In the campaigns of 1793-4, the soldiers of Pichegru, Kleber, Hoche, and Moreau overran the whole of the Low Countries and chased the Germans beyond the Rhine; the Piedmontese were thrust behind the Alps; the Spaniards behind the Pyrenees.

In quick succession State after State sued for peace: Tuscany in February, 1795; Prussia in April; Hanover, Westphalia, and Saxony in May; Spain and Hesse-Cassel in July; Switzerland and Denmark in August.
Such was the state of France when Buonaparte came to seek his fortunes in the Sphinx-like capital.

His artillery command had been commuted to a corresponding rank in the infantry--a step that deeply incensed him.

He attributed it to malevolent intriguers; but all his efforts to obtain redress were in vain.

Lacking money and patronage, known only as an able officer and facile intriguer of the bankrupt Jacobinical party, he might well have despaired.