French expedition to Sardinia

French expedition to Sardinia
Part of the Mediterranean campaign of 1793–1796
Contemporary print of the French bombardment of Cagliari, 1793
Date 21 December 1792 – 25 May 1793 Location Sardinia, Mediterranean Sea 40°00′N 09°00′E / 40.000°N 9.000°E / 40.000; 9.000 Result Spanish-Sardinian victory
Belligerents
Sardinia Spain	France
Commanders and leaders
Domenico Millelire Juan de Lángara	Laurent Truguet
Strength
10,000	5,000 Mediterranean Fleet
Casualties and losses
Minor	300 killed and wounded 200 captured 2 frigates sunk
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

The French expedition to Sardinia was a short military campaign fought in 1793 in the Mediterranean Sea in the first year of the War of the First Coalition, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The operation was the first offensive by the new French Republic in the Mediterranean during the conflict, and was directed at the island of Sardinia, part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Sardinia was neutral at the time, but immediately joined the anti-French coalition. The operation was a failure, with attacks directed at Cagliari in the south^[1] and La Maddalena in the north^[2] both ending in defeat.

The operation was launched by the French Mediterranean Fleet, led by Contre-amiral Laurent Truguet, under instructions from the National Convention. The government had issued orders to invade Sardinia, strategically important to the Mediterranean, which they believed would bring an easy victory. Delays in assembling the invasion force gave the Sardinians sufficient time to raise an army, and when the French fleet arrived off the capital Cagliari, the Sardinians were ready. The first attack was dispersed by a gale, but the second went ahead on 22 January 1793. French troops subsequently landed on 11 February but were driven off in fighting at Quartu Sant'Elena.

A subsequent attack on the island of La Maddalena off the northern coast of Sardinia also failed, partly due to sabotage by Corsican troops; it is most notable as the first military service of the Lieutenant Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte, later Emperor of France.^[2] On 25 May a Spanish fleet recaptured the small islands of San Pietro and Sant'Antioco, the last of the French garrisons on Sardinia. The legacies of the campaign included a series of popular revolts in Sardinia against the Savoyard rulers, a temporary breakaway of Corsica from France, and a rebellion at the French naval base of Toulon leading to the capture and near destruction of the entire French Mediterranean Fleet by a British Royal Navy fleet.