Early clashes in the Rhine campaign of 1796 facts for kids

The Rhine Campaign of 1796 was an important part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It took place from June 1796 to February 1797. In this campaign, two armies from the First Coalition (a group of European countries fighting France) were led by Archduke Charles. They cleverly outsmarted and defeated two French armies. This was the last big campaign of the War of the First Coalition.

The French plan was to attack Austria from three directions to surround its capital, Vienna. They hoped to capture Vienna and force the Holy Roman Emperor to give up and accept the ideas of the French Revolution. To do this, France gathered three armies:

• The Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, faced the Austrian Army of the Lower Rhine in the north.
• The Army of Rhin-et-Moselle, led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau, faced the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine in the south.
• The Army of Italy moved towards Vienna through northern Italy.

At first, the Army of Italy had great success. This forced Archduke Charles, the Coalition commander, to send 25,000 of his soldiers to Italy. This made the Coalition's forces along the 340-kilometer (210-mile) Rhine River weaker. Jourdan's Army of Sambre-et-Meuse then made a fake attack, which tricked Charles into moving more troops north. This allowed Moreau to cross the Rhine at Kehl on June 24 and defeat some of Charles's troops.

By late July, both French armies had pushed deep into eastern and southern Germany. They forced the southern states of the Holy Roman Empire to sign peace agreements. However, by August, the French armies were spread out too much. Also, the French generals were jealous of each other and didn't work well together. Because the two French armies acted separately, Archduke Charles could leave a smaller army to face Moreau in the south. He then moved many soldiers to help another Austrian army in the north.

In battles at Amberg (August 24) and Würzburg (September 3), Charles defeated Jourdan. He forced the French army to retreat all the way back to the west side of the Rhine River. With Jourdan's army defeated and retreating into France, Charles left some troops to watch them. He wanted to make sure they couldn't cross the Rhine again. Then, Charles turned his attention to Moreau, who had started to retreat from southern Germany. Moreau managed to push back the Austrians at Biberach. But he couldn't get through the Black Forest before Charles cut off his escape routes. In the battles of Emmendingen and Schliengen in October, Charles forced Moreau to retreat to the west side of the Rhine. During the winter, the Austrians took back the French bridgeheads (areas held on the other side of the river) at Kehl and Huningue. Even though Charles was winning in Germany, Austria was losing the war in Italy to a new French army commander, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Why the War Started

Europe Reacts to the French Revolution

At first, the leaders of Europe thought the French Revolution was just a problem between the French king and his people. They didn't think it was their business. But as the revolution became more extreme, they started to worry. They said that the safety of European kings was linked to the safety of Louis XVI and his family. In a statement called the Declaration of Pillnitz (August 27, 1791), they warned of serious consequences if anything happened to the royal family.

The situation for the French revolutionaries became very difficult. French people who had left the country (called émigrés) kept trying to get support for a counter-revolution. Finally, on April 20, 1792, the French National Convention (France's new government) declared war on Austria. This started the War of the First Coalition (1792–1798). In this war, France fought against most of the European countries that shared borders with it, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire.

France's Struggles and New Armies

Even though France had some victories in 1792, by early 1793, the country was in big trouble. French forces had been pushed out of Belgium. There was also a rebellion in France over forcing people into the army. Many people were unhappy with new rules about the church. And the French king had just been executed.

The French army was in chaos. Things got even worse when the government started forcing thousands of untrained men into the army. This was called the levée en masse (mass conscription). For the French, the Rhine Campaign of 1795 was a disaster, even though they had some success in other areas of the war.

The Coalition's Forces

The armies of the First Coalition had about 125,000 soldiers. This was a large army for the time. Most of these soldiers were from the Habsburg lands (Austria). Archduke Charles's troops were spread out from Switzerland to the North Sea.

The Habsburg soldiers couldn't cover the entire area from Basel to Frankfurt well enough to stop the French. Charles had half the number of troops compared to the French, covering a 340-kilometer (210-mile) front. He put most of his forces between Karlsruhe and Darmstadt. This area was important because the Rhine and Main rivers met there, offering a way into eastern Germany and eventually to Vienna. The Austrian army was made up of professional soldiers and conscripts (people forced into service) from different parts of the Holy Roman Empire.

The French Armies and Their Problems

Two French generals, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and Jean Victor Moreau, led the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse and the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle at the start of the 1796 campaign. The French army was made up of young men forced into service. It was known for causing trouble throughout France. Also, the army relied completely on the areas it marched through for food and supplies.

After April 1796, soldiers were paid in metal money, but they were still owed a lot of pay. Because they weren't paid, the French army was often rebelling in the spring and early summer. For example, in May 1796, a group of soldiers revolted. In June, other groups of soldiers were disobedient. The French commanders knew that attacking the German states was necessary, not just for winning the war, but also to get supplies. The French Directory (France's government) believed that war should pay for itself and didn't set aside money to pay or feed its troops.

The Land and Its Politics

Geography of the Rhine River

Map of Rhine river shows Düsseldorf and the Sieg and Lahn rivers in the north and Strasbourg and Mannheim in the south. The colors different sections of the rhine River: blue is the Alp Rhine and the Lake Rhine (where the river runs through Lake Constance); turquoise indicates the High Rhine (which runs east to west through of Lake Constance); The Upper Rhine (green) begins where the river takes a sharp turn at the Rhine Knee, and flows south to north; yellow designates the Middle Rhine (sometimes called Mittelrhein) and orange designates the Low Rhine, where the Rhine passes into the Netherlands and reaches the North Sea.

The Rhine River starts in Switzerland and flows north. It goes through Lake Constance and then forms the border between Germany and Switzerland. The 130-kilometer (81-mile) part called the High Rhine has steep hills and a gravel riverbed. In some places, like Laufenburg, it used to flow very fast.

At Basel, the land flattens out. The Rhine turns north sharply, in what is called the Rhine knee. It then enters a flat area called the Rhine ditch, which is part of a rift valley. This valley is bordered by the Black Forest to the east and the Vosges mountains to the west. This part is called the Upper Rhine. In 1796, the plain on both sides of the river was about 31 kilometers (19 miles) wide and had many villages and farms.

The Rhine River looked different in the 1790s than it does today. It was wild and unpredictable. In some places, it was four or more times wider than it is now. Its channels wound through marshes and meadows, creating islands that would sometimes be covered by floods. People could cross it reliably at Kehl (near Strasbourg) and Hüningen (near Basel), where there were bridges and raised roads.

Political Map of the Holy Roman Empire

The many states of the Holy Roman Empire were especially dense on the east bank of the Rhine.

In particular, the states involved in late 1796 included, for example, the Breisgau (Habsburg), Offenburg and Rottweil (free cities), the territories belonging to the princely families of Fürstenberg and Hohenzollern, the Duchy of Baden, the Duchy of Württemberg, and several dozen ecclesiastic polities. The light cream-colored territories are so subdivided they cannot be named.

The German-speaking states on the east side of the Rhine were part of a huge group of lands in central Europe called the Holy Roman Empire. This Empire had over 1,000 different areas! They varied greatly in size and power. Some were tiny, just a few square miles. Others were larger, like the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Prussia.

These states were governed in different ways. Some were independent cities, like Augsburg. Others were church lands, like the rich Abbey of Reichenau. And some were ruled by noble families, like Württemberg. Looking at a map, the Empire looked like a "patchwork carpet" because of all the different pieces. The Holy Roman Empire had ways to solve problems between people and between different areas. Groups of states, called Reichskreise (Imperial Circles), worked together for things like trade and military protection.

French War Plans

After the Rhine Campaign of 1795, both sides agreed to a truce. But they kept planning for war. On January 6, 1796, Lazare Carnot, a French leader, decided that Germany would be the most important place for the war, even more important than Italy.

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, leading the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, was told to surround Mainz and cross the Rhine into Franconia. Further south, Jean Victor Marie Moreau was to lead the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle across the Rhine, attack Mannheim, and invade Duchy of Baden, Swabia, and Duchy of Bavaria. Eventually, Moreau was supposed to meet up with Jourdan near Vienna, while Jourdan would protect their rear.

On a second front, Napoleon Bonaparte was to invade Italy. He was to defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia and take Lombardy from the Austrians. The hope was that the Italian army would then cross the Alps and join the other French armies in crushing the Austrian forces in southern Germany. By spring 1796, Jourdan and Moreau each had 70,000 soldiers. Bonaparte's army had 63,000, including reserves. The French First Republic was low on money, so its armies were expected to invade new lands and live off what they found there.

Armies of the Coalition and France

The Austrians knew the French planned to invade southern Germany. So, on May 20, 1796, they announced that the truce would end on May 31. The Army of the Lower Rhine was led by 25-year-old Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. It had 90,000 soldiers. Another Austrian army, the 80,000-strong Army of the Upper Rhine, was led by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser.

The original Austrian plan was to capture Trier and use that spot to attack each French army. However, Wurmser was sent to Italy with 25,000 soldiers after Napoleon's early successes there. Because of this, the Aulic Council (Austria's top military council) gave Archduke Charles command of both Austrian armies and told him to hold his ground.

At the start of the campaign, the 80,000-man Army of Sambre-et-Meuse was on the west bank of the Rhine. On its left side, Jean-Baptiste Kléber had 22,000 troops near Düsseldorf. The French plan was for Jourdan's army to push south from Düsseldorf. This was supposed to make the Austrians move all their forces from the west bank of the Rhine. It would also make the Austrians focus on the north, making it easier for Moreau's army to attack in the south.

Moreau's Army of Rhin-et-Moselle had about 71,581 foot soldiers and 6,515 cavalry (horseback soldiers).

Key Actions and Battles

Fortress Blockades

On June 9, 1796, 36,000 French troops surrounded the fortresses at Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein. These were important strongholds where the Main and Rhine rivers met, and where the Rhine and Moselle rivers met. The blockades started at Ehrenbreitstein on June 9 and at Mainz on June 14.

Battle at Maudach

Quick facts for kids Action at Maudach
Date 15 June 1796 Location Maudach, Germany Result French victory
Belligerents
French Empire	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Louis Desaix	Franz Petrasch
Units involved
Army of Sambre-et-Meuse	Army of the Lower Rhine
Strength
27,000 infantry 3,000 cavalry	11,000 infantry and cavalry
Casualties and losses
600	1,800 killed wounded and missing

On June 15, at the village of Maudach, 27,000 French foot soldiers and 3,000 cavalry attacked 11,000 Imperial and Habsburg troops. The Coalition lost 10 percent of its force, either killed, wounded, or missing. Louis Desaix, leading the left (northern) part of the French army, crossed the Rhine at Maudach. He faced a smaller Austrian division. While Desaix crossed at Maudach, Jourdan's main army crossed the Rhine on June 10 at Neuwied to join Kléber.

Fighting at Wetzlar and Uckerath

Action at Wetzlar
Date 15 June 1796 Location Wetzlar, Hesse, Germany 66 kilometres (41 mi) N of Frankfurt Result Coalition victory
Belligerents
French Empire	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
General Jourdan	Archduke Charles
Units involved
Army of Sambre-et-Meuse	Army of the Lower Rhine
Strength
48,000	64,000
Casualties and losses
Wetzlar: 500, 7 guns Uckerath: 3,000	Wetzlar: 400 Uckerath: 600

At Wetzlar on June 15, 1796, 11,000 French troops fought part of the Austrian army. The battle ended in a Coalition victory, and most of the French army began retreating. Not all Coalition forces were involved, but they were strong enough to push back the French. The French then split their forces. Jourdan moved west to secure a bridgehead at Neuwied, and Kléber retreated north towards Düsseldorf. Four days later, on June 19, at Uckerath, Coalition troops attacked Kléber's retreating French left wing. The French had more casualties and lost one of their flags.

Clash at Renchen

On June 28 at Renchen, a French force of 20,000 soldiers defeated a Coalition force of 6,000. Moreau's troops fought with parts of an Austrian army. The Austrians were defending the Murg River. Louis Desaix, leading the left (north) part of Moreau's army, attacked the Austrians and pushed them back to the Alb River.

Action at Neuwied

On July 21, at Neuwied, Jourdan's southernmost troops met 8,000 Imperial soldiers. This group included some Hessians, a battalion of French emigre troops, and soldiers from Münster.

Capture of Giessen

On July 8, at Giessen, a small town in Hesse, 20,000 French troops from Jourdan's army surprised an Austrian garrison of 4,500 and captured the town.

Battle at Friedberg

On July 10, after hearing about Moreau's success at Kehl and crossing the Rhine, Jourdan took 30,000 men from his army back across the Rhine. They attacked 6,000 men from an Austrian force.

Attack at Cannstatt

On July 21, at Cannstatt, a small town on the east bank of the Neckar River near Stuttgart, part of Moreau's army attacked and defeated 8,000 Coalition troops.

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