How did France solve the logistics problems during the levee en masse of First Coalition War?

by Julius_Maximus
DonaldFDraper

When the French Revolution kicked off, the French military and state were in the middle of effectively "modernizing" the French military. It wasn't so much using newer weapons (although the French artillery had started to use a new artillery system in the 1780s under Gribeauval) but rather trying to introduce new tactics and concepts to bring up to snuff in a supposed conflict against Great Britain and Prussia, the two power houses of the pre-Revolutionary decade. However it must be added that the concept of logistics in terms of how we use it is very new as individual divisions would handle such things on an as need basis (which is common throughout all European militaries).

As such, when the levee en masse occured during the start of the War of the First Coalition, the concept of supplying multiple armies across all of France with the tools needed to wage war was completely new. Lazare Carnot, "the architect of victory" would be the one handling the organizing of the French military during this time, but the structures needed to both create and distribute war materiale didn't exist; worse many of the foundries and factories had to work over time to supply as many weapons as possible, straining their capacity to produce them.

As such, most armies were left to fend for themselves. This would be a major part of the Napoleonic narrative as Napoleon arrived to his Italian campaign with few supplies and tired soldiers, many without shoes and food. He would announce

"Soldiers, you are naked and ill-fed! Government owes you much and can give you nothing. The patience and courage you have shown in the midst of these rocks are admirable; but they gain you no renown; no glory results to you from your endurance. It is my design to lead you into the most fertile plains of the world. Rich provinces and great cities will be in your power; there you will find honor, glory, and wealth. Soldiers of Italy! will you be wanting in courage or perseverance?" Rather than encourage the men with just victory, he addresses their ultimate problem, being naked and ill fed, and points them to the fertile North Italian valley. To the South East, the armies de Pyrenees occidentales and Orientales also suffered from poor logistics, having to take weapons and ammo from dead soldiers.

The logistics of the French army wouldn't stabilize until the Napoleon comes to power. He would spend the his first four years as "First Consul" in an effort of stabilizing France both in terms of military and economics, which helped him create a logistics wing that would be a service on it's own in 1810.

Source:

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/speeches/c_speeches1.html (for the speech).