The French Revolution, which erupts with the storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789, at first gains the enthusiastic approval of some German intellectuals, who welcome the proclamation of a constitution and a bill of rights.

Within a few years, most of this support has dissipated, replaced by fear of a newly aggressive French nationalism and horror at the execution of the revolution's opponents.

French troops invade Germany in 1792 and are at first pushed back by imperial forces, but at the Battle of Valmy in late 1792, the French army, a revolutionary citizens' army fighting on its own soil, defeats the professional imperial army.

By 1794 France has secured control of the Rhineland, which it is to occupy for twenty years.