Key Facts
- Duration
- Six weeks (1794)
- Initial British estimate
- Ten days to capture
- Preceding operation
- British capture of San Fiorenzo, February 1794
- Outcome trigger
- French garrison surrendered when food ran out
- Final result for island
- All French expelled from Corsica by August 1794
Strategic Narrative Overview
Following the successful seizure of San Fiorenzo in February 1794, Hood directed his forces toward Bastia. A dispute between British commanders over siege tactics caused delays. Hood and Captain Horatio Nelson believed a swift assault would suffice within ten days, but the French defenses proved far more formidable. The siege stretched to six weeks as British bombardment failed to break French resistance, which only collapsed once the garrison exhausted its food supplies.
01 / The Origins
During the French Revolutionary Wars, Corsican inhabitants rose against the French garrison occupying their island in 1793 and appealed to the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet under Lord Hood for support. Britain, already at war with Revolutionary France as part of the First Coalition, saw strategic value in securing Corsica and responded by deploying a naval expeditionary force to assist the Corsican insurgents in expelling French forces.
03 / The Outcome
The French garrison, unable to sustain itself, surrendered to British and Corsican forces. Hood granted the defenders safe passage back to France. Operations then shifted to Calvi, the last French-held town, which also fell, and by August 1794 France had been entirely expelled from Corsica. The island subsequently became a self-governing territory under British protection with its own constitution.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Lord Hood, Captain Horatio Nelson.
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.