The Battle of Méribel took place at Méribel, above Sallanches

Sallanches

Sallanches is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.-Media:Sallanches is mentioned in American author Willa Cather's 1935 novel Lucy Gayheart.-External links:*...

, Haute-Savoie

Haute-Savoie

Haute-Savoie is a French department in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. It borders both Switzerland and Italy. The capital is Annecy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland; to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc and Aravis mountain ranges and the French entrance to the Mont...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, on 13 September 1793, when the forces of the Duchy of Savoy

Savoy

Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....

 were defeated by the French Army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

.

In 1792, Revolutionary French forces had marched into Savoy to "bring freedom" to its people as part of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. A decree

Decree

A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...

 annexing

Annexation

Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...

 it to France was signed on 27 November of the same year, and it became the 85th département of France, renamed as the Mont Blanc

Mont-Blanc (département)

Mont-Blanc was the name of a département of the First French Empire. It was named after Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe. It was formed in 1792, when the Savoy region, was occupied by the French...

 département.

Following the execution of King Louis XVI

Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

, the French Revolution became widely despised and feared elsewhere in Europe. In 1793, the French Republic raised an army of 300,000 men, while only few Savoyards signed up for service. A much larger force of Savoyards, conducted by the Royalist camp attacked the French Army, and reconquered the Alpine valleys and Annecy

Annecy

Annecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...

. However, they were not enough to remove the French presence from Savoy and the territory was retaken.