In 1793 the army or its component forces fought at Second Châtillon, First Noirmoutier, La Tremblaye, Cholet, Laval, Entrames, Fougères, Granville, Dol, Angers, Le Mans and Savenay.

In 1794 Louis Marie Turreau tried to suppress the rebellion with extremely brutal methods using the infamous infernal columns.

The two chief causes of the War in the Vendée were the attempt by the French National Convention to impose conscription on the population and to force the Civil Constitution of the Clergy on the priests.

The great majority of the priests in the Vendée refused to take the oath and most of the population resented sending their young men to war.

Since much of the area was covered by woods or hedges and traversed by narrow lanes, it proved to be ideal terrain for the local people to launch ambushes and sudden attacks against the Republican French troops.

[5] The Army of the Coasts of Brest guarded the region from Saint-Malo south to the mouth of the Loire River.

[7] In early June, the Vendeans routed a major French Republican force in the Battle of Saumur and captured 46 guns.

[8] This was followed by another disaster on 18 July at the Battle of Vihiers when 12,000 rebels smashed a 14,000-man Republican force, inflicting losses of 5,000 men and taking 25 of its 30 guns.

These 14,000 well-disciplined soldiers became the unofficially named Army of Mayence under Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet.

The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle was assigned to the incompetent Jean Antoine Rossignol who was protected from criticism because of his Jacobin political views.

His efforts were foiled by strong Vendean resistance and because Rossignol failed to fully carry out his part of the plan.

The intriguer Charles-Philippe Ronsin brought about the change by persuading Minister of War Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte that Canclaux and du Bayet caused the recent defeats.

[7] The Committee of Public Safety believed Léchelle to be the perfect candidate to put down the Vendean rebellion, but he proved to be a worse general than Rossignol.

He did not understand maps, hardly knew how to sign his name, and did not once approach within cannon shot of the rebels; in a word, there was nothing comparable to his poltroonery and his inefficiency, except his arrogance, his brutality, and his obstinacy".

[14] At this point, the Vendean army crossed to the north bank of the Loire, hoping to capture a port and make contact with the British Royal Navy.

[15] Against the advice of Kléber and Marceau, Léchelle insisted on keeping the army in a single column and attacking immediately.

While Kléber, Marceau and Beaupuy were with the front line units, Léchelle stayed in rear and was unable to send help.

However, the generals and the representatives-on-mission did not want the inept Rossignol to lead the troops, so they appointed Marceau the commander-in-chief with Kléber as his deputy.

With 80,000 soldiers, he ordered 12 "infernal columns" to sweep the Vendée, taking away all crops, burning farms and killing all suspected rebels.

Turreau was encouraged in his horrible work by politicians such as Jean-Baptiste Carrier who said, "The women of La Vendée, it is from them that the race of enemies is reborn.

[23] In October 1794, Dumas was replaced in command of the Army of the West by Canclaux, who took Emmanuel de Grouchy as his chief of staff.

Grouchy first moved against a threatened invasion and then sent reinforcements to the Army of the Coasts of Brest which was then under the command of Lazare Hoche.

On 21 July 1795 at Quiberon, Hoche smashed an attempted invasion of France by Royalists landed by the British fleet.

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte became the commander from 3 May to 10 October when he was replaced by interim leader Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly.