General Jean François Carteaux led the first phase of the siege with the assistance of the “Carmagnoles” army troops. Some of the areas affected by the siege included Ollioules, Marseille, and Avignon. The siege of Toulon began exactly on the eighth day of September. On the other hand, General Jean François Cornu de La Poype led the Alpine Maritime Army to assist in revamping the strength of the siege. He had a total of 6000 men in his troop.
Some of the initial targets included the Mount Faron fort and La Valette-du-Var. It can be recalled that the latter personality was deviant to Trogoff, who was a tough and ruthless British chief. In order to outwit the Italian army from controlling Toulon, General La Poype ordered yet another troop of 5,000 soldiers to reinforce the team.
The initial attack launched by General Carteaux did not succeed as per the set goals. The idea of the allies was to build several fortifications that could act as potential barriers to the enemy. Some of the walls built included Saint-Charles, Saint-Côme, and Saint-Philippe. A huge artillery battery was positioned by Napoleon Bonaparte in order to manage the plans of the rival camp. Hence, its central point of siege became Fort Mulgrave.
This was basically supposed to repel the enemy from the site. Besides, a total of 300 canons were set up to assist in the siege mission. The command of the army was later assumed by General Jacques Dugommier. He strongly believed the viability of the plan devised by Bonaparte. When the allies attempted to take over the “Convention” artillery, they failed and retreated.
After the successful siege, Napoleon Bonaparte’s celebrity. He was promoted and respected beyond borders. Napoleon also met face to face with those who would become Grand Officers in later days.
On the other hand, Washington’s siege of Boston was carried out in quite a different way. Britain had held Boston for a long time. The Continental Army that was mainly comprised of former colonial militiamen led the siege. The siege was punctuated by a series of wars ranging from Bunker Hill battle to the American Revolutionary war. Even the battle that took place in June 1775 was part and parcel of the siege.
At this time, the colonial force was poorly trained to fight, and that is why the British army defeated it. However, this army equally suffered heavy casualties inflicted by the colonial forces. The new Continental Army was taken over by General George Washington in July 1775. In other words, he became the commander of the army. Dorchester Heights was later fortified by Washington’s men in March 1776. This was close to Boston.
Nevertheless, the siege did not last for long because the British army realized that George Washington could easily defeat them. The main disadvantage of the town was that it was not strategically positioned to fight American troops. It was indefensible to the American armies. Therefore, they had to evacuate the town as soon as possible to avoid heavy casualties from the enemy troops. This explains why the siege ended on the seventeenth day of March.
While the siege of Toulon witnessed major crossfire between the two opposing camps, the Boston’s siege was rather peaceful because one side withdrew before the onset of full attacks. However, both Napoleon and Washington emerged as victors in both sieges.