The French Revolutionaries waged total war. Mobilising the largest army yet seen in Europe, they conquered most of the continent with amazing speed. Their war was a war of movement, aggression and action, punctuated by some of the most dramatic battles in military history - Valmy, Jemappes, Fleurus, Arcola, Marengo and Hohenlinden, to name only a few. They also sought ideological conquest, forcing the people they liberated to be free in the French manner whether they liked it or not. The military and political progress of the revolutionary armies is narrated and analysed in this important new study, with special attention paid to the legacy of the old regime, the remarkable resilience displayed by the old regime powers, the reasons for the revolutionaries' success on land - and the reasons for their failure at sea.

The Revolutionary wars brought France hegemony in Europe but at a terrible cost. Inside the country, the war brought the end of pluralism, the destruction of the monarchy, civil war and the Terror, paving the way for military dictatorship and burdening the country with an enduring legacy of political instability. This interaction between events at the front and at home is discussed in full. Special attention is also given to the devastation inflicted by the Revolutionary armies as they rampaged across the continent, together with the nationalist resistance movements they provoked.