Charles Dumouriez prepares an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expects the local population to rise against Austrian rule, as they had earlier in 1790.

However, the revolution has thoroughly disorganized the army, and the forces raised are insufficient for the invasion.

Following the declaration of war, French soldiers desert en masse and, in one case, murder their general, Théobald Dillon, after losing skirmish with Austrian forces outside the city of Lille.

The troops apparently believed that their defeat by the Austrians was the result of a conspiracy on the part of Dillon, whom they called a "traitor and aristocrat."