Chouannerie, La

   A guerrilla movement of the 18th century in which French peasants fought against the revolution of 1789. It developed especially after 1793 in the northern area of the Loire, in Brittany principally, Normandy, Maine, and Anjou. The movement was born at the same time as the Vendean War (see vendée, warofthe )and for the same reasons: economic difficulties, antireligious revolutionary policies, and the decree conscripting 300,000 men issued by the Convention (February 24, 1793). Led usually by individuals from the region—count of bourmont, louis de frotté, the marquis de la rouerie, the cot-tereau brothers, pierre cormatine—the Chouans (the term is derived from an old Breton word for "owl") spread imperceptibly throughout the countryside aided by a network of agents and sympathizers. Their principal objective was to destroy civil authority, intercept convoys, and assassinate revolutionary leaders in their regions. La Chouannerie was combated rigorously by General hoche, who pacified areas in the west by 1795, but it remained, nonetheless, until the beginning of the first empire.