The movement was initially prompted by small Moravian communities implanted by earlier Moravian missionary efforts and much helped by British Presbyterians such as Robert Haldane or Henry Drummond, or Methodists such as Charles Cook;[1] several members of Free Church of Scotland moved over to the Continent after Napoleon's fall.
[2] Among the leading personalities of the Réveil are Henri-Louis Empaytaz, César Malan, Louis Gaussen, Ami Bost, Henri Pyt, Antoine Jean-Louis Galland and Adolphe Monod as well as the controversial Barbara von Krüdener.
In the canton of Vaud was also formed a Reformed Free Church, whose spiritual father was Alexandre Vinet.
In France, several regions were reached by the Réveil, including Paris where a very influential church, la Chapelle Taitbout, gathered numerous members of the high bourgeoisie and nobility of the time.
A preacher influenced by the Réveil was the German-speaking Swiss minister Samuel Heinrich Froehlich founder of the Neutäufer in Europe and the Apostolic Christian Church in the United States.