ABSTRACT
Tim Blanning has pointed to issues beyond the confines of the battlefield, namely the errors in strategy and other issues that led to Brunswick failing to concentrate his entire army at Valmy, and the terrible epidemic of dysentery that beset his troops as they advanced into France. In most cases, peace was restored by means of mediation. Fairly minor in Lille, which merely saw several days of brawling, in Nancy the disturbances escalated into the worst violence France had seen since the storming of the Bastille. The National Guard played a key role in the political history of the French Revolution, whilst many of its members were anything but mere time servers. In reality, the massed ranks of French infantry had suffered grievously at the hands of Austrian artillery, and it is very doubtful that Dumouriez would have won the day had he not outnumbered the unfortunate Saxe-Teschen by over two to one.
