Battle Of Würzburg
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The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of the
Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
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's forces, but they were resisted until the arrival of reinforcements decided the engagement in favor of the Austrians. The French retreated west toward the
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River. The action occurred during the
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 ...
, part of the
French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...
. Würzburg is southeast of
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. The summer of 1796 saw the two French armies of Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau advance into southern Germany. They were opposed by Archduke Charles, who supervised two weaker Austrian armies commanded by Wilhelm von Wartensleben and Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour. At the Battle of Amberg on 24 August, Charles managed to concentrate superior numbers against Jourdan, forcing him to withdraw. At Würzburg, Jourdan attempted a counterattack in a bid to halt his retreat. After his defeat, Charles forced Jourdan's army back to the Rhine. With his colleague in retreat, Moreau was isolated and compelled to abandon southern Germany.


Battle

The French army advanced against what they thought to be an isolated Austrian division under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Anton Sztáray. Jourdan's plan was to attack Sztáray with the divisions of Generals of Division Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte and Jean Étienne Championnet, leaving the divisions of Generals of Division Jacques Bonnaud and Paul Grenier in reserve. However, the early morning mist enabled Archduke Charles to bring up the division of Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze as a reinforcement to Sztáray, effectively undoing what Jourdan thought to be a great numerical superiority for the French. Jourdan's imagined superiority diminished even more when the division of General-Major Anton von Elsnitz to the north kept the much larger force under General of Division François Joseph Lefebvre out of the battle. Meanwhile, Austrian engineers were laying pontoon bridges over the Main in order to let the remainder of the Habsburg army cross the river. The French attacked the Austrian position without success until the Austrian divisions of Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Kray and Feldzeugmeister Wilhelm von Wartensleben arrived and drove the French off the field.


Result


Army of the Lower Rhine

The French suffered 2,000 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 men and 7 guns captured. The Austrians lost 1,200 killed and wounded, with 300 captured. The Battle of Würzburg determined the winner of the 1796 campaign in southern Germany. Charles pursued the beaten French, turning Jourdan's south flank and keeping between him and General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau's French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle in southern Germany. On 7 September, Charles forced the French to lift the siege of
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. By 16 September, the opposing armies were back on the Lahn River where they started the campaign in June. On that day, Kray with 11,000 Austrians defeated 15,000 Frenchmen of Jourdan's army at Limburg an der Lahn. The French general fell back to
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and crossed to the west bank of 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 ...
. The French gave up their siege of the Ehrenbreitstein fortress on 17 September. Charles left 30,000 soldiers with the Army of the Lower Rhine, placed them under the command Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz von Werneck, and hurried south.


Army of the Upper Rhine

Having disposed of Jourdan's army, the Austrian archduke forced Moreau's now-isolated army to retreat west through the
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to France. On 18 September, an Austrian division under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Petrasch stormed the Rhine bridgehead at Kehl, but was driven out by a French counterattack. At this time, Moreau's army was still south of Ulm. On 2 October, Moreau defeated Feldzeugmeister Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour's Army of the Upper Rhine at the Battle of Biberach. While French casualties numbered only 500, they inflicted 300 killed and wounded, while capturing 4,000 soldiers and 18 cannon. This slowed the southern Austrian pursuit, but with Charles rushing south to cut him off from France, Moreau retreated to the Rhine. On 19 October, Moreau with 32,000 soldiers fought Charles with 28,000 Austrians at the Battle of Emmendingen. The French suffered 1,000 killed and wounded, including General of Division Michel de Beaupuy killed. In addition, the Austrians captured 1,800 men and 2 cannons. The Austrians losses totaled 1,000, including Feldzeugmeister Wilhelm von Wartensleben killed. The French withdrew south and fought the
Battle of Schliengen At the Battle of Schliengen (24 October 1796), the French Army of the Rhine and Moselle under the command of Jean Victor Marie Moreau, Jean-Victor Moreau and the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, Archduke Ch ...
on 24 October. This time, the Austrians lost 800 while inflicting 1,200 casualties on the French. Both sides claimed victory, but Moreau retreated to the west bank of the Rhine. Moreau soon offered Charles an armistice, which the field marshal wanted to accept. At this time, the Austrian government made a huge error by refusing to ratify the agreement. That fall and winter, while Charles reduced the fortresses of Kehl and Huningen, the French government transferred 14 demi-brigades from Moreau to General of Division Napoleon Bonaparte to help the latter bring the Siege of Mantua to a successful conclusion.


Order of battle


French Army

* Army of Sambre-et-Meuse: General of Division Jean-Baptiste Jourdan * 25,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, 11 artillery batteries ** Division: General of Division François Joseph Lefebvre ** Division: General of Division Paul Grenier ** Division: General of Division Jean Étienne Championnet ** Division: General of Division Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ** Cavalry Reserve: General of Division Jacques Philippe Bonnaud


Habsburg Army

* Army of the Lower Rhine: Feldmarschall Archduke Charles (30,000)Smith, p 122. Some names and ranks were changed according to data in Smith-Kudrna. ** Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze *** Mixed Brigade: General-Major Michael von Kienmayer *** Infantry Brigade: General-Major Johann von Hiller *** Cavalry Brigade: Oberst Anton Canisius ** Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Anton Sztáray *** Mixed Brigade: General-Major Prince Johann of Liechtenstein *** Infantry Brigade: General-Major Eugen Montfrault *** Bavarian Infantry Brigade: General-Major Bartels *** Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Konrad Valentin von Kaim ** Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann Sigismund Riesch *** Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Prince Alexander of Württemberg *** Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Joseph Spiegelberg ** Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Kray *** Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Friedrich Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen *** Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Karl Joseph Hadik von Futak *** Infantry Brigade: General-Major Franz Sebottendorf *** Infantry Brigade: General-Major Prince Friedrich of Orange *** Infantry Brigade: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Joseph Staader ** Reserve: Feldzeugmeister Wilhelm von Wartensleben *** Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Johann Kollowrat *** Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Joseph von Schellenberg *** Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Ludwig von Vogelsang *** Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini *** Cavalry Brigade: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl of Lorraine-Lambesc


Notes


References

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See also

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Würzburg 1796 Battles of the War of the First Coalition involving Austria Conflicts in 1796 1796 in the Habsburg monarchy 1796 in France 1796 in the Holy Roman Empire Military history of Würzburg 18th century in Bavaria