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The Army of the Rhine and Moselle ((フランス語:Armée de Rhin-et-Moselle)) was one of the field units of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 20 April 1795 by merging the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the Moselle. The army figured in two principal campaigns in the War of the First Coalition, although the unsuccessful 1795 campaign concluded with the removal of Jean-Charles Pichegru from command. In 1796, the army, under command of Jean Victor Marie Moreau, proved itself more successful. By this time, many of the changes inaugurated by the French military reform of 1794 had taken hold. On 29 September 1797 the Army of the Rhine and Moselle merged with the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse to form the Army of Germany.〔 Charles Clerget, (''Tableaux des armées françaises: pendant les guerres de la Révolution'' ), R. Chapelot, 1905, pp. 55, 62.〕 ==Purpose and formation== Military planners in Paris understood that the upper Rhine Valley, the south-western German territories, and Danube river basin were strategically important for the defense of the Republic. The Rhine was a formidable barrier to what the French perceived as Austrian aggression, and the state that controlled its crossings controlled the river itself. Finally, ready access across the Rhine and along the Rhine bank between the German states and Switzerland, or through the Black Forest, gave access to the upper Danube river valley. For the French, control of the Upper Danube or any point in between, offered an immense strategic value and would give the French a reliable approach to Vienna.〔Gunther E. Rothenberg, ''Napoleon’s great adversaries: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army, 1792–1914,'' Stroud, (Gloucester): Spellmount, 2007, pp. 70–74.〕 Undoubtedly by 1793 the armies of the French Republic were in a state of disruption; experienced soldiers of the Ancien Régime fought side by side with raw volunteers, urged on by revolutionary fervor from the special representatives, agents of the legislature sent to insure cooperation among the military. Many of the old officer class had emigrated, and the cavalry in particular suffered from their departure. The artillery arm, considered by the old nobility to be an inferior assignment, was less affected by emigration, and survived intact. The problems would become even more acute following the introduction of mass conscription, the ''levée en massee,'' in 1793. French commanders walked a fine line between the security of the frontier and clamor for victory (which would protect the regime in Paris) on the one hand, and the desperate condition of the army on the other, while they themselves were constantly under suspicion from the representatives of the new regime. The price of failure or disloyalty was the guillotine.〔Jean Paul Bertaud, R.R. Palmer (trans). ''The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power,'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Army of the Rhine and Moselle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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