Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf

Date: May 7, 1798 • Location: Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France

War of the First Coalition: A British garrison repelled a French attack on the Îles Saint-Marcouf off the Normandy coast, inflicting heavy losses.

The War of the First Coalition was a set of wars between a coalition of several European powers and France fought from 1792 to 1797. The coalition was only loosely allied and fought without much coordination; each power wanted to annex a different part of France should they defeat the French, something that never occurred.