Great French War

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French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
First Coalition – Invasion of Egypt – Second Coalition – Third Coalition – Fourth Coalition – Gunboat War – Peninsular War – Fifth Coalition – Invasion of Russia – Sixth Coalition – Hundred Days

The Great French War is an anachronistic British term to describe the period of conflict beginning on April 20, 1792 and continuing until November 20, 1815. The conflict began when France declared war on Austria following a gradual increase in tensions following the French Revolution in 1789.

The wars continued through several régime changes in France (beginning with the deposition of King Louis XVI in 1792 and continuing through the Terror instigated by the Jacobins under Maximilien de Robespierre). The Jacobins were in turn overthrown and an Executive Directory set up, eventually also giving way to the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte — first as First Consul then as Emperor.

The period of the war prior to the seizure of power by Bonaparte in 1799 is generally referred to as the French Revolutionary Wars and the period afterward is known as the Napoleonic Wars, although both terms are sometimes used to cover the entire period.

In total the war claimed between 4 million and 6.5 million lives (including civilian casualties) and involved between 6 and 10 million combatants. It was fought principally in Europe, but conflict did occur in both north Africa and south Africa as well as in South America, North America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, India and throughout much of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The wars saw the rise and fall of French dominance over Europe, as well as the rapid decline of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires. The Russian and British Empires thus both benefitted from the wars in the short term. One lasting result of the conflict was a dramatic growth in Italian and German nationalism, which culminated in the unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871.