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War in the Vendée and Chouannerie of 1832
Date 24 May - 9 June 1832 Location Western France: Maine-et-Loire, Vendée, Loire-Atlantique Result Orléanist Victory
Belligerents
July Monarchy	Legitimists
Commanders and leaders
Jean-Baptiste Solignac Paul Dermoncourt	Marie-Caroline of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Berry Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont
Strength
45,000	Several thousand
Casualties and losses
At least several dozen	At least 100

The War in the Vendée and Chouannerie of 1832 (also referred to as the Duchess of Berry's Rebellion) was an unsuccessful uprising led by the Duchess of Berry against the July Monarchy in late May and early June 1832. The uprising sought to place the Duchess' son Henri on the French throne as Henry V.

Background

After the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the French monarchy was restored under Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI who had been executed as part of the French Revolution. In 1830 the ultra-royalist Charles Phillippe, Count of Artois ascended to the throne as Charles X. Charles X's reactionary rule ultimately led to his issuing of the July Ordinances which attempted to modify the Charter of 1814 and limit the powers of the Chamber of Deputies. The July Ordinances led to significant public outcry, which culminated in the toppling of the monarchy in the July Revolution, which established a constitutional monarchy under King Louis Philippe.

As a result of the revolution, Charles X abdicated in favour of his son the Duke of Angoulême, who also abdicated. As a result the legitimist claim to the French throne passed to Henry, Count of Chambourd, the infant posthumous son of the assassinated Duke of Berry and his Italian wife, the Duchess of Berry.

Reactionary supporters of the ousted Charles X rejected the July Monarchy of Louis Philippe and recognised Henry, Count of Chambourd as the legitimate king of France as 'Henry V'. After the July Revolution, Henry and his mother the Duchess of Berry went into exile in the United Kingdom.

The Duchess of Berry, unlike Charles X and the Duke of Angoulême, continued to enjoy significant popular goodwill in France. This was in part due to her public persona, which embraced bourgeois intimacy and modern fashionability. Furthermore the Duchess of Berry was not closely associated in the public consciousness with the ultra-royalist politics of Charles X, rather, she was associated with her husband's assassination and the dramatic posthumous birth of Henry, Count of Chambourd.

In exile in England, the Duchess of Berry acted as 'regent' for the still-infant Henry. She surrounded herself with other exiled legitimists and was particularly influenced by a 'triumvirate' of Ferdinand de Bertier, the Duc du Blacas, and the Marshal de Bouront.

Based on perceived conditions in France, the legitimists in exile planned a rebellion to place Henry on the French throne. The exiles made contact with legitimist sympathisers in historically royalist areas of France, particularly in Western France. The French government was aware of the increase in legitimist activity and heightened surveillance of the area. Officials intercepted legitimist communications that contained planned dates for the rebellion. By May 1832, the July Monarchy government had stationed sixty thousand soldiers in Western France in anticipation of a legitimist uprising.

Rebellion

The Duchess of Berry left England and, travelling via Italy, landed in Marseilles in early 1832. While the Duchess had hoped to replicate the success of Napoleon's Hundred Days campaign in marching across France, she instead found less support than anticipated.

The legitimists printed and distributed proclamations and pamphlets in the areas of the Vendee. This propaganda had a polished and sophisticated presentation and bore the mark of the "Royal Press of Henri V". One proclamation stated:

Henri V is calling on you; his mother, the Regent of France, is devoted to your happiness. Let us take up together the old cry and the new. Long live the King! Long live Henri V!

Legitimist propaganda also focused on local grievances. In villages and towns in Loire Inferieure, placards accused the July Monarchy of attacking the Catholic faith, and railed against an unpopular salt tax imposed by the government.

Despite the sophisticated propaganda and detailed planning the rebellion was poorly executed and was crushed within a matter of days. On the night of 3 June 1832, small groups of legitimists in the Western Departments rendezvoused outside of towns and marched to combine with other groups. The call to arms, however, did not result in a mass-mobilisation as the legitimists had hoped, and commanders were left with far smaller forces than they had hoped.

By 7 July the July Monarchy's army and national guard had defeated the rebels in a few pitched battles and smaller skirmishes.

Capture of the Duchess of Berry

After the failure of the rebellion, the Duchess of Berry went into hiding in Nantes for several months. Eventually, on 7 November, she was found and captured by the minister of the interior, Adolphe Thiers, and was jailed in Blaye.

The Duchess' ongoing popularity caused difficulties for the government.