Resumption of Hostilities in the War of the Second Coalition
- When
- 1798–1801
- Where
- European coalition diplomacy; Franco-Austrian relations; Alpine crossing; Treaty of Lunéville
- Episodes
- 4
The War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802) pitted revolutionary France against a coalition led by Britain, Austria, and Russia. The supplied passages document the coalition's formation, its aims, and the war's eventual settlement through the treaties of Lunéville and Amiens, but none states a specific resumption of hostilities in November 1800, so that legacy claim remains unresolved.
Episodes
- Formation of the Second Coalition
The coalition assembled slowly, starting with Naples allying with Austria and Russia, while Pitt and Thugut failed to bring Prussia in.
- Uneasy Franco-Austrian Peace after Campo Formio
From October 1798 to March 1799 France and Austria avoided armed conflict but remained skeptical, with diplomatic incidents eroding their agreement.
- Napoleon Crosses the Alps
In May 1800 Napoleon led his troops across the Alps through the Great St. Bernard pass during the Italian campaign.
- Treaty of Lunéville
In February 1801 the Franco-Austrian Treaty of Lunéville confirmed France's previous gains and added new lands in Tuscany.
Background and detail
Background. The Second Coalition was the second war between revolutionary France and a group of European monarchies led by Britain, Austria, and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples, and various German monarchies. Prussia declined to join, while Spain supported France. The coalition took months to assemble, beginning with Naples allying with Austria in May 1798 and Russia in November 1798.
War Aims of the Coalition. Britain and Russia aimed to halt the expansion of the French Republic and restore the monarchy in France. Austria, weakened and heavily indebted from the War of the First Coalition, sought chiefly to recover and strengthen its position. Schroeder later argued the negotiating powers were duplicitous, each scheming to gain most from the war while weakening rivals.
Early Frictions and Campaigning. From October 1798 to March 1799, France and Austria, signatories of the Treaty of Campo Formio, avoided armed conflict but remained mutually skeptical, with diplomatic incidents undermining the agreement. In summer 1798 Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt and Syria; his army was trapped there and eventually surrendered in September 1801 after his October 1799 return to France. In May 1800 he led troops across the Alps.
Settlement and Aftermath. The Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801 left France its previous gains and added new lands in Tuscany. Most other allies signed separate peace treaties with France in 1801, and the Treaty of Paris of 25 June 1802 ended the war with the Ottomans, the last remaining coalition member. Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, bringing an interval of peace until Britain declared war in May 1803, initiating the Napoleonic Wars.
People involved
- Napoleon Bonaparte · French commander who led the expedition to Egypt and Syria in 1798 and crossed the Alps with his troops in May 1800
- William Pitt · British Prime Minister who sought to persuade Prussia to join the coalition
- Thugut · Austrian State Chancellor who conditioned coalition-building on Russian participation
- Jean-Baptiste Jourdan · French marshal who took command of the Army of Observation at Hüningen in November 1798
- Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers · French general who directed the June 1798 landing on Malta
Sources
- War of the Second Coalition Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-18
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.