French Revolution
Unlike the majority of naval officers, Villaret did not emigrate during the Revolution.
In 1791, he was given command of the frigate Prudente to transport troops to Saint-Domingue. Arriving shortly before the slave revolt that launched the Haitian Revolution, he helped the governor transport troops around the island.
On 14 March 1792, he swore the "civic oath" to the Republic, while his brother emigrated. Promoted to capitaine de vaisseau in 1792, he was given the command of a ship-of-the-line, Trajan. In 1793, he commanded a small squadron patrolling the coast of the Vendée, in order to prohibit the British from aiding the Vendéan Revolt. When the rest of the Brest fleet sailed to Belle-Isle and a mutiny broke out among many ships in the fleet, Villaret was one of the few officers who maintained order aboard his ship.
In 1794, Jeanbon Saint André named Villaret-Joyeuse as the commander of the Brest fleet because of his ability to maintain discipline during the turmoil of the revolution. The same year, Villaret was promoted to contre-amiral. Assisted by Saint André, Villaret reorganised and revitalised the Brest fleet. Among other measures, Saint André and Villaret-Joyeuse founded a naval artillery school.
Read more about this topic: Louis Thomas Villaret De Joyeuse
Famous quotes containing the words french revolution, french and/or revolution:
“Since the French Revolution Englishmen are all intermeasurable one by another, certainly a happy state of agreement to which I for one do not agree.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“An old French sentence says, “God works in moments,”M”En peu d’heure Dieu labeure.” We ask for long life, but ‘t is deep life, or grand moments, that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“O God, that one might read the book of fate,
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent,
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
Into the sea.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)