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The Army of Sambre and Meuse () was a
field army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...
of the
French Revolutionary Army The French Revolutionary Army () was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great nu ...
. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the
Army of the Ardennes The Army of the Ardennes (''armée des Ardennes'') was a French Revolutionary Army formed on the first of October 1792 by splitting off the right wing of the Army of the North, commanded from July to August that year by La Fayette. From July to ...
, the left wing of the
Army of the Moselle The Army of the Moselle (''Armée de la Moselle'') was a French Revolutionary Army from 1791 through 1795. It was first known as the '' Army of the Centre'' and it fought at Valmy. In October 1792 it was renamed and subsequently fought at Trier, ...
and the right wing of the
Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...
. Its maximum paper strength (in 1794) was approximately 120,000. After an inconclusive campaign in 1795, the French planned a co-ordinated offensive in 1796 using
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Count Jourdan (; 29 April 1762 – 23 November 1833), was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon I i ...
's Army of the Sambre et Meuse and the
Army of the Rhine and Moselle The Army of the Rhine and Moselle () was one of the field units of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 20 April 1795 by the merger of elements of the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the Moselle. The Army of the Rhine and Moselle ...
commanded by his superior,
Jean Victor Marie Moreau Jean Victor Marie Moreau (, 14 February 1763 – 2 September 1813) was a French general who helped Napoleon Bonaparte rise to power, but later became his chief military and political rival and was banished to the United States. He is among the f ...
. The first part of the operation called for Jourdan to cross the Rhine north of Mannheim and divert the Austrians while the Army of the Moselle crossed the southern Rhine at
Kehl Kehl (; ) is a city with around 38,000 inhabitants in the southwestern Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies in the region of Baden on the Rhine River, at the confluence with the smaller Kinzig (Rhine), Kinzig River, directly oppo ...
and Huningen. This was successful and, by July 1796, a series of victories forced the Austrians, commanded by Archduke Charles, to retreat into the German states. By late July, most of the southern German states had been coerced into an armistice. The Army of Sambre and Meuse maneuvered around northern Bavaria and Franconia, and the Army of the Rhine and Moselle operated in Bavaria. Internal disputes between Moreau and Jourdan and with Jourdan's subordinate commanders within the Army of the Sambre and Meuse prevented the two armies from uniting. This gave the Austrian commander time to reform his own forces, driving Jourdan to the northwest. By the end of September 1796, Charles had permanently separated the two French armies, forcing Jourdan's command further northwest and eventually across the Rhine. On 29 September 1797, the Army of Sambre and Meuse was merged with the Army of the Rhine and Moselle to become the Army of Germany.


Background

Initially, the rulers of Europe viewed the 1789 revolution in France as an internal matter between the French king and his subjects. In 1790,
Leopold Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name), including a list of people named Leopold or Léopold * Leopold (surname) Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold B ...
succeeded his brother
Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
as emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
; by 1791, the danger to his sister,
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
and her children, alarmed him. In August 1791, in consultation with French ''émigré'' nobles and Frederick William II of Prussia, Leopold's
Declaration of Pillnitz The Declaration of Pillnitz was a statement of five sentences issued on 27 August 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden (Saxony) by Frederick William II of Prussia and the Habsburg Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor who was Marie Antoinette's brot ...
articulated that the interests of the monarchs of Europe were as one with the interests of Louis and his family. He and his fellow monarchs threatened unspecified consequences if anything should happen to the royal family. French '' émigrés'' continued to agitate for support of a counter-revolution, and on 20 April 1792 the
French National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
declared war on Austria. In this
War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...
(1792–1798), France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing its land or water borders, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. Timothy Blanning. ''The French Revolutionary Wars''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 41–59. Although initially successful in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793, the French army lost some effectiveness during the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
, during which its generals were intimidated or executed and many of the army's experienced officers left France for safer havens. Elements of the armies that were later formed into the Army of Sambre and Meuse participated in the conquest of the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...
and the siege of Luxembourg. The various elements of the army won a victory at the Battle of Fleurus on 16 June 1794. The merging of the forces into the Army of Sambre and Meuse was made official soon afterwards. Shortly after Fleurus, the position of the
First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that succeeded it. They were only loosely allied ...
in Flanders collapsed and the French armies overran the
Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...
and the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...
in the winter of 1794–1795. French and Coalition military strategy subsequently focused on the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
river as the principal line of defense: for each side, control of the opposite bank or at least, the river's principal crossings, was the basis of defensive strategy.


Geopolitical terrain


Geography

The Rhine River flows west along the border between the German states and the
Swiss Cantons The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important periods in the development of ...
. The stretch between Rheinfall, by
Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
and Basel, is the
High Rhine High Rhine (, ; kilometres 0 to 167 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Lake Constance () and the city of Basel, flowing in a general east-to-west direction and forming mostly the Germany–Switzerland border. It is the first of fo ...
(''Hochrhein''); it cuts through steep hillsides over a gravel bed, and moves in torrents in such places as the former rapids at Laufenburg. A few miles north and east of Basel, the terrain flattens. The Rhine makes a wide, northerly turn, in what is called the Rhine knee, and enters the so-called Rhine ditch (''Rheingraben''), part of a
rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...
bordered by the Black Forest on the east and
Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...
mountains on the west.Knepper, pp. 19–20. The Rhine looked different in the 1790s than it does in the twenty-first century; the passage from Basel to
Iffezheim Iffezheim is a town in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It lies close to the Rhine river, where the Lock Iffezheim is also situated. Iffezheim is also known for the horse races, which takes place three times a year. Poli ...
was "corrected" (straightened) between 1817 and 1875. Construction of a canal to control the water level occurred from 1927 to 1974. In 1790, the river was wild and unpredictable, in some places more than four times wider than in the twenty-first century, even under normal conditions. Its channels wound through marsh and meadow and created islands of trees and vegetation that were periodically submerged by floods. Systems of
viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...
s and
causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...
s made access reliable at
Kehl Kehl (; ) is a city with around 38,000 inhabitants in the southwestern Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies in the region of Baden on the Rhine River, at the confluence with the smaller Kinzig (Rhine), Kinzig River, directly oppo ...
, by
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, and at
Hüningen Huningue (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department of France. Huningue is a northern suburb of the Swiss city of Basel. It also borders Germany (Weil am Rhein, a suburb of Basel located in Germany) ...
, by
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
. In 1796, the plain on both sides of the river, some wide, was dotted with villages and farms. At the furthest edges of the flood plain, especially on the eastern side, the old mountains created dark shadows on the horizon. Tributaries cut through the hilly terrain of the
Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
, creating deep defiles in the mountains, and became rivulets through the flood plain to the river.


Politics

The German-speaking states on the east bank of the Rhine were part of the vast complex of territories in
central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
called the Holy Roman Empire. Joachim Whaley, ''Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648 '', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012
pp. 17–20
The number of territories in the Empire included more than 1,000 entities. Their size and influence varied, from the '' Kleinstaaten'' (little states) that covered no more than a few square miles to large and powerful states. The states and territories involved in late 1796 included the Breisgau (Habsburg), Offenburg and Rottweil (imperial cities), the princely states of Fürstenberg, Neuenburg and Hohenzollern, the
Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden () was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the right banks of the Upper Rhine in south-western Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, when it was split into the tw ...
, the
Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg () was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a Imperial Estate, state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1803. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries was mainly du ...
, and several dozen ecclesiastic polities. Rule varied: they included free imperial cities of different sizes, such as the powerful
Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
and the minuscule
Weil der Stadt Weil der Stadt () is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about west of Stuttgart city centre, in the valley of the River Würm, and is often called the "Gate to the Black Fo ...
; ecclesiastical territories, also of varying sizes and influence, such as the wealthy
Abbey of Reichenau Reichenau Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau Island (known in Latin as Augia Dives) in southern Germany. It was founded in 724 by the itinerant Saint Pirmin, who is said to have fled Visigothic Spain ahead of the Moorish invaders, w ...
and the powerful Archbishopric of Cologne; and such dynastic states as Württemberg. When viewed on a map, the Empire resembled a ''Flickenteppich'' ( patchwork carpet). Some states included non-contiguous pieces, the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
domains and
Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...
Prussia also governed territories outside the Empire, such as the Habsburg territories in eastern Europe and northern Italy; for others, a village could belong predominantly to one polity but have a farmstead, a house or even one or two strips of land that belonged to another polity. There were also territories surrounded by France that belonged to Württemberg, such as the county of Solm, the archbishopric of Trier and Hesse-Darmstadt. Among the German-speaking states, the Holy Roman Empire's administrative and legal mechanisms provided a venue to resolve disputes between peasants and landlords, between and within jurisdictions. Through the organization of Imperial Circles (''Reichskreise''), groups of states consolidated resources and promoted regional and organizational interests, including economic cooperation and military protection.


Purpose and formation


Military challenges

By 1792 the armies of the
French Republic France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
were in a state of disruption; experienced soldiers of the ''
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
'' fought side by side with volunteers. Recruits, urged on by revolutionary fervor from the special representatives—agents of the legislature, sent to ensure cooperation among the military—lacked the discipline and training to function efficiently; frequently insubordinate, they often refused orders and undermined unit cohesion. After a defeat, they were capable of mutiny, as Théobald Dillon learned when his troops lynched him in 1792. The problems of command became more acute following the 1793 introduction of mass conscription (''
levée en masse ''Levée en masse'' ( or, in English, ''mass levy'') is a French term used for a policy of mass national conscription, often in the face of invasion. The concept originated during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the period fo ...
''). French commanders walked a fine line between the security of the frontier and the Parisian clamor for victory. Add to this the desperate condition of the Army—in training, supplies and leadership—and the military leadership faced a crisis. They were constantly under suspicion from the representatives of the new regime and sometimes from their own soldiers. Failure to achieve unrealistic expectations implied disloyalty and the price of disloyalty was an appointment with ''Madame
guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...
'': several of the highest ranking generals, including the aged
Nicolas Luckner Nicolas, Count Luckner (; 12 January 1722, Cham – 4 January 1794, Paris) was a German officer in French service who rose to become a Marshal of France. Luckner grew up in Kötzting, in eastern Bavaria and received his early education from t ...
, Jean Nicolas Houchard, Adam Philippe Custine, Arthur Dillon and Antoine Nicolas Collier, were killed.
Francisco de Miranda Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary who fought in the American Revolutionary War, the French R ...
's failure to take
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
landed him in
La Force Prison La Force Prison was a French prison located in the Rue du Roi de Sicile, in what is now the 4th arrondissement of Paris. Originally known as the Hôtel de la Force, the buildings formed the private residence of Henri-Jacques Nompar de Caumont, d ...
for several years. Many of the old officer class had emigrated, forming
émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...
armies; the cavalry in particular suffered from their departure and the ''Hussards du Saxe'' and the ''15éme Cavalerie (Royal Allemande)'' regiments defected ''en masse'' to the Austrians. The artillery arm, considered by the old nobility to be an inferior assignment, was less affected by emigration and survived intact.
Charles Clerget Charles Clerget was a French army officer born in Langres on 8 October 1795, died in Paris on 16 March 1849 (53 years old). He is known for publishing the Tableaux of the Armies of the French Revolution. Biography He entered the École Polytechni ...

''Tableaux des armées françaises: pendant les guerres de la Révolution''
R. Chapelot, 1905, pp. 55, 62.
Military planners in Paris understood that the
upper Rhine Valley Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain (). Most of its upper section m ...
, the south-western German territories and
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
river basin held strategic importance for the defense of the Republic. The Rhine offered a formidable barrier to what the French perceived as Austrian aggression and the state that controlled its crossings controlled the river and access into the territories on either side. Ready access across the Rhine and along the Rhine bank between the German states and Switzerland or through the Black Forest, gave access to the upper Danube river valley. For the French, control of the Upper Danube or any point in between, was of immense strategic value and would give the French a reliable approach to
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
.


Original formation

The basic unit of the army, the
demi-brigade A ''demi-brigade'' () is a military formation used by the French Army since the French Revolutionary Wars. The ''demi-brigade'' amalgamated the various infantry organizations of the French Revolutionary infantry into a single unit. Each one wa ...
, mixed the men of the old army with the recruits from the ''levee en masse.'' Ideally, it was designed to include the regular infantry inherited from the old Royal regiments of the King, who were relatively well trained and equipped, dressed in white uniforms and wearing tarleton helmets, with the
national guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...
units, who were less well-trained or equipped, with blue uniforms, and the ''fédéré'' volunteer battalions, who were poorly trained and equipped, with no uniform other than a red
phrygian cap The Phrygian cap ( ), also known as Thracian cap and liberty cap, is a soft Pointed hat, conical Hat, cap with the apex bent over, associated in Classical antiquity, antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe, Anatolia, and Asia. The Phry ...
and a
cockade of France The cockade of France () is the national ornament of France, obtained by circularly pleating a blue, white and red ribbon. It is composed of the three colors of the French flag, with blue in the center, white immediately outside and red on the e ...
. In 1794, the right flank of the Armies of the Center, later called the
Army of the Moselle The Army of the Moselle (''Armée de la Moselle'') was a French Revolutionary Army from 1791 through 1795. It was first known as the '' Army of the Centre'' and it fought at Valmy. In October 1792 it was renamed and subsequently fought at Trier, ...
, the entirety of the Armies of the
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and the
Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...
formed the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, on 29 June 1794. The remaining units of the former Army of the Center and the
Army of the Rhine An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
united initially on 29 November 1794 and formally on 20 April 1795, under command of General
Jean-Charles Pichegru Jean-Charles Pichegru (; 16 February 1761 – 5 April 1804) was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars. Under his command, French troops overran Belgium and the Netherlands before fighting on the Rhine front. His royalist positions led to h ...
as the Army of the Rhine and Moselle. These were the French armies involved in the successes at Fleurus and the Lowlands, but the strength of the units had been enhanced by untrained conscripts. Pressures exerted by the Coalition forces on the French front at the Rhine required the movement of the Army of Sambre and Meuse troops from the
Fortress of Luxembourg The Fortress of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: ''Festung Lëtzebuerg''; French: ''Forteresse de Luxembourg''; German: ''Festung Luxemburg'') is the former fortifications of Luxembourg City, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which were ...
, Belgium and the Netherlands into a unit on the middle Rhine. These units were reorganized into task forces that would engage the Austrian and Coalition forces directly in the Rhineland. Its paper strength equaled close to 83,000 men, although its actual strength was considerably less. By 1 October 1795, some of the troops had been assembled in five locations to form an advanced guard of 63,615, men commanded by the veteran General of Division
François Joseph Lefebvre François Joseph Lefebvre, Duke of Danzig ( , ; 25 October 1755 – 14 September 1820) was a French military commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and one of the original eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by N ...
. General
Louis Friant Louis Friant (; 18 September 1758 – 24 June 1829) was a French general who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Early life and French Revolutionary Wars Friant was born in the village of Morlancourt, 8 km sou ...
's division of 3,296 men remained at the Luxembourg fortress and General Antoine Morlot's division of 3,471 remained in Aachen. Digby Smith, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book, London: Greenhill, 1966. p. 101.


Hochheim am Main (Zeilsheim and Niederliederbach)

* Divisional position unnamed :*Generals of Brigade Jean François Leval,
Jean-Baptiste Jacopin Jean Baptiste Jacopin (20 October 1755, Brioude – 28 May 1811), was a French General during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was appointed Adjutant General and Chief of Brigade on 28 November 1793, and General of Brigade ...
and
Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul (; 13 May 1754 – 14 February 1807) was a French cavalry general of the Napoleonic Wars. He came from an old noble family of France whose military tradition extended for several centuries. Efforts by the French Rev ...
:*10th and 13th Demi-brigades Legere :*8th, 90th and 119th Demi-brigades de Ligne :*1st, 6th and 9th Chasseurs de Cheval ::*Total 12,618 men


Herdenheim and Helsheim

* General of Division
Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly Jacques-Louis-François Delaistre de Tilly (; 2 February 1749, Vernon, Eure – 10 January 1822, Paris) became a general officer in the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a cavalry division in a number of battles during ...
:*General of Brigade Bernard Étienne Marie Duvignau and Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge :*23rd, 27th and 72nd Demi brigades ''de Ligne'' (3 battalions each) :*Guard Unit
Yonne Yonne (, in Burgundian: ''Ghienne'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight con ...
(3 battalions) :*12th Chasseurs de Chaval ::* Total: 9,861 men


Weilbach am Main

* General of Division Paul Grenier :*Generals of Brigade Henri Simon,
Jean-Baptiste Olivié Jean-Baptiste () is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was Ki ...
, and Christophe Ossvald :*110th and 173rd Demi brigades ''de Ligne'' :*112th and 172nd Demi brigades ''de Ligne'' (3 battalions each) :*19th Chasseurs de Chaval :*4th Hussars ::*Total 11,150 men


North bank of Main, by streams of Wicker and Weilbach

* General of Division
André Poncet André Poncet (30 July 1755 – 23 July 1838) commanded a French infantry division during the French Revolutionary Wars. He joined the French Royal Army in a famous regiment and fought in the American Revolutionary War. Becoming a general offi ...
:*Generals of Brigade Jean-Baptiste Schlachter and
Jean-de-Dieu Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as President of the Council of ...
:*53rd, 87th, 66th and 116th Demi brigades (3 battalions each) :* 7th and 11th Dragoons ::*Total: 9,384 men


Plateau west of Mainz

* General of Division
Jean Étienne Championnet Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...
:*Generals of Brigade Claude Juste Alexandre Louis Legrand and Louis Klein :* 59th, 132nd and 181st Demi brigades ''de Ligne'' (3 battalions each) :* 1st and 12th Dragoon Regiments ::*total: 9,816 men


Biebrich and Kastel

* General of Division Bernadotte :*Generals of Brigade Charles Daurier and Gabriel Barbou des Courières :* 21st Demi-brigade ''de Legere'' :* 71st, 111th and 123rd Demi brigades ''de Ligne'' (3 battalions each) :* 2nd Hussars and 3rd Chasseurs de Chaval ::*Total: 8,223


Langenhain and Marxheim

* General of Division Louis-Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville :*6th, 8th, 10, and 13th Cavalry Regiments (four squadrons each) ::* Total 1,593 men


Ehrenbreitstein castle

* General of Division
François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...
:* Generals of Brigade Gilbert Bandy de Nalèche and Jean Hardy :* 1st, 9th, 21st, 26th and 178th Demi brigades ''de Ligne'' (3 battalions each) :*11th Chasseurs de Chaval :*31st Gendarmes (1 battalion) ::*Total 11,240 men


Dusseldorf

* General of Division
Claude-Sylvestre Colaud Claude Silvestre, Count Colaud (12 December 1754 – 4 December 1819) was a French Napoleonic general and senator. Biography Colaud was born at Briançon on 12 December 1754. In 1801, for his military services, he was made a senator of the French ...
:* Generals of Brigade Louis Bastoul and Charles Jean Theodore Schoenmezel :* 34th, 112th and 175th Demi brigade ''de Ligne'' (3 battalions each) :* four composite battalions of unknown composition :* 2nd and 14th Dragoons :*Total 8,911 men


Campaign of 1795

In 1795 the French sent the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, also called the northern army, and the Army of the Rhine and Moselle, sometimes called the southern army, in thrusts across the Rhine. After winning a bridgehead on the east bank, the northern French army under Jourdan advanced south to the
Main River The Main () is the longest tributary of the Rhine, one of the major European rivers. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, ...
. On 8 September 1795, Jourdan's northern army crossed the Rhine north of
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. Besieging the Bavarian garrison in Düsseldorf, the rest of the Army of Sambre and Meuse swept south as far as the
Lahn River The Lahn () is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source ...
, by 20 September.J. Rickard
''Battle of Hochst, 11 October 1795''
Accessed 8 February 2014.
Hemmed in by Lefebvre and 12,600 French troops, Count Hompesch surrendered the Bavarian garrison at Düsseldorf on 21 September.Smith, pp. 105–106. Threatened by Jourdan's incursion, the Habsburg commander,
François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt (; 14 October 1733 – 21 July 1798),His title is also spelled Count of Clairfayt and Count of Clairfait a Walloon, joined the army of the Habsburg monarchy and soon fought in the Se ...
, shifted his army north to oppose him. This movement gave Pichegru the opportunity to move his army against the weakened rear guard of Clerfayt's force. Despite having a sizable garrison force, Baron von Belderbusch turned over
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
and its 471 guns to the Army of Rhine and Moselle after negotiations. The Austrians were furious at their ally but could do nothing to prevent the French from gaining this valuable bridgehead. Pichegru, the commander of the southern French army, proved uncooperative, which allowed Clerfayt to maneuver the bulk of the Austrian forces against Jourdan. Clerfayt crossed the Main to the east, gaining a dangerously exposed position on the French left flank. After being repulsed at Höchst, the French withdrew northwards, eventually abandoning the east bank of the Rhine.


Campaign of 1796

The campaign of 1796 was part of the French Revolutionary Wars in which republican France pitted itself against a fluid coalition of Prussians and Austrians and several other states of the Holy Roman Empire, the British,
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
ns, Dutch and royalist French emigres. The French had won several victories but the campaigns of 1793 through 1795 had been less successful. The Coalition partners had difficulty coordinating their war aims and their efforts faltered. In 1794 and 1795, French victories in northern Italy salvaged French enthusiasm for the war and forced the Coalition to withdraw further into Central Europe. At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795, the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
Coalition and the
French Republicans French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
called a truce between their forces that had been fighting in Germany. The agreement lasted until 20 May 1796, when the Austrians announced that the truce would end on 31 May. The Austrian Army of the Lower Rhine included 90,000 Habsburg and Imperial troops. The 20,000-man right wing, first under
Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg (22 October 1763 – 20 January 1834) was a Habsburg Austrian general during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Early life He was born into the House of Württemberg as the f ...
, then later under Wilhelm von Wartensleben, stood on the east bank of the Rhine behind the Sieg River, observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf. The garrisons of Mainz Fortress and
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (, ) is a fortress in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the east bank of the Rhine where it is joined by the Moselle, overlooking the town of Koblenz. Occupying the position of an ea ...
included 10,000 more. The remainder of the Imperial and Coalition army, the 80,000-strong Army of the Upper Rhine, secured the west bank behind the Nahe River. Commanded by
Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser Dagobert Sigmund, Count von Wurmser (7 May 1724 – 22 August 1797) was an Austrian field marshal during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although he fought in the Seven Years' War, the War of the Bavarian Succession, and mounted several successf ...
, this force anchored its right wing in
Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...
on the west bank, while the left wing under
Anton Sztáray Anton Sztáray de Nagy-Mihály (, 1732 or 1740, Kassa, Hungary – 23 January 1808, Graz, Austrian Empire) was a Hungarian count in the Habsburg military during Austria's Wars with the Ottoman Empire, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napole ...
,
Michael von Fröhlich Michael, Freiherr von Fröhlich (9 January 1740 – 1814) was a German general officer serving in army of the Austrian Empire, notably during the Wars of the French Revolution. Service Fröhlich was born in Marburg in Hesse, Germany, and by ...
and
Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph de Bourbon (9 August 1736 – 13 May 1818) was Prince of Condé from 1740 to his death. A member of the House of Bourbon, he held the prestigious rank of '' Prince du Sang''. Youth Born on 9 August 1736 at Chantilly, Louis Jo ...
guarded the Rhine from Mannheim to
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. The original Austrian strategy was to capture
Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
and to use their position on the west bank to strike at each of the French armies in turn. After news arrived in Vienna of
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's successes in northern Italy, Wurmser was sent to there with 25,000 reinforcements and the
Aulic Council The Aulic Council (; ; literally "Court Council of the Empire", sometimes abbreviated in academic writing as "RHR") was one of the two supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire, the other being the ''Reichskammergericht'' (Imperial Chamber Court). ...
gave Archduke Charles command over both Austrian armies in the Rhineland and ordered him to hold his ground.Dodge, pp. 286–287. Two French armies opposed the Imperial and Coalition troops. Jean Victor Moreau's commanded both armies, but the northern army, Sambre and Moselle, was large enough for a sub command: Jourdan. The 80,000-man Army of Sambre and Meuse held the west bank of the Rhine down to the Nahe and then southwest to
Sankt Wendel St. Wendel (; sometimes spelled in full as Sankt Wendel) is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According t ...
. On the army's left flank,
Jean Baptiste Kléber Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...
had 22,000 troops in an entrenched camp at Düsseldorf. The
Army of the Rhine and Moselle The Army of the Rhine and Moselle () was one of the field units of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 20 April 1795 by the merger of elements of the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the Moselle. The Army of the Rhine and Moselle ...
, directly commanded by Moreau, was positioned behind (west of) the Rhine from Hüningen, where
Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino, (23 August 1747, Craveggia – 28 June 1816, Paris), was a general and politician of France. Born in the Savoy, he was the son of a low-ranking officer in the Habsburg military. In 1789, during the French Revolu ...
commanded the furthest right wing, northward, along the
Queich The Queich is a tributary of the Rhine, which rises in the southern part of the Palatinate Forest, and flows through the Upper Rhine valley to its confluence with the Rhine in Germersheim. It is long and is one of the four major drainage system ...
River near
Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...
, and with its left wing extended west toward
Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
. The far right wing under. The French plan called for a spring (April–May–June) offensive, during which two French armies would press against the flanks of the Coalition's northern armies in the German states and a third army approached Vienna through Italy. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's army would push south from Düsseldorf, hopefully drawing troops toward themselves, while Moreau's army massed on the east side of the Rhine by Mannheim; a deft feint toward Mannheim caused Charles to reposition his troops. Once this occurred, Moreau's army executed a forced march south and, on 23 June, overwhelmed the bridgehead at Kehl. The Imperial troops there included only 7,000 troops recruited that spring from the
Swabian Circle The Circle of Swabia or Swabian Circle ( or ''Schwäbischer Kreis'') was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former German stem-duchy of Swabia. However, it did not include the Habsburg hom ...
polities; despite their lack of experience and training, they held the bridgehead for several hours before retreating toward
Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...
. Moreau reinforced the bridgehead with his forward guard and his troops poured into Baden unhindered. In the south, by the Swiss city of Basel, Ferino's column moved quickly across the river and advanced (eastward) up the Rhine along the Swiss and German shoreline toward Lake Constance, spreading into the southern end of the Black Forest. Worried that his supply lines would be overextended or his army would be flanked, Charles retreated to the east. By the end of July, the entirety of the Swabian Circle, most of Bavaria, Franconia, Baden and Wuerttemberg had reached a separate peace with the French. which disarmed the Imperial army, and gave French free rein to demand supplies from the southern polities. With Charles absent from the north, Jourdan recrossed the Rhine and drove Wartensleben behind the Lahn river. The Army of Sambre and Meuse defeated its opponents at Friedberg, Hesse on 10 July, while Charles was busy at Ettlingen.Dodge, p. 296. Jourdan captured
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
on 16 July. Leaving behind
François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...
with 28,000 troops to blockade Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein, Jourdan pressed up the Main River. Following Carnot's strategy, the French commander continually operated against Wartensleben's north flank, causing the Austrian general to fall back. Jourdan's army numbered over 46,000 men, while Wartensleben counted 36,000 troops; Wartensleben refused to attack the larger French force. Buoyed up by their forward movement and by the capture of Austrian supplies, the French captured
Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...
on 4 August. Three days later, the Army of Sambre and Meuse, under the temporary direction of Kléber, won another clash with Wartensleben at
Forchheim Forchheim () is a Town#Germany, town in Upper Franconia () in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative Forchheim (district), district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Fr ...
on 7 August. Despite this success, though, the two French armies remained separated.


Losing the initiative in late summer

Archduke Charles saw that if he could unite with Wartenbsleben, he could pick off the French armies in succession. Having sufficient reinforcements and having transferred his supply line from Vienna to
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
, he moved north to unite with Wartensleben. With 25,000 of his best troops, Charles crossed to the north bank of the Danube at
Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...
. On 22 August 1796, Charles and
Friedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorf Friedrich Joseph of Nauendorf, a general in Habsburg service during the French Revolutionary Wars, was noted for his intrepid and daring cavalry raids. Like most Austrian officers of the French Revolutionary Wars, he joined the military as a you ...
, encountered Bernadotte's division at Neumarkt. The outnumbered French were driven north west through
Altdorf bei Nürnberg Altdorf bei Nürnberg ( , ; ) is a town in south-eastern Germany. It is situated east of Nuremberg, in the district Nürnberger Land. Its name literally means “Altdorf near Nuremberg”, to distinguish it from other Altdorfs. History Altdorf ...
to the
Pegnitz River The Pegnitz () is a river in Franconia in the German state of Bavaria. The Pegnitz has its source in the town of the same name at an altitude of and meets the Rednitz at in Fürth to form the Regnitz river. Shortly after the source, the Pegn ...
. Leaving
Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze Friedrich Freiherr (Baron) von Hotze (20 April 1739 – 25 September 1799), was a Swiss-born general and Field Marshall- Lieutenant in the Habsburg, Austrian army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He campaigned in the Rhineland during the ...
with a division to pursue Bernadotte, the Archduke thrust north at Jourdan's right flank. The French fell back to
Amberg Amberg () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate about halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. History The town was first mentioned in 1034 with the name Ammenberg. It became an important trading c ...
as Charles and Wartensleben's forces converged on the Army of Sambre and Meuse. On 20 August, Moreau sent Jourdan a message vowing to closely follow Charles, which he did not do. In the
Battle of Amberg The Battle of Amberg, fought on 24 August 1796, resulted in a Habsburg victory by Archduke Charles over a French army led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. This engagement marked a turning point in the Rhine campaign, which had previously seen Fre ...
on 24 August, Charles defeated the French and destroyed two battalions of their rear guard.Dodge, p. 297. The Austrians lost 400 killed and wounded out of 40,000 troops. Of a total of 34,000 soldiers, the French suffered greater losses of 1,200 killed and wounded plus 800 men and two colors captured.Smith, pp. 120–121. Jourdan retreated first to Sulzbach and then behind the Regnitz river where Bernadotte joined him on 28 August. Hotze and his Habsburg troops reoccupied
Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...
and Jourdan, who had expected Moreau to keep Charles occupied in the south, found himself outnumbered.


Collapse in September 1796

As Jourdan fell back to
Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...
, he saw a chance to retrieve his campaign by offering battle at Würzburg, an important stronghold on the Main River.Dodge, p. 298. At this point, the petty jealousies and rivalries that had fostered in the Army over the summer came to a head. Jourdan had a spat with his wing commander Kléber and that officer suddenly resigned his command. Two generals from Kléber's clique, Bernadotte and Colaud, also made excuses to leave the army immediately. Faced with this mutiny, Jourdan replaced Bernadotte with General Henri Simon and divided Colaud's rebellious units among the other divisions. Jourdan marched south with 30,000 men of the infantry divisions of Simon,
Jean Étienne Championnet Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...
, Paul Grenier and with
Jacques Philippe Bonnaud Jacques Philippe Bonnaud or Bonneau (; 11 September 1757 – 30 March 1797) commanded a French combat division in a number of actions during the French Revolutionary Wars. He enlisted in the French Royal Army as cavalryman in 1776 and was a non-com ...
's reserve cavalry. Lefebvre's division, 10,000-strong, remained at Schweinfurt to cover a possible retreat. Anticipating Jourdan's move, Charles had already rushed his army toward Würzburg, where they engaged on 1 September. Marshaling the divisions of Hotze, Sztáray, Kray, Johann Sigismund Riesch,
Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein Johann I Joseph (''Johann Baptist Josef Adam Johann Nepomuk Aloys Franz de Paula''; 26 June 1760 – 20 April 1836) was Prince of Liechtenstein between 1805 and 1806 and again from 1814 until 1836. He was the last Liechtenstein prince to rule und ...
and Wartensleben, the Austrians won the
Battle of Würzburg The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of the Habsburg monarchy led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and an army of the First French Republic led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. The French attacked the archduke ...
on 3 September, forcing the French to retreat to the Lahn river. Charles lost 1,500 casualties out of 44,000 troops against 2,000 French casualties. The losses at Würzburg compelled the French to lift the siege of Mainz on 7 September and to move those troops to reinforce their lines further east. On 10 September, Marceau reinforced the Army of Sambre and Meuse with 12,000 troops that had been blockading the east side of Mainz. Jean Hardy's division from the west side of Mainz retreated to the Nahe river and dug in. The French government belatedly recognized the difficulties in which the Army of the Sambre and Meuse struggled and transferred two divisions commanded by
Jacques MacDonald Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...
and Jean Castelbert de Castelverd from the idle
Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...
. MacDonald's division stopped at Düsseldorf while Castelverd's was placed in the French line on the lower Lahn. These reinforcements brought Jourdan's strength back to 50,000 but the French abandonment of the sieges at Mainz and later Mannheim and
Philippsburg Philippsburg () is a town in the district of Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Before 1623, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim". The city was a possession of the Bishop of Speyer from 1316 to 1803. The town is named after P ...
, released about 27,000 Habsburg troops to reinforce Charles' now overwhelming numbers. Moreau continued in the south to press toward Vienna, seemingly oblivious to Jourdan's situation. Over the next few days, most of the Army of Sambre and Meuse returned to the west bank of the Rhine, except for a small rear guard. After his disastrous panic at Diez in which he prematurely abandoned a critical bridge position, Jean Castelbert de Castelverd held east bank entrenchments at Neuwied, Poncet crossed at
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
while the other divisions retired behind the Sieg river. Jourdan handed over command to
Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville (10 May 1752 – 23 April 1821) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and later a marshal of France and Deputy Grand Master of Grand Orient de France.Dictionnaire de la Franc-maçonnerie ...
, on 22 September. Charles left 32,000 to 36,000 troops commanded by Franz von Werneck in the north, 9,000 more in Mainz and Mannheim to insure the Army did not recross the Rhine, and moved south with 16,000 men to intercept Moreau.


Reformation as the Army of Germany (1797)

Archduke Charles ruined the French strategy in the north; the Army of Sambre and Meuse withdrew across the river and remained inactive for the rest of the year. On 18 April 1797, with Napoleon's army threatening Vienna, Austria and France agreed to terms of an
armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
, which was followed by five months of negotiation, leading to the Peace of Campo Formio which concluded the War of the First Coalition on 18 October 1797. The peace treaty was to be followed up by the Congress of Rastatt. Campo Formio's terms held until 1798, when both groups recovered their military strength and began the
War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition () (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war targeting French Revolution, revolutionary French First Republic, France by many European monarchies, led by Kingdom of Great Britain, Britai ...
. Despite the renewal of military action, the Congress continued its meetings in Rastatt until the assassination of the French delegation in April 1799. The Army of Sambre and Meuse remained in cantonment until 29 September 1797, when it was united with other units, to form the Army of Germany.
Georges Lefebvre Georges Lefebvre (; 6 August 1874 – 28 August 1959) was a French historian, best known for his work on the French Revolution and peasant life. He is considered one of the pioneers of " history from below". He coined the phrase th ...
, ''The French Revolution,'' Volume II From 1793–1799, Columbia University Press, 1964,
pp. 199–201
Smith, pp. 131–133.


Commanders


Citations and notes


Sources


Bibliography

* Bertaud, Jean Paul and
R.R. Palmer Robert Roswell Palmer (January 11, 1909 – June 11, 2002) was an American historian at Princeton University, Princeton and Yale University, Yale universities, who specialized in eighteenth-century France. His most influential work of scholarship, ...
(trans). ''The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. * Blanning, Timothy. ''The French Revolutionary Wars.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. * Charles, Archduke of Austria (unattributed)
''Geschichte des Feldzuges von 1796 in Deutschland''
France, 1796. * Charles, Archduke of Austria
''Grundsätze der Strategie: Erläutert durch die Darstellung des Feldzugs von 1796 in Deutschland''
Vienna, Strauss, 1819. * Clerget, Charles. ''Tableaux des armées françaises: pendant les guerres de la Révolution.'' R. Chapelot, 1905. * Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. ''Warfare in the Age of Napoleon: The Revolutionary Wars Against the First Coalition in Northern Europe and the Italian Campaign, 1789–1797.'' US: Leonaur Ltd., 2011. . * Knepper, Thomas P. ''The Rhine.'' Handbook for Environmental Chemistry Series, Part L. New York: Springer, 2006. . * Lefebvre, Georges, ''The French Revolution, 1793–1799,'' Vol. II, Columbia University Press, 1964. * Phipps, Ramsey Weston, ''The Armies of the First French Republic: Volume II The Armées du Moselle, du Rhin, de Sambre-et-Meuse, de Rhin-et-Moselle.'' Pickle Partners Publishing, 2011 reprint (original publication 1923–1933) * ''Relation de l'assassinat de M. Théobald Dillon, Maréchal-de-Camp, Commis à Lille, le 29 avril 1792.'' Imprimerie de Mignaret (4 May 1792). * Rickard, J.
''Battle of Hochst, 11 October 1795''
ttp://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_ettlingen.html Ettlingen History of war.org. Accessed 18 November 2014. * Rothenberg, Gunther E. ''Napoleon’s Great Adversaries: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army, 1792–1914.'' Stroud, (Gloucester): Spellmount, 2007. * Smith, Digby. ''Napoleonic Wars Data Book,'' New York: Greenhill Press, 1996. * Vann, James Allen. ''The Swabian Kreis: Institutional Growth in the Holy Roman Empire 1648–1715''. Vol. LII, Studies Presented to International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions. Bruxelles: Les Éditions de la Librairie Encyclopédique, 1975. * Volk, Helmut
"Landschaftsgeschichte und Natürlichkeit der Baumarten in der Rheinaue."
''Waldschutzgebiete Baden-Württemberg'', Band 10, pp. 159–167. * Walker, Mack. ''German Home Towns: Community, State, and General Estate, 1648–1871''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998. * Whaley, Joachim, ''Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648''. Oxford Univ. Press, 2012.


Additional resources

* Alison, Archibald
''History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons'', Volume 3
Edinburgh: W. Blackwood, 1847. * Bodart, Gaston
''Losses of Life in Modern Wars, Austria-Hungary''
London: Clarendon Press, 1916.
''The Annual Register: World Events 1796.''
London: FC and J Rivington. 1813. Accessed 4 November 2014. * La Bédoyère, Charles Angélique François Huchet, ''Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte.'' nl, G. Virtue, 1828. * Cuccia, Phillip. ''Napoleon in Italy: The Sieges of Mantua, 1796–1799.'' Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. * Dunn-Pattison, Richard Phillipson. ''Napoleon's Marshals.'' Wakefield, EP Pub., 1977 (reprint of 1895 edition). * Durant, Will and Ariel Durant, ''The Age of Napoleon.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. * Ebert, Jens-Florian "Feldmarschall-Leutnant Fürst zu Fürstenberg,"
Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815
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Napoleon Online: Portal zu Epoch
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Sambre-et-Meuse Sambre-et-Meuse () was a departments of France, department of the French First Republic and French First Empire in present-day Belgium. It was named after the rivers Sambre and Meuse. It was created on 1 October 1795, when the Austrian Netherlan ...
Sambre-et-Meuse Sambre-et-Meuse () was a departments of France, department of the French First Republic and French First Empire in present-day Belgium. It was named after the rivers Sambre and Meuse. It was created on 1 October 1795, when the Austrian Netherlan ...
1794 establishments in France