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The fate of the French fleet at the Siege of Toulon marked one of the earliest significant operations by the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. In August 1793, five months after the French Directory declared war on Great Britain, thus drawing Britain into the ongoing War of the First Coalition, the government of the French Mediterranean city of Toulon rose up against the Republican national government in favour of the Royalist faction. Toulon was the principal French naval port on the Mediterranean and almost the entirety of the French Mediterranean Fleet was anchored in the harbour. After negotiations the British commander in the Mediterranean, Admiral Lord Hood, the city's Royalists seized control and British forces, alongside allies from Spain, Naples and Sardinia entered the city, seizing the fleet and preparing defences against the inevitable Republican counterattack. Although powerfully fortified against attack by sea, Toulon's extensive defences on the landward side of the city had been designed to be held by substantial numbers of troops, something the allies conspicuously lacked. This weakness would be ruthlessly exposed by a highly effective Republican artillery campaign commanded by Captain Napoleon Bonaparte. Political disputes with the Italian allies prevented reinforcements reaching the defenders and the defeat of Royalist forces elsewhere in France gave strength to the besieging army. On 17 December the Republican forces captured heights overlooking the harbour and the defenders' situation became untenable. Hood ordered an evacuation and as the Allied forces staged a fighting withdrawal British Captain Sir Sidney Smith and Spanish Don Pedro Cotiella volunteered to lead boat parties into the harbour to destroy the French fleet, which remained at anchor. The boat parties came under heavy fire from the shore as they used fireships to ignite the anchored warships, Smith concentrating on those ships in the New Arsenal while the Spanish were instructed to burn the warehouses and Old Arsenal. For reasons that remain unclear, but which British historians have sometimes attributed to treachery, the Spanish failed to destroy the ships they were tasked with, and as the force withdrew detonated two powder hulks they were instructed to sink dangerously close to Smith's men, killing several. By morning of 19 December, eight French ships of the line and three frigates had been destroyed, while Hood had successfully removed three ships of line and six frigates which were distributed to the Allied navies. As Smith burnt the fleet, ships from the British squadron at Toulon successfully removed the Allied garrison as well as more than 14,000 Royalist refugees. The remainder of the French Mediterranean Fleet survived and was repaired during 1794, participating in many of the battles which followed. ==Siege of Toulon== (詳細はWar of the First Coalition, the first of the French Revolutionary Wars, began on 20 April 1792 when the French Assembly voted to declare war on the Austrian Empire.〔Chandler, p.269〕 Fighting was confined mainly to the Austrian Netherlands and Northern Italy until the execution of King Louis XVI on 21 January 1793. Within days, France had also declared war on Great Britain, the Netherlands and Spain. By the summer of 1793 the increasing radicalisation of the French Assembly had alienated much of Southern France, and a series of Royalist uprisings broke out in August.〔James, p.67〕 One of the most serious rebellions was at Toulon, a large port city on the Mediterranean Sea and the principal naval base for the formidable French Mediterranean Fleet, numbering 31 ships of the line under the command of the Royalist Admiral Comte de Trogoff.〔James, p.66〕 This powerful force was under blockade by a Royal Navy fleet of 21 ships of the line sent from Britain at the outbreak of war under the command of Admiral Lord Hood and on 23 August two representatives of Royalist governments from across Southern France approached Hood's flagship HMS ''Victory'' to negotiate terms of an alliance. There were however no delegates from the city of Toulon, the loyalty of which was central to control of the region.〔Mostert, p. 103〕 ===Capture of Toulon=== Royalist control of Toulon was not assured, particularly since there was a strong Republican faction in the fleet, led by Contre-Admiral St. Julien, and to establish which faction controlled the city Hood sent Lieutenant Edward Cooke into the harbour on 24 August with instructions to meet with the Royalist leader in Toulon. Cooke was forced to approach the harbour in darkness to avoid Republican boat patrols, but was successful in bypassing them, having visited the harbour under during temporary truce in July, and sending a message to the Royalist party. Julien learned of Cooke's presence and spread word that if he should capture Cooke he was have him hanged, but Cooke, who had sheltered on shore overnight, returned to the city the following day to meet with the Royalist delegates. During the discussions he was able to negotiate for the seizure and disarmament of the French fleet by he British in exchange for protection for the city of Toulon, on the understanding that when the Republicans had been defeated and the French monarchy restored all would be returned to France.〔Mostert, p. 105〕 On his return to the British fleet, his boat was intercepted by a French frigate, and it was only by careful manoeuveres in shallow water under fire from the frigate's boats that he returned safely.〔James, p.68〕 On 26 August Cooke returned to the port with a Royalist naval officer, to discover that Julien had seized control of the fleet and promised to resist the British if they entered the port. To this end, Republican sailors had occupied Fort Lamalgue and other defensive positions on the western bluffs overlooking the harbour. On 27 August Hood landed a small expeditionary force under Captain George Elphinstone and drove the Republican forces off, Julien and more than 5,000 French sailors retreating inland.〔Tracy, p. 21〕 With British forces controlling the batteries overlooking the harbour, the remaining Republicans capitulated. On 28 August those ships of the French fleet still anchored in the roads were moved into the arsenals as Hood brought the British fleet, supported by 17 Spanish ships of the line under Admiral Juan de Lángara into port. Command of the city was granted to Rear-Admiral Samuel Goodall and command of the defences to Spanish Admiral Don Federico Gravina.〔Clowes, p.206〕 During early September French Republican armies slowly advanced on Toulon under the command of General Jean François Carteaux to the west and General Jean François La Poype to the east.〔James, p.70〕 Concerned by the lingering Republican faction in Toulon, most strongly represented by 5,000 discharged sailors, Hood ordered that four ships and a corvette be released from the seized French fleet, disarmed, and used as cartels to convey the sailors to Republican ports on the Atlantic. These ships, ''Apollon'', ''Entreprenant'', ''Orion'', and ''Patriote'', plus the corvette ''Pluvier'', sailed on 14 September, arriving at their destinations in mid-October.〔Tracy, p. 22〕 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「French fleet at the Siege of Toulon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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