L'espionnage britannique en France pendant la Revolution française (1789-1802)
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Abstract EN:
During the french revolution, the british kept up in france lots of spy networks (called correspondences), which were giving them political information (about the government, the parties, the chance of restoring the monarchy), but also about the army (about the navy and the plans of french landings in england and in ireland). The spies in the pay of england were mainly french royalists, who were wishing to have an active hand in the counter-revolution. Even if, retrospectively, espionage, by its techniques, was giving the impression of amateurism, it played an important role, as for the english attitude all along the war against france, in its political part (decision of restoring the monarchy, as in its military part (by informing them of an invasion of the british isles).
Abstract FR:
Pendant la revolution francaise, les britanniques entretinrent en france de nombreux reseaux d'espionnage (appeles correspondances) qui leurs fournissaient des renseignements d'ordre politique (sur le gouvernement, les partis, les chances d'une restauration monarchique) et militaire (sur la marine de guerre et les projets de debarquement francais en angleterre et en irlande). Les espions a la solde de l'angleterre etaient principalement des royalistes francais qui souhaitaient participer activement a la contre-revolution. Meme si, retrospectivement l'espionnage, par ses techniques, faisait encore figure d'amateurisme, il joua un role important quant a l'attitude que l'angleterre adopta tout au long de la guerre contre la france, tant dans sa partie politique (decision de restaurer la monarchie) que dans sa partie militaire (en prevenant une invasion des iles britanniques).