French Revolutionary Wars

The post WWII period of aeronautical development began with only US and Russia engaged in airship construction and this only to a limited extent due to competition from airplanes Balloons, Application, in War. The first use of balloons by the military appears to date from the period of the French revolutionary wars(1789-99), when a corps of aeronauts was formed and sent by the French in balloons over the Dutch add Austrian troops. The unexpected appearance of balloons had a demoralizing effect on the enemy and caused them to retreat. Later(1812), the Prussians employed balloons against the Napoleonic troops, but without great success. Balloons were also used for bombing purposes, as briefly described under Bombs, Hiseorical(see under BOMBS)... 

A further irony is that Lavoisier himself fell victim to the French political revolution, despite his sympathy for its ideals and his contributions to scientific initiatives of the revolutionary government such as establishing the metric system. He was guillotined on May 8, 1794, on absurd charges—perhaps because of his involvement in tax collection for the royalist government and his liaisons with foreign chemists at a time of war. 

Other Enlightenment thinkers, however, argued that orphan schools offered the best environment to shape perfect citizens in the manner of the ancient Spartan schools. This concept eventually led the Jacobin Party of revolutionary France to sponsor orphanages as the ideal institutions to nurture true children of the Patrie, again on the model of the Spartan schools. The subsequent wars of the French Republic, however, prevented the Jacobins from building their utopian state orphanages. ... 

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