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The Fall of Toulon: The Last Opportunity to Defeat the French Revolution
Bernard Ireland's popular and accessible account of the fall of Toulon brings to life a savage episode in European history. In the summer of 1793, French Royalists surrendered the great naval base at Toulon to the British, intending this to be the springboard for a full-scale counter-revolution. The story of Royalist dashed hopes, and the securing of the Revolution, is one of treason mixed with heroism, along with the rise of a young opportunist named Napoleon Bonaparte.
- GenresHistoryMilitary Fiction
319 pages, Paperback
First published July 9, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 25, 2019
Before reading this book I could have told you nothing of this affair in 1793 except some vague recollection that Napoleon started his rise to prominence here commanding the artillery.
In fact, had Napoleon not been at Toulon, the spark for writing this book may never had occurred to the author.
Set amidst the French Revolution, the city and fleet of Toulon stayed royalist and accepted British and allied protection. Enraged by this counter revolutionary act, Republican armies converged on Toulon to recapture the town and exact revolutionary revenge.
A large portion of the book is devoted to laying the groundwork of the time. This included detailed descriptions of the British and French navies and naval practices. While interesting, given there was no naval combat between the British and French fleets at Toulon, this became tangential.
The author draws from French and English accounts (though not from Spanish, Piedmontese, or Sardinian accounts-these forces were allied with the British).
There's a decent map to help the reader follow the narrative although not all referenced place names are depicted.
The book's sub blurb "The last opportunity to defeat the French Revolution" is a bit overstated and unsupported by the narrative. More accurately would be "The last opportunity to inflict a reverse on the French Revolution" or maybe "A missed opportunity to wipe the Mediterranean clean of the French fleet"
So, why read this book?
If you're interested in the Napoleonic period and have moved past the headliner stories of The Nile, Austeritz, Trafalgar, and Waterloo, and especially if you want to learn more about the beginning of the conflict between France and Britain, then by all means read this. It is well-written and definitely not a book for the specialist. Think of it as rounding out your knowledge of late 18th century military history.
In fact, had Napoleon not been at Toulon, the spark for writing this book may never had occurred to the author.
Set amidst the French Revolution, the city and fleet of Toulon stayed royalist and accepted British and allied protection. Enraged by this counter revolutionary act, Republican armies converged on Toulon to recapture the town and exact revolutionary revenge.
A large portion of the book is devoted to laying the groundwork of the time. This included detailed descriptions of the British and French navies and naval practices. While interesting, given there was no naval combat between the British and French fleets at Toulon, this became tangential.
The author draws from French and English accounts (though not from Spanish, Piedmontese, or Sardinian accounts-these forces were allied with the British).
There's a decent map to help the reader follow the narrative although not all referenced place names are depicted.
The book's sub blurb "The last opportunity to defeat the French Revolution" is a bit overstated and unsupported by the narrative. More accurately would be "The last opportunity to inflict a reverse on the French Revolution" or maybe "A missed opportunity to wipe the Mediterranean clean of the French fleet"
So, why read this book?
If you're interested in the Napoleonic period and have moved past the headliner stories of The Nile, Austeritz, Trafalgar, and Waterloo, and especially if you want to learn more about the beginning of the conflict between France and Britain, then by all means read this. It is well-written and definitely not a book for the specialist. Think of it as rounding out your knowledge of late 18th century military history.
December 18, 2021
Overall a pretty intersting book. I wasn't much familiar with this historic period but the author did a great job of situating the siege of Toulon whitin the broader French revolution/Federalist revolts context. I agree with another reviewer that the book takes kind of a tangent (neverless interesting to read) in the first chapters by covering in lenght the Royal Navy situation (promotion system, internal politics, shipbuilding, etc) in these years. However near the middle of the book, when the author gets into the action of the siege (with artillery duels, tactical actions by infantry units, etc) what was a good book really becomes a page turner.
September 5, 2018
Although I'm not an academic, I enjoyed this book
July 28, 2023
Well written, enjoyable account of an interesting episode at the beginning of the revolutionary/ napoleonic period.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews