View from Fort de Bellegarde in the Pyrenees. Spanish territory is in the right foreground; the rest belongs to France. During the fighting, the French first lost, then regained Bellegarde.
Active
30 April 1793 – 12 October 1795
Country
Republican France
Type
Army
Role
Operations in the eastern Pyrenees
Engagements
War of the Pyrenees
Commanders
Notable commanders
Louis-Charles de Flers Eustache Charles d'Aoust Jacques Dugommier Dominique Pérignon Barthélemy Schérer
Military unit
v
t
e
War of the Pyrenees
Eastern Pyrenees
Mas Deu
1st Bellegarde
Perpignan
Peyrestortes
Truillas
1st Boulou
Villelongue
1st Collioure
2nd Boulou
2nd Collioure
1st Sant Llorenç
2nd Sant Llorenç
2nd Bellegarde
Black Mountain
Roses
Western Pyrenees
Château-Pignon
Sans Culottes Camp
Baztan
Orbaizeta
Bascara
Toulon
Fort-Dauphin
Gulf of Roses
The Army of the Eastern Pyrenees (Armée des Pyrénées Orientales) was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It fought against the Kingdom of Spain in Roussillon, the Cerdanya and Catalonia during the War of the Pyrenees. This army and the Army of the Western Pyrenees were formed by splitting the original Army of the Pyrenees at the end of April 1793 soon after the war started. Shortly after the Peace of Basel on 22 July 1795, the fighting ended and the army was dissolved on 12 October that same year. Many of its units and generals were transferred to join the Army of Italy and fought under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796.
In the first dismal months of fighting, the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees was beaten at Mas Deu and Bellegarde and forced back under the walls of Perpignan. Then the French repelled two Spanish attacks at Perpignan and Peyrestortes. Though the army was defeated again at Truillas and in other actions, the Spanish invaders withdrew to the Tech River in late 1793. Throughout the year the representatives on mission had enormous powers and used them to interfere with the military effort and to arrest officers that they deemed unpatriotic or unsuccessful. In 1794, the army's fortunes improved when Jacques François Dugommier took command. The army drove the Spanish army from France soil at Boulou and recaptured the Fort de Bellegarde and Collioure. After establishing itself on Spanish territory, the army won a decisive victory at the Battle of the Black Mountain in November during which Dugommier was killed. His replacement, Dominique Catherine de Pérignon soon captured the Sant Ferran fortress and the port of Roses. After these events the front became static and the last notable action was a Spanish victory at Bascara in June.
The war took a severe toll on the commanders of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees. Aside from Dugommier's death in battle, three were executed by the guillotine and another died of disease. Five officers from the army later became Marshals of France under Napoleon. These were Pérignon, Pierre Augereau, Claude Perrin Victor, Jean Lannes and Jean-Baptiste Bessières.
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Global Information
Republican France