France Declares War on Britain and the Netherlands

February 1, 1793

The National Convention added Britain and the Dutch Republic to its list of enemies, joining Austria and Prussia. Pitt the Younger assembled the First Coalition. The French revolutionary wars became a continental affair that would last, with brief intermissions, until Waterloo - twenty-two years away. The conflict forced Britain to expand its navy to six hundred ships, creating the maritime supremacy that would define the nineteenth century.