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland belligerent leader Archduke John of Austria military commander George IV belligerent leader Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg belligerent leader Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly belligerent leader Levin August von Bennigsen belligerent leader Peter, 1st Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg belligerent leader William I of the Netherlands belligerent leader Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg belligerent leader Mikhail Miloradovich belligerent leader Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz belligerent leader Carl Philipp von Wrede belligerent leader Frederick Augustus I of Saxony belligerent leader Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria belligerent leader

France 8

French Empire and allies 27

First Coalition 7

French First Republic 6

Great Britain 5

Spain 7

Sweden 2

Norway 1

Holy Roman Empire 10

French First Empire 9

Kingdom of Great Britain 1

Batavian Republic 1