ABSTRACT
The history of the French Revolutionary Wars divides neatly into two distinct phases. This chapter summarizes the events which led to the coup of 18 Brumaire, of course, is much too simplistic. As modern scholars recognise, France's condition was by no means as dark as it was painted by Napoleon's later apologists and collaborators. In order to bring in the revenue required to maintain the army, on 27 June General Jourdan, who had been recalled from the Rhine and once again made War Minister, proposed a forced loan of 100,000,000 francs payable by all those who paid at least 300 francs per annum in land tax. On the contrary, the Allied army split with Melas remaining on the defensive in Piedmont, while Alexander Suvorov led his much-battered Russian forces northwards into Switzerland, thereby allowing most of the Austrian forces there to move northwards into Germany.
