Enter Napoleon
Saint-Roch, ParisThe Comte d'Artois landed at Île d'Yeu with 1,000 émigrés and 2,000 British troops. Bolstered by this force, the Royalist troops began marching on Paris in early October 1795. This number would balloon as it got closer to the capital. Général Menou was given command of the defence of the capital, but he was severely outnumbered with only 5,000 troops on hand to resist the 30,000-man Royalist Army. Young General Napoléon Bonaparte was aware of the commotion, and he arrived at the Convention around this time to find out what was happening. Bonaparte accepted, but only on the condition that he was granted complete freedom of movement. Bonaparte commanded throughout the two-hour engagement, and survived unscathed despite having his horse shot from under him. The effect of the grapeshot and the volleys from the patriot forces caused the Royalist attack to waver. Bonaparte ordered a counterattack led by Murat's squadron of Chasseurs. The defeat of the Royalist insurrection extinguished the threat to the Convention. Bonaparte became a national hero, and was quickly promoted to Général de Division. Within five months, he was given command of the French army conducting operations in Italy.