The Siege of Dunkirk took place in 1793 when British and Hanoverian troops under the command of Prince Frederick, Duke of York besieged the fortified French border port of Dunkirk as part as the Flanders campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Following the Battle of Hondshoote they were forced to raise the siege and withdraw northwards.

Without the active support of the Royal Navy, the siege struggled to fully cut off the defenders. They had also not brought enough heavy siege equipment and found it hard to break down the fortress walls.^[1]

[edit] Aftermath

The Allies were never able to recover from the failure to take Dunkirk. They retreated towards the Dutch border, abandoning Brussels, and eventually were forced to conclude a convention by which they were to withdraw entirely from the Low Countries. The disaster at Dunkirk became a stick for enemies of the Pitt administration to beat him with. York blamed the navy for not giving him the support he had required, and the Austrians for their failure to co-ordinate their operations with him.

[edit] References

1. ^ Urban p.97

[edit] Bibliography

• Urban, Mark. Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped the World. Faber and Faber, 2005.
• Rodger, NAM. Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815, London, 2007
• Harvey, R: War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France 1789-1815. London, 2007

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