Vendée, Wars of the

(1793–96) Insurrections in the west of France during the French Revolution. In the religious and impoverished area known as the Vendée, discontent with the new government grew after it instituted strict controls over the Catholic church (1790). An uprising began in opposition to the conscription acts (1793) and spread throughout the region, where peasants were joined by royalists to form the Catholic and Royal Army. Led by the nobleman François Charette de La Contrie (1763–1796), the Vendéan army of 65,000 occupied several towns, but was defeated at Cholet by government troops and forced to retreat. After further defeats at Le Mans (about 15,000 rebels killed) and at Savenay, the general warfare ended in December 1793. Vicious reprisals by the government provoked further resistance, until an amnesty was announced (1794) and the Vendée was granted freedom from conscription (1795). Charette joined a British-backed landing of exiled French nobles in Brittany (1795), but after their defeat and his execution (1796) the counterrevolutionary struggle ended.