The Army of Germany (''Armée d'Allemagne'') was one of the

French Revolutionary armies The French Revolutionary Army (french: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment ...

, formed by a decree of the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and r ...

dated 29 September 1797 (8 vendémiaire Year VI) by merging the

Army of Sambre-et-Meuse The Army of Sambre and Meuse (french: Armée de Sambre-et-Meuse) was one of the armies of the French Revolution. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right wing ...

and the

Army of the Rhine and Moselle The Army of the Rhine and Moselle (french: Armée de Rhin-et-Moselle) was one of the field units of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 20 April 1795 by the merger of elements of the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the Moselle. The ...

and commanded from the decree until 6 October by général Saint-Cyr under général Hoche. The decree was enacted between 7 and 20 October 1797, and from 7 October until 13 December the unit was under the command of général Augereau and deployed with the

armée du Nord The Army of the North or Armée du Nord is a name given to several historical units of the French Army. The first was one of the French Revolutionary Armies that fought with distinction against the First Coalition from 1792 to 1795. Others existe ...

. Another decree of 9 December (19 frimaire year VI) that year, executed from 14 to 16 December, re-split this army into the

Army of Mainz The Army of Mainz or Army of Mayence (''Armée de Mayence'') was a French Revolutionary Army set up on 9 December 1797 by splitting the Army of Germany into the Army of Mayence and the Army of the Rhine. Part of it split off on 4 February 1799 to ...

and

Army of the Rhine An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Campaign

The 1797 campaign in the Rhineland concluded in April 1797, after French victories at

Neuwied Neuwied () is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. Th ...

and Diersheim.

Digby Smith Digby Smith (born 1 January 1935) is a British military historian. The son of a British career soldier, he was born in Hampshire, England, but spent several years in India and Pakistan as a child and youth. As a "boy soldier", he entered train ...

, Napoleonic Wars Data Book, 1998, 13. As was typical of campaigns in the 1790s, armies typically entered garrisons over the winter months of November–March, reducing numbers of staff and troops, while the generals prepared for fresh campaigns in the spring. Austria signed the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treat ...

in October, ceding Belgium to France and recognizing French control of the Rhineland and much of Italy.

Citations and notes

Sources

* * * C. Clerget: ''Tableaux des armées françaises pendant les guerres de Révolution'' (Librairie militaire 1905) ; {{DEFAULTSORT:Army Of Germany (1797)

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...