VENDEE, viix'diV. A western department of France, forming a part of the former Province of Poitou, and lying on the Bay of Biscay be tween the departments of Loire-InfC.rieure and Charente-Infiarieure (Map: France. E 5). Area, 2588 square miles. The surface is low and marshy along the coast, becoming hilly and wooded in the east. The department is essen tially agricultural, though considerable quanti ties of coal and salt arc produced. Nearly the whole area is arable, though much is in pasture land, and large numbers of cattle are raised. The wheat crop amounts to over $7,000,000 annually, and the production of oats, potatoes, and beets as well as of wine is also considerable. Population, in 1896, 441,735; in 1901, 441,311. Capital, La Rochersur-Yon.
During the French Revolution the Vendee and the neighboring regions (Poitou. Anjou, Brit tany) were the scene of a great Royalist uprising of the peasants, who were actuated in part by religious motives. The immediate cause of the insurrection, which broke out in March, 1793, was the proposed levy of 300.000 men by the Revolutionary Government. The war was char acterized by frightful massacres; villages were ravaged and burned, and prisoners tortured and killed. The officers sent by the Convention were wholly incompetent and there was a lack of unity of action and definite plans, with the result that the Vendeans under Catlielinean, Larochejacquelein, and Charette de la Centric (qq.v.) were at first almost universally success
ful. In the fall of 1793, however, a more vigor ous campaign was inaugurated on the part of the Government. The Vendeans suffered a great defeat at Le Mans on December 12th at the hands of Westermann and :Marceau, and a few days later sustained another blow at Savenay. The backbone of the insurrection was broken. Frightful atrocities were perpetrated at Nantes by the orders of Carrier, the Deputy of the Con vention (see NOYADES ) , and Turreau with his `infernal columns' laid waste the rebellious dis tricts. Charette and other Vendean leaders made terms with the Convention in 1795. The war was, however, soon renewed, but order was finally restored by Bache in 1796, although the complete pacification of the region was not effected until several years later. (See CnotTANs.) In 1815, during the Hundred Days, there was a Vendean insurrection against Napoleon, and in 1832 an abortive atteinpt was made to excite a rising in favor of the Duchess of Perry'.