In the winter of 1799–1800 French royalists, who were in exile, drew up with the support of British intelligence, a plan for a large popular uprising in the south of France in favor of the restoration of the monarchy. The functions of the main organizer and leader of the rebels were assigned to General A. Willot. The author of the article analyzes in detail the little-studied in historiography story about the cooperation of barbets with royalist emigration in 1800. He uses materials from the archive of royalist J. Imbert-Colomés, the correspondence of English diplomat W. Wickham, documents from the archives of Piedmont and Nice. The author of the article shows, that Willot and his agents, from January to April 1800, actively recruited their supporters among the insurgents of the Alps-Maritimes, known as barbets, and established contacts with their leaders. From 2,000 to 4,000 barbets were planned to be involved in the uprising. Despite all efforts, the French royalists were unable to carry out their plan in the spring of 1800 for several reasons: the Austrian chancellor Thugut did not believe in the success of the restoration and did not provide them with the necessary military assistance; the British intelligence led by Wickham was ready only to help with money; there were among the leaders of the royalists (Pichegru, Willot, Precy) contradictions and concurrences. The most favorable moment for the uprising was April, but the time was lost. An important factor in the overall failure of the plan was also the autonomous nature of the movement of barbets, who were poorly controlled and prone to robbery, showing extreme cruelty towards the enemy.
The Insurgent Movement of Barbets in the Alpes-Maritimes and the French Royalists in 1800
Mitrofanov Andrei
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