Dagobert Sigmund Von Wurmser - French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars

In 1787, Wurmser received a promotion to General der Kavallerie; he held a series of posts in Vienna, Bohemia and Galicia, becoming Commanding General at the latter in 1787 during the Austrian War with the Ottoman Empire. While Wurmser fought Austria's battles in the Balkans, in France, a coalition of the clergy and the professional and bourgeoisie class—the First and Third estates—led a call for reform of the French government and the creation of a written constitution. Initially, the rulers of Europe viewed the French Revolution as an event between the French king and his subjects, and not something in which they should interfere. In 1790, Leopold succeeded his brother Joseph as emperor and by 1791, he considered the situation surrounding his sister, Marie Antoinette, and her children, with greater alarm. In August 1791, in consultation with French émigré nobles and Frederick William II of Prussia, he issued the Declaration of Pilnitz, in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis and his family. They threatened ambiguous, but quite serious, consequences if anything should happen to the royal family. The French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter-revolution. On 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on Austria. In the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797), France opposed most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire.