The Battle of Mainz (29 October 1795) saw a Habsburg Austrian army led by Field Marshall

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 ...

launch a surprise assault against four divisions belonging to the French '' Army of Rhin-et-Moselle'' directed by

General of Division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

François Ignace Schaal. The right-most French division was completely routed and all the French troops were compelled to retreat with the loss of their siege artillery and many casualties. Clerfayt followed up his Rhine campaign of 1795 victory by driving most of General of Division

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 ...

's Army of Rhin-et-Moselle south. 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 ...

action was fought near the city of

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

in the modern-day state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. French troops had ineffectively besieged the western side of Mainz Fortress since December 1794. However, in early September 1795 the General of Division

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 Sambre-et-Meuse The Army of Sambre and Meuse () was a field army of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right wing of the Army of the North. I ...

'' crossed the lower

Rhine River The Rhine ( ) is one of the 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 Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Cons ...

and 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, ...

. For the first time Mainz was besieged on the east side of the river, but this state of affairs did not last long. After the

Battle of Höchst The Battle of Höchst (20 June 1622) was fought between a Catholic League (German), Catholic League army led by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly and a Protestant army commanded by Christian the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, close to th ...

, Clerfayt forced Jourdan's army to retire to the west bank of the Rhine. With Jourdan temporarily out of the picture, Clerfayt fell on Schaal's somewhat isolated corps and drove it away to the south. During this time the commander of the ''Army of Rhin-et-Moselle'', Pichegru was in treasonous contact with France's enemies, perhaps accounting for Austria's success. The next clash was the Battle of Pfeddersheim on 10 November. The siege was the second time

balloon reconnaissance An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for gathering intelligence and spotting artillery. The use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World ...

had been used, after the Battle of Fleurus (1794).

People involved

François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt 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; 1 ...

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 ...

Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, 1st Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr (; 13 April 1764 – 17 March 1830) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was a made a Marshal of the Empire in 1812 by Empero ...

Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor Gabriel-Jean-Joseph Molitor (7 March 1770 – 28 July 1849) was a Marshal of France. Biography He was born in Hayingen in Lorraine. Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, Molitor joined the French revolutionary armies as a captain in a bat ...

Adam Albert von Neipperg Adam Albert, Count von Neipperg (8 April 1775 – 22 February 1829) was an Austrian general and statesman. He was the son of a diplomat famous for inventing a letter-copying machine, and the grandson of Count Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg. H ...

Antoine Christophe Merlin Antoine Christophe Merlin (13 September 1762 in Thionville, Moselle – September 1833 in Paris) was a member of several legislative bodies during the era of the French Revolution. He is usually called Merlin de Thionville (Merlin of Thionvill ...

Auguste de Marmont Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, duc de Raguse (; 20 July 1774 – 22 March 1852) was a French general and nobleman who rose to the rank of Marshal of the Empire and was awarded the title (). In the Peninsular War Marmont succeeded th ...

Jean Bernadotte Charles XIV John (; 26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden and King of Norway, Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. In Norway, he is known as Charles III John () and before he be ...

Franz von Weyrother Franz von Weyrother (1755 – 16 February 1806) was an Austrian staff officer and general who fought during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He drew up the plans for the disastrous defeats at the Battle of Rivoli, Battle of ...

* Franz Joseph, Marquis de Lusignan * François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat *

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; ...

* Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle * Joseph Marie, Count Dessaix *

Nicolas-Jacques Conté Nicolas-Jacques Conté (; 4 August 1755 – 6 December 1805) was a French inventor of the modern pencil. He was born at Saint-Céneri-près-Sées (now Aunou-sur-Orne) in Normandy and distinguished himself for his mechanical genius, which was of ...

* Paul Louis Courier * Armée de Mayence *Serbian mercenaries (see: Kočina Krajina Serb rebellion in 1791) under General Major Stephan Bernhard Keglevich did not take part, but were involved as neutral observers (see map below). *

Frédéric-César de La Harpe Frédéric-César de La Harpe (; 6 April 1754 – 30 March 1838) was a Swiss political leader, writer and journalist, best known for his pivotal role in the independence of the canton of Vaud from Bern and in the formation of the Helvetic Republ ...

did not take part, but was involved, had a leading role in the creation of the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

Military units

54th Infantry Regiment (France) The 54th Infantry Regiment (''54e régiment d’infanterie'' or ''54e RI'') is a line infantry regiment of the French Army. History Early service It was formed in 1657 during the Ancien Régime as the ''régiment Mazarin-Catalans'', being r ...

under Colonel Sauvat(?) *

Hessian (soldiers) Hessians ( or ) were German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, British Army in several major wars in the 18th century, most notably the American Revolutionary War. The term is a synecdoc ...

under Colonel Johann

Keglevich Keglevich is an Italian brand of vodka and fruit brandies. History Keglevich is a vodka brand of Stock, a liqueur company founded in 1884 by Lionello Stock. Keglevich Classic is distilled entirely from pure grain with the original recipe inve ...

. He was awarded the

Military Order of Maria Theresa The Military Order of Maria Theresa (; ; ; ; ; ) was the highest military honour of the Habsburg monarchy, Austrian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire. History Founded on 18 June 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolín, by the Empress Mari ...

in 1798 ''"for by his own initiative undertaken and successfully a campaign significantly affecting feats of arms, which an officer of honor would may have omitted without blame"''.Die reiter-regimenter der k.k.österreichischen armee, Andreas Thürheim (Graf.), F.B. Geitler, 1862.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mainz 1795 1795 in France 1795 in the Habsburg monarchy Battles of the War of the First Coalition involving Austria Military history of Mainz