Siege of Lyon
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| Siege of Lyon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Federalist revolts during the War of the First Coalition | |||||||
.jpg) Revolt of Lyon against the National Convention | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 French Republic |
 French royalists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Dubois-Crancé | Louis François Perrin de Précy | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 35,000 | c. 20,000 | ||||||
 | |||||||
The siege of Lyon occurred on 9 August to 9 October 1793 when French Republican forces laid siege and captured the city of Lyon, which was the centre of a revolt against the French government during the War of the First Coalition.
The Army of the Alps, under the command of Kellermann, was engaged in a campaign in Savoy against the Piedmontese when it received the assignment to head west in order to re-establish central government authority in Lyon, and was able to turn its attention to its new mission only a month later, on 10 August 1793. Two days after that, on 12 August 1793, the rebellious department was split into two, creating on the western side of the river the department of Loire with its capital at Feurs and, on the eastern side, the department of Rhône. Just over a week later, on 21 August, the Paris government sent to Lyon a high level team that included Georges Couthon, a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety and a close colleague of Robespierre himself. The next day the revolutionary army began its bombardment. During September Lyon was encircled, and on 29 September 1793, on the south-western side of the city, the fort at Sainte-Foy was destroyed.[1]