French Revolutionary Wars
In 1794, the situation was very good for France, which won huge battles against the Austrians and the Spanish. That started a new stage in the wars. By 1795, the French took land in much of present-day Belgium from Austria and land in much of the present-day Netherlands from the Dutch. France also made Spain and Prussia sign peace treaties to end the war. A general, Napoleon Bonaparte, who was mostly unknown, began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796. In less than a year, he led French armies that destroyed the Habsburg forces, kicked them out of Italy, won almost every battle and took 150,000 prisoners. After France started to get near Vienna, the capital of Austria, the Austrians surrendered and ended the War of the First Coalition against France.