The Glorious First of June, also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Lord Howe's action, or the Glorious First of June, Philip James de Loutherbourg
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe; 1794 painting by John Singleton Copley
Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse, 1839 painting by Guérin
HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious 1 June 1794, Nicholas Pocock
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries and the Rhineland. French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.
French Revolutionary Wars
Anonymous caricature depicting the treatment given to the Brunswick Manifesto by the French population
While the First Coalition attacked the new Republic, France faced civil war and counter-revolutionary guerrilla war. Here, several insurgents of the Chouannerie have been taken prisoner.
General Jourdan at the battle of Fleurus, 26 June 1794