The bloody war in the Vendée: When the common people resisted the French revolution

The French Revolution triggered massive upheaval across France, and the Vendée region was no exception.

Revolutionary reforms were imposed on a rural population that had long relied on traditional structures of power and religion.

As a result, many in the Vendée viewed the Revolution with suspicion, believing it threatened their way of life.

As revolutionary ideals swept the nation, the government’s attempts to centralize power and secularize society caused deep resentment.

In particular, the forced closure of churches and the persecution of Catholic clergy alienated a deeply religious population.

Consequently, the people of the Vendée felt betrayed by the revolutionary government. 

Specifically, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which had been passed in 1790, redefined the relationship between the Church and the state.

This law required clergy to swear loyalty to the revolutionary government instead of the Pope.

Priests who refused to take the oath were removed from their parishes. As a result, the people in the region became more determined to resist what they saw as an assault on their religious freedom. 

Economically, the Vendée was a mostly an agricultural region and had been facing financial hardship for years due to poor harvests, high taxes, and an unequal distribution of wealth.

The Revolution’s promises of equality did little to alleviate these problems. Instead, the local nobility’s decline and the growing power of the revolutionary government caused further unrest.

The new government imposed heavy taxes, which the already struggling peasants found difficult to bear. 

The final spark that ignited the uprising was the policy of conscription. In 1793, the revolutionary government called for 300,000 men to be drafted into the army.

This fell heavily on rural communities like the Vendée, where many young men had no desire to fight for a government they despised.

The conscription order was met with outrage, and many saw it as the government’s attempt to strip away the last of their autonomy.

Motivated by a desire to defend their families and homes, the people of the Vendée took up arms against the revolutionary forces. 

The Vendée uprising began in early 1793, when the revolutionary government’s policies sparked widespread anger across the region.

Villagers gathered in large groups, attacking Republican officials, seizing weapons, and driving out representatives of the revolutionary government.

These early acts of defiance grew into a coordinated revolt, with local leaders stepping forward to organize the resistance.

By March, the Vendée uprising had become a full-scale rebellion. 

Jacques Cathelineau, a pious and charismatic peasant, became one of the most important leaders in the early stages of the revolt.

Known as 'the Saint of Anjou', Cathelineau rallied large numbers of peasants to the cause.

He was joined by François de Charette, a former naval officer who helped organize the disparate rebel forces into a more unified army.

Together with leaders like Jean-Nicolas Stofflet, who was a former gamekeeper, and the Marquis de Bonchamps, who was a nobleman, these men provided the peasantry with experienced commanders who understood military tactics.

The Catholic clergy also became central figures in the resistance. 

In reality though, the peasantry formed the backbone of the Vendée uprising.

Unfortunately, many of them had little military experience, and had to use their knowledge of the local terrain to wage a guerrilla war against Republican forces.

Their understanding of the countryside allowed them to strike quickly and retreat before government troops could respond.

Women supported the fighters by providing food, shelter, and information about enemy movements.

The Vendée uprising was, at its core, a rural resistance movement. 

One of the first major engagements occurred at the Battle of Thouars in May 1793.

The Vendéan forces, led by Cathelineau and Bonchamps, launched an assault on the Republican garrison at Thouars, which was a strategically important town in the region.

The rebels captured it after a fierce fight and forced the Republicans to retreat.

The victory emboldened the Catholic and Royal Army, which soon moved on to Saumur.

On June 9, 1793, the Vendéan forces achieved another significant victory there when they captured the town and its fortress. It also alled them to seize valuable supplies and artillery. 

Following these victories, the Vendéan forces formally organized into the Catholic and Royal Army.

This army, which was a coalition of peasants, nobles, and former soldiers, became the military arm of the rebellion.

It aimed to restore the monarchy and protect the Catholic Church from revolutionary policies.

The Catholic and Royal Army established its command structure, with leaders like Charette, Lescure, and La Rochejaquelein taking charge of different sections of the army.

By late 1793, the Catholic and Royal Army had expanded its control over much of the Vendée region. 

In response to the growing rebellion, the revolutionary government launched a series of military campaigns to crush the uprising.

The National Convention sent thousands of Republican troops to the Vendée, determined to reclaim control and punish the rebels.

They were led by generals such as Jean-Baptiste Kléber and François Westermann, who quickly gained a reputation for using brutal tactics to suppress the resistance.

In October 1793, the Republicans defeated the Catholic and Royal Army at the Battle of Cholet and forced many of the Vendéan leaders to flee.

The remaining rebel forces began a desperate retreat known as the ‘Virée de Galerne’. 

So, in early 1794, the revolutionary government ordered the deployment of the ‘infernal columns’, a series of mobile units tasked with crushing the rebellion through scorched-earth tactics.

Led by General Louis Marie Turreau, these columns swept through the Vendée, burning villages, crops, and forests to deny the rebels any refuge or resources.

Republican forces showed no mercy, slaughtering anyone suspected of supporting the Vendéan cause.

Turreau’s forces reduced much of the region to ashes, with an estimated 20,000 civilians killed during these operations.

The ‘infernal columns’ turned the Vendée into a wasteland, where survivors faced starvation and destitution. 

At its height, any villages that were suspected of harboring rebels were razed to the ground, and entire communities were wiped out.

One of the most infamous massacres took place at Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne, where Republican troops killed over 500 men, women, and children in a single day.

Republican commanders often ordered the execution of all male inhabitants in villages they captured, while women and children were not spared either.

The destruction extended to churches, homes, and farmland, which left the region economically crippled for years. 

Republican forces rarely took prisoners, preferring to execute anyone captured in battle.

Anyone suspected of aiding the rebels were often summarily executed without trial.

Prisoners were sometimes tortured or mutilated before being killed as a warning to others.

Those who were spared were often sent to the guillotine in Republican-controlled towns, where they were publicly executed.

It is estimated that over 6,000 prisoners were executed in this way, while many more were killed in mass drownings, especially in the city of Nantes, where thousands were tied up and thrown into the Loire River. 

By the end of 1794, the revolutionary government declared victory, and the war was officially over.

Estimates suggest that between 170,000 and 200,000 people, including civilians and combatants, died as a result of the war.

Whole communities were wiped out, and much of the region’s infrastructure was destroyed.

Consequently, the economy of the Vendée collapsed, with agricultural production nearly halting due to the destruction of farms and livestock.

Many families were displaced, their homes and livelihoods lost forever. 

In addition, many of the key Vendéan leaders, including Charette and La Rochejaquelein, were either killed in battle or captured and executed.

Without their leadership, the Catholic and Royal Army fragmented, and what remained of the rebel forces struggled to hold their ground.

This also changed the social structure of the region dramatically, as it left a vacuum of leadership.

It led to a deep social divide between those who had supported the rebellion and those who remained loyal to the Republic. 

Finally, the uprising exposed the dangers of internal dissent, prompting the government to take a harder line on counter-revolutionary activities.

As a result, the government enacted stricter measures to root out any potential rebellions elsewhere in France.

Policies targeting the Church became even more aggressive, as the government saw religious resistance as a key factor in the Vendée uprising.

Consequently, many priests who refused to swear loyalty to the Republic were either exiled or executed.