11 - The French Navy

Summary

Throughout most of the Anglo-French Wars of 1793-1815, the burden of defending France’s interests against Britain fell primarily upon its navy. Having suffered several major defeats and the loss of New France and other colonies, France and its navy re-emerged to contest Britain’s dominance at sea during the American Revolutionary War in1778-1783. Although the French navy had scored several strategic victories for their American allies, the defeat at the Battle of the Saints in 1782 left France with little to show for its efforts except a massive debt. As a navy required extensive logistical systems to mobilize both its resources and manpower, this endeavour presented ever increasingly strenuous challenge to the French monarchy. Faced with needs to modernize both its fiscal, social, and political structures, the French monarchy failed to navigate the tumultuous process of reform. While the resulting French Revolution removed some of the impediments to reform, it also presented its own difficulties as revolutionary principles often clashed with the needs of military service. Although Napoleon Bonaparte brought relatively stability to France and invested massive amount of resources to regenerate the French navy, his insatiable desire for aggrandizing the French Empire and the nearly constant state of war made it difficult to achieve his naval aspirations.