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The ''Expédition d'Irlande'' ("Expedition to Ireland") was an unsuccessful attempt by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule. The French intended to land a large expeditionary force in Ireland during the winter of 1796–1797 which would join with the United Irishmen and drive the British out of Ireland. The French anticipated that this would be a major blow to British morale, prestige and military effectiveness, and was also intended to possibly be the first stage of an eventual invasion of Britain itself. To this end, the French Directory gathered a force of approximately 15,000 soldiers at Brest under General Lazare Hoche during late 1796, in readiness for a major landing at Bantry Bay in December. The operation was launched during one of the stormiest winters of the 18th century, with the French fleet unprepared for such severe conditions. Patrolling British frigates observed the departure of the fleet and notified the British Channel Fleet, most of which was sheltering at Spithead for the winter. The French fleet was subject to confused orders as it left port and was scattered across the approaches to Brest: one ship was wrecked with heavy loss of life and the others widely dispersed. Separated, most of the French fleet managed to reach Bantry Bay late in December, but its commanders were driven miles off course and without them the fleet was unsure of what action to take, with amphibious landings impossible due to the weather conditions, which were the worst recorded since 1708. Within a week the fleet had broken up, small squadrons and individual ships making their way back to Brest through storms, fog and British patrols. The British were largely unable to effectively interfere with the French fleet before, during or after the invasion. A few ships operating from Cork captured isolated French warships and transports, but the only significant British response came from Captain Sir Edward Pellew, who was able to drive the French ship of the line ashore in the Action of 13 January 1797 with the loss of over 1,000 lives. In total, the French lost 12 ships captured or wrecked and thousands of soldiers and sailors drowned, without a single man reaching Ireland except as prisoners of war. Both navies were criticised by their governments for their behaviour during the campaign, but the French were encouraged to launch a second attempt in 1798, successfully landing 2,000 men in August but failing to influence the Irish Rebellion and again losing significant numbers of men and ships. ==Background== Following the French Revolution in 1789, the cause of republicanism was taken up in many countries, including the Kingdom of Ireland, at that time ruled by the Kingdom of Great Britain.〔Pakenham, p. 27〕 Opposition to British rule had existed in Ireland for centuries, but the French example, combined with the imposition of the Penal Laws which discriminated against the Catholic majority and a large Presbyterian minority, prompted the creation of the Society of United Irishmen, a broad non-sectarian coalition of groups seeking to create an Irish Republic.〔Brooks, p. 605〕 Initially a non-violent political movement, the United Irishmen were forced to operate as a secret society after membership was made illegal in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Deciding that their only hope of creating the Irish Republic lay in armed revolt, the United Irishmen began secretly organising and arming their forces. In search of external aid, two of their leaders, Lord Edward FitzGerald and Arthur O'Connor travelled to Basle to meet with French General Lazare Hoche.〔Woodman, p. 83〕 Their efforts were supported by Protestant Dublin lawyer Theobald Wolfe Tone, who travelled to Paris to appeal to the French Directory in person. During this period, the British government repealed some of the Penal Laws, in an attempt to quell unrest.〔David A. Wilson, United Irishmen, United States: immigrant radicals in the early republic, Cornell University Press, 1998. (Ch 7–8, in particular p. 171-176)〕 The First French Republic had long planned an invasion of the British Isles, but their ambitions had been repeatedly thwarted by other factors, including other fronts of the Revolutionary Wars, the War in the Vendée and the parlous state of the French Navy.〔Come, p. 177〕 This latter problem was a major cause for concern: the Navy had suffered heavily from the removal of its officer corps during the Revolution and then endured a series of military setbacks, culminating in the tactical defeat at the Glorious First of June in 1794 and the disastrous ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' in 1795.〔Reagan, p. 87〕 After securing peace on several fronts in 1795, the new French Directory decided that Britain was one of their most dangerous remaining opponents, and they determined to defeat it through invasion.〔 The applications from Tone intrigued the Directory, which understood that by attacking Ireland they would be striking at the least defensible part of the British Isles. Support for the British government was weakest there and the United Irishmen optimistically claimed to be able to raise an irregular army of as many as 250,000 waiting to join the French once they had landed,〔 with the additional attraction that a successful establishment of an Irish Republic would prove an ideological coup for the French Republic.〔Regan, p. 88〕 Finally and most significantly, a large expeditionary force in Ireland could provide an ideal springboard for an invasion of Britain, especially in combination with a plan then under development to land 2,000 uniformed criminals in Cornwall, who would distract the British Army during the invasion of Ireland and could potentially provide a beachhead for future operations.〔Come, p. 181〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Expédition d'Irlande」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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