The brutal Pyrenean war that nearly saw the Basque country defect to revolutionary France
Between 1793 and 1795, Revolutionary France fought a savage conflict against Spain and Portugal along the Pyrenees. Beyond the battlefield, the war triggered a desperate political crisis in the Basque region, where local leaders briefly sought to detach from Spain and pledge their allegiance to the French Republic.
The War of the Pyrenees, also known as the War of the Convention, erupted in March 1793 after France declared war on Spain. The conflict was defined by extreme brutality; the French Committee of Public Safety mandated the execution of royalist prisoners, and French generals faced the guillotine if they failed to meet expectations. In the eastern theater, Spanish forces initially gained ground, capturing Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans in April 1793. However, the momentum shifted after the death of the Spanish commander, Antonio Ricardos, in March 1794. The French, under leaders like Jacques François Dugommier and later Dominique-Catherine de Pérignon, eventually pushed the Spanish back, culminating in the Battle of the Black Mountain in November 1794.
In the western Pyrenees, the conflict took a complex political turn. French General Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey led a successful offensive, capturing San Sebastián and Tolosa by August 1794. In the coastal town of Getaria, the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa voted to break away from Spain and join France, citing a desire to preserve their specific regional laws and practice their religion freely. This move sparked outrage in Madrid, leading to treason charges against the Gipuzkoan representatives. The French government, however, ultimately refused these overtures, prioritizing broader strategic goals as negotiations for the Peace of Basel began.
The war concluded with the Peace of Basel on 22 July 1795. Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola to France in exchange for retaining Gipuzkoa. While the treaty included a provision intended to protect the Basque population from reprisals, the reality was far harsher; local officials, including the San Sebastián city council, faced court-martial trials in Pamplona as late as February 1796. The conflict also saw the tragic deportation of thousands of Basque villagers, who were forcibly removed from their homes in 1794 after dozens of young men fled to avoid military service, leading to over 1,600 deaths within five months.
Source: War of the Pyrenees
