The Soldiers are Dressed in Red

In Paris, the progress of the French Revolution was marked by violent rivalries amongst political factions. Occasionally these spilled out into other regions where there were also truly counter-revolutionary movements which portrayed strong regional characteristics, particularly in Western France. In Brittany, resistance to the Revolutionary regime in Paris merged with local grievances and developed into an insurgency in the countryside, waged by chouans.

When, in 1793, France declared war on Britain the latter's war policy initially sought peace by seizing colonial territories by which earlier conflicts had been concluded but by 1795 it was considered that peace could only be obtained by toppling the regime in Paris by supporting its internal as well as its external enemies.