Johann von Klenau
Encyclopedia
Johann von Klenau also called Johann Josef Cajetan von Klenau und Janowitz, the son of a Bohemia
n noble, was a field marshal in the Habsburg army. Klenau joined the Habsburg military as a teenager and fought in Austria's wars with the Ottoman Empire, the French Revolutionary Wars
, and commanded a corps in several important battles of the Napoleonic Wars
.
In the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars
, Klenau distinguished himself at the Wissembourg lines
, and led a battle-winning charge at Handschuhsheim in 1795. As commander of the Coalition's
left flank in the Adige
campaign in northern Italy in 1799, he was instrumental in isolating the French-held fortresses on the Po River
by organizing and supporting a peasant uprising in the countryside. Afterward, Klenau became the youngest lieutenant field marshal in the history of the Habsburg military.
As a corps commander, Klenau led key elements of the Austrian army at the Austrian victory at Aspern-Esslingen
and its defeat at Wagram
, where his troops covered the retreat of the main Austrian force. He commanded the IV Corps at the 1813 Battle of Dresden
and again at the Battle of Nations at Leipzig
, where he prevented the French from outflanking the main Austrian force on the first day of the engagement. After the Battle of Nations, Klenau organized and implemented the successful Dresden blockade and negotiated the French capitulation there. In the 1814–15 campaign, he commanded the Corps Klenau of the Army of Italy. After the war in 1815, Klenau was appointed commanding general in Moravia
and Silesia
. He died in 1819.
in the Austrian province of Bohemia
on 13 April 1758. The family of Klenau dates to the fifteenth century, and the family of Janowitz to the fourteenth. The family name of Klenau regularly appears in records after the sixteenth century. The Klenau family was one of the oldest dynasties in Bohemia, and many of the noble families of Bohemia have sprung from marriages into the Klenau line. The original name of the family was Przibik, with the predicate von Klenowa. The family was raised to the baronetcy in 1623 with the certificate granted to one Johann von Klenowa and, in 1629, to his son, Wilhelm. The Imperial councilor and judge in Regensburg, Wilhelm von Klenau, was raised to comital status in 1630, and to the status of Reichsgraf, or imperial count, in 1633.
Johann Klenau entered the 47th Infantry Regiment Ellrichshausen in 1774, at the age of 17, and became a second lieutenant in 1775. After transferring to a Chevauleger
regiment as a Rittmeister
, or captain of cavalry, Klenau fought in the short War of the Bavarian Succession, also known as the Potato War. Most of this conflict occurred in Bohemia (part of the modern Czech Republic
) from 1778 to 1779, between the Habsburg Monarchy
, Saxony
, Bavaria
and Prussia
. The war had no battles, but was instead a series of skirmishes and raids, making it the ideal situation for a captain of light cavalry. In their raids, forces from both sides sought to confiscate or destroy the other's provisions, fodder, and material.
In the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791), one of the House of Habsburg's many 18th-century wars with the Ottoman Empire, Klenau served in the 26th Dragoon
Regiment Toscana, and later transferred to the 1st Dragoon Regiment Kaiser. His regiment repulsed an attack of superior numbers of Ottoman forces on 28 September 1788, at Zemun
, near Belgrade, for which he received a personal commendation and earned his promotion to major
. In his early military career Klenau demonstrated, not only at Zemun but also in the earlier skirmishing and raids of 1778 and 1779, the attributes required of a successful cavalry officer: the military acumen to evaluate a situation, the flexibility to adjust his plans on a moment's notice, and the personal courage to take the same risks he demanded of his men.
in France as an affair between the French king and his subjects, and not a matter in which they should interfere. However, as the rhetoric grew more strident after 1790, the European monarchs began to view the French upheavals with alarm. Among the concerned monarchs were the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II
, who feared for the life and well-being of his sister, the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette
. In August 1791, in consultation with French émigré
nobles and Frederick William II
of Prussia, he issued the Declaration of Pillnitz
, in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis XVI
and his family. They threatened ambiguous, but quite serious, consequences if anything should happen to the royal family.
The French Republican position became increasingly difficult. Compounding problems in international relations, French émigrés agitated for support of a counter-revolution. From their base in Koblenz
, adjacent to the French–German border, they sought direct support for military intervention from the royal houses of Europe, and raised an army. On 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on Austria and its allies. In this War of the First Coalition (1792–1798), France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her. Portugal and the Ottoman Empire also joined the alliance against France.
in a Lancer
regiment, and joined the Austrian force in the Rhineland, serving under General of Cavalry Count Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
. He was captured later in the spring near the town of Offenbach, but was freed unexpectedly by two Austrian Hussars from the 17th Regiment Archduke Alexander Leopold, who came upon him and his captors. At the first Battle of Wissembourg
, Klenau commanded a brigade in Friedrich, Baron von Hotze's
3rd Column on 13 October 1793, during which the Habsburg force stormed the 19 kilometres (12 mi) earthen ramparts held by the French.
By the terms of the Peace of Basel
(22 July 1795), the Prussian army was to leave the Rhine and Main
river valleys; as it did so, the French quickly over-ran these territories. On 20 September, the fortress at Mannheim
surrendered to the French without firing a shot. Mannheim had been garrisoned by a Bavarian commander, Lieutenant General Baron von Belderbusch, and several battalions of Bavarian grenadiers, fusiliers, and guard regiments, plus six companies of artillery. A small Austrian force augmented the Bavarian contingent. At the same time, further north, the fortified town of Düsseldorf
, also garrisoned by Bavarians, capitulated to the French. With these capitulations, the French controlled the Rhine crossings at Düsseldorf and at the junction of the Rhine and the Main rivers. To maintain contact with the forces on their flanks, the Austrian commanders, outraged at this fait accompli, had to withdraw across the Main river.
The nearby city of Heidelberg
, further south of the Main on the Neckar
River, appeared to be the next French target. Lieutenant Field Marshal Peter Quasdanovich
, who had remained in the region between Mannheim and Heidelberg, used a hastily-enhanced abatis
to establish a defensive line at the sleepy country village of Handschuhsheim, east of the city of Heidelberg. The French force of two divisions—about 12,000 men—outnumbered the 8,000 defenders, and the position seemed untenable.
regiment Allemand. On 24 September 1795, seeing the French, with five battalions and a regiment of Chasseurs overwhelming the troops of General Adam Bajalics von Bajahaza
, Klenau quickly organized his own brigade into three columns and attacked. In a battle-winning charge, Klenau's brigade (approximately 4,000 men) dispersed the French divisions of Charles Pichegru
's Army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of General of Division Georges Joseph Dufour
. His cavalry caught Dufour's entire division in the open, dispersed Dufour's six squadrons of Chasseurs, and cut down Dufour's infantry. With a loss of 193 men and 54 horses, the Austrians inflicted over 1,500 French casualties, including 1,000 killed; they also captured eight guns, nine ammunition caissons and their teams, and General Dufour himself. In the action, General of Brigade Dusirat was wounded, as was Dufour before his capture. Additional Austrian losses included 35 men and 58 horses killed, six officers, 144 men and 78 horses wounded, and two men and three horses missing. For his role in this exploit, Klenau was promoted to colonel
and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
. At Handschuhsheim, as he had earlier at Zemon, Klenau demonstrated his "higher military calling," establishing himself as an intrepid, tenacious, and quick-thinking field officer.
, reconnaissance found the local French garrison unprepared. At midnight, Klenau led two squadrons of the 8th Hussar Regiment Wurmser (named for its Colonel-Proprietor
Dagobert von Wurmser
), a battalion of the 37th Infantry Regiment De Vins, and one company of the Mahony Jäger
. With their approach masked by fog and darkness, the small force surprised the Brescia garrison on the morning of 30 July, capturing not only the 600–700 French soldiers stationed there, but also three officials of the French Directory
: Jean Lannes
, Joachim Murat
, and François Étienne de Kellermann
. However, within two days, Klenau's force had to face Napoleon Bonaparte
and 12,000 Frenchmen; his small advance guard was quickly pushed out of Brescia on 1 August. At the subsequent Battle of Lonato
of 2–3 August 1796, the French forced Quasdanovich's column to withdraw into the mountains. This isolated Quasdanovich's force from Wurmser's main army by Lake Garda
, and freed the French to concentrate on the main force at Castiglione delle Stiviere
, further south; Bonaparte's victory at the Battle of Castiglione
forced Wurmser across the Mincio River, and allowed the French to return to the siege of Mantua
.
By early September, Klenau's force had rejoined Wurmser's column and fought at the Battle of Bassano
on 8 September. Here, the Austrians were outnumbered almost two to one by the French. As the Austrian army retreated, Bonaparte ordered a pursuit that caused the Austrians to abandon their artillery and baggage. Most of the third battalion of the 59th Jordis, and the first battalion of the Border Infantry Banat were captured and these units ceased to exist after this battle. The Austrians lost 600 killed and wounded, and 2,000 captured, plus lost 30 guns, eight colors, and 200 limbers and ammunition waggons. Klenau was with Wurmser's column again as it fought its way to besieged Mantua
and he participated in the combat at La Favorita near there on 15 September. This was the second attempt to relieve the fortress; as the Austrians withdrew from the battle, they retreated into Mantua itself, and from 15 September until 2 February 1797, Klenau was trapped in the fortress while the city was besieged. Following the Austrian loss at the Battle of Rivoli
, 48 kilometres (30 mi) north of Mantua, on 14–15 January 1797, when clearly there would be no Austrian relief for Mantua, Klenau negotiated conditions of surrender with French General Jean Sérurier
, although additional evidence suggests that Bonaparte was present and dictated far more generous terms than Klenau expected. When the garrison capitulated in February, Klenau co-signed the document with Wurmser.
, Kaiserslautern
, Neerwinden
, Mainz
, Amberg and Würzburg
, in Italy the Coalition's achievements were more limited. In northern Italy, despite the presence of the most experienced of the Austrian generals—Dagobert Wurmser—the Austrians could not lift the siege at Mantua, and the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces to the border of Habsburg lands. Napoleon dictated a cease-fire at Leoben on 17 April 1797, which led to the formal peace treaty, the Treaty of Campo Formio
, which went into effect on 17 October 1797.
The treaty called for meetings between the involved parties to work out the exact territorial and remunerative details. These were to be convened at a small town in the mid-Rhineland, Rastatt
, close to the French border. The primary combatants of the First Coalition, France and Austria, were highly suspicious of each other's motives, and the Congress quickly derailed in a mire of intrigue and diplomatic posturing. The French demanded more territory than originally agreed. The Austrians were reluctant to cede the designated territories. The Rastatt delegates could not, or would not, orchestrate the transfer of agreed-upon territories to compensate the German princes for their losses. Compounding the Congress's problems, tensions grew between France and most of the First Coalition allies, either separately or jointly. Ferdinand of Naples
refused to pay agreed-upon tribute to France, and his subjects followed this refusal with a rebellion. The French invaded Naples and established the Parthenopaean Republic
. A republican uprising in the Swiss cantons, encouraged by the French Republic which offered military support, led to the overthrow of the Swiss Confederation and the establishment of the Helvetic Republic
.
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Other factors contributed to the rising tensions. On his way to Egypt in 1798, Napoleon had stopped on the Island of Malta and forcibly removed the Hospitallers
from their possessions. This angered Paul, Tsar of Russia
, who was the honorary head of the Order. The French Directory
was convinced that the Austrians were conniving to start another war. Indeed, the weaker the French Republic seemed, the more seriously the Austrians, the Neapolitans, the Russians, and the English actually discussed this possibility.
, arguably among the best commanders of the House of Habsburg in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, had taken command of the Austrian army in late January. Although Charles was unhappy with the strategy set by his brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II
, he had acquiesced to the less ambitious plan to which Francis and his advisers, the Aulic council
, had agreed: Austria would fight a defensive war and would maintain a continuous defensive line from the southern bank of the Danube, across the Swiss Cantons and into northern Italy. The archduke had stationed himself at Friedberg
for the winter, 4.7 kilometres (3 mi) east-south-east of Augsburg
. His army settled into cantonments in the environs of Augsburg, extending south along the Lech River
.
As winter broke in 1799, on 1 March, General Jean Baptiste Jourdan and his army of 25,000, the Army of the Danube
, crossed the Rhine at Kehl
. Instructed to block the Austrians from access to the Swiss alpine passes, Jourdan planned to isolate the armies of the Coalition in Germany from allies in northern Italy, and prevent them from assisting one another. By crossing the Rhine in early March, Jourdan acted before Charles' army could be reinforced by Austria's Russian allies, who had agreed to send 60,000 seasoned soldiers and their more-seasoned commander, Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov
. Furthermore, if the French held the interior passes in Switzerland, they could prevent the Austrians from transferring troops between northern Italy and southwestern Germany, and use the routes to move their own forces between the two theaters.
The Army of the Danube advanced through the Black Forest
and eventually established a line from Lake Constance
to the south bank of the Danube
, centered at the Imperial City
of Pfullendorf
in Upper Swabia
. At the same time, the Army of Switzerland, under command of Andre Massena
, pushed toward the Grisons
, intending to cut the Austrian lines of communication and relief at the mountain passes by Luziensteig and Feldkirch. The Army of Italy
, commanded by Louis Joseph Schérer
, had already advanced into northern Italy, to deal with Ferdinand and the recalcitrant Neapolitans.
. Klenau's troops, especially some of his Italian-speaking officers, incited peasants against French authority, provided arms and suggested military targets of opportunity, and incorporated the Austrian-armed peasants into their military actions.
fortress had been constructed in the 16th century by Pope Paul V
, built in the style of the Trace italienne, or a star, and it straddled the southwest corner of the town's fortifications. The fortress offered whoever possessed it a strategic point in the region: it was the lynch-pin of the French defense. In spring 1799, it was commanded by Chef-de-brigade Lapointe with a garrison of close to 2,500. On 15 April, Klenau approached the fortress and requested its capitulation. The commander refused. Klenau blockaded the city, leaving a small group of artillery and troops to continue the siege. For the next three days, Klenau patrolled the countryside, capturing the surrounding strategic points of Lagoscuro, Borgoforte
and the Mirandola
fortress. The besieged garrison made several sorties from the Saint Paul's Gate, which were repulsed by the insurgent peasants. The French attempted two rescues of the beleaguered fortress: In the first, on 24 April, a force of 400 Modenese was repulsed at Mirandola. In the second, General Montrichard
tried to raise the city blockade by advancing with a force of 4,000. Finally, at the end of the month, a column of Pierre-Augustin Hulin
reached and resupplied the fortress.
Klenau took possession of the town on 21 May, and garrisoned it with a light battalion. The Jewish residents of Ferrara paid 30,000 ducat
s to prevent the pillage of the city by Klenau's forces; this was used to pay the wages of Gardani's troops. Although Klenau held the town, the French still possessed the town's fortress. After making the standard request for surrender at 0800, which was refused, Klenau ordered a barrage from his mortars and howitzers. After two magazines
caught fire, the commandant was summoned again to surrender; there was some delay, but a flag of truce was sent at 2100, and the capitulation was concluded at 0100 the next day. Upon taking possession of the fortress, Klenau found 75 new artillery pieces, plus ammunition and six months' worth of provisions. The peasant uprisings pinned down the French and by capturing Ferrara, Klenau helped to isolate the other French-held fortresses from patrols, reconnaissance, and relief and supply forces. This made the fortresses and their garrisons vulnerable to Suvorov's
main force, operating in the Po River
valley. In the course of the summer, Suvorov's forces took a key position on the Tidone River on 17 June 1799, west of Piacenza
, another at the junction of the Trebbia River and the Po, in northern Italy, on 17–20 June 1799, and the town of Novi Ligure
on 15 August 1799, 22 kilometres (14 mi) southeast of Alessandria
on the Tanaro river
.
, under the command of Feldzeugmeister Paul, Baron von Kray. The 1800 campaign in southwest Germany began on 1 May 1800, at the village of Büsingen, 4 kilometres (2 mi) east of Schaffhausen (Switzerland); there a small force of 6,000 men under command of General of Brigade François Goullus
defeated 4,000 men, three battalions of the 7th Infantry Regiment Schröder, commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl Eugen, Prince von Lothringen-Lambesc. Following this clash, the impenetrable Württemberg fortress, Hohentwiel
, capitulated to the French, in what the Duke of Württemberg considered a scandalous lack of military courage.
After these encounters, the French army moved toward Stockach, less than 10 kilometres (6 mi) northwest of Hohentwiel, where they engaged the Austrian force, under Kray, in the battles of Engen and Stockach and Messkirch
against the troops of the French Army of the Rhine, under Jean Victor Moreau. Stockach, at the western tip of Lake Constance
, covered east-west and north-south crossroads; it and near-by Engen, only 20 kilometres (12 mi) west, had been the site of a French loss 14 months earlier. In 1800, a different general, Moreau, brought 84,000 troops against Kray's 72,000 men; this concentration of French force pushed the Austrian army eastward. Two days later, at Messkirch 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Stockach, Moreau brought 52,000 men, including Claude Lecourbe
's and Dominique Vandamme
's divisions, which had experienced the disappointing French loss in 1799, and Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
's experienced cavalry against Kray's force of 48,000. Although the French lost more men, once again they drove the Austrians from the field.
Despite the Imperial losses at these battles, Klenau's solid field leadership led to his promotion to lieutenant field marshal
, making him the youngest (at age 42) of that rank in the history of the Habsburg military. That year he also married the widowed Maria Josephina Somsich de Sard, daughter of Tallian de Viseck. They had one daughter, Maria, born at the end of the year. From 1801 to 1805, during which Austria remained aloof from the ongoing friction between Britain and Napoleon's France, Klenau commanded a division in Prague
, and was named as Colonel and Proprietor
of the 5th Dragoon Regiment.
of Napoleon
. Like the wars sparked by the French Revolution
of 1789, these wars revolutionized the construction, organization, and training of European armies and led to an unprecedented militarization, mainly due to mass conscription
. French power rose quickly, conquering most of Europe, but collapsed rapidly after France's disastrous invasion of Russia
in 1812. Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat in the 1813–1814 campaigns, resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy
in France. Although Napoleon made a spectacular return in 1815, known as the Hundred Days
, his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo
, the pursuit of his army and himself, his abdication, and his banishment to the Island of Saint Helena
, concluded the Napoleonic wars.
, Portugal
, Russia
, and others fought the First French Empire
and its client states
. Although several naval battles determined control of the seas, the outcome of the war was determined on the continent, predominantly in two major land operations. In the Ulm campaign
, Klenau's force achieved the single Austrian victory prior to the surrender of the Austrian army in Swabia. In the second determining event, the decisive French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz
over the combined Russian and Austrian force forced a final capitulation of the Austrian forces and took the Habsburgs out of the Coalition. This did not establish a lasting peace on the continent. Prussian
worries about growing French influence in Central Europe
sparked the War of the Fourth Coalition
in 1806, in which Austria did not participate.
, the brother-in-law of the Emperor Francis, was theoretically in command, but Ferdinand was a poor choice of replacement, having neither experience, maturity, nor aptitude. Although Ferdinand retained nominal command, decisions were placed in the hands of Karl Mack, who was timid, indecisive, and ill-suited for such an important assignment. Furthermore, Mack had been wounded earlier in the campaign, and was unable to take full charge of the army. Consequently, command further devolved to Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg
, an able military officer, but as yet inexperienced in the command of such a large army.
The campaign began in October, with several clashes in Swabia
. At the first
, near the Bavarian town of Wertingen
, 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Augsburg
, on 8 October, Murat
's Cavalry Corps and grenadiers of Lannes
' V Corps surprised an Austrian force half their size. The Austrians had assembled in line, and the cavalry and grenadiers cut them down before the Austrians could form their defensive squares. Nearly 3,000 were captured. A day later, at Günzburg
immediately south of the Danube River, the French again met an Austrian force; General Mack could not decide on a plan, and the French 59th Regiment of the Line stormed a bridge over the Danube, and, in a humiliating episode, chased two large Austrian columns toward Ulm. In this action, the French secured an important bridgehead on the Danube River.
The string of French victories did not last, and Lieutenant Field Marshal Klenau provided the only ray of hope in a campaign fraught with losses. At Haslach
, Klenau had arranged his 25,000 infantry and cavalry in a prime defensive position and, on 11 October, an overly-confident General of Division Dupont attacked Klenau's force with fewer than 8,000 men. The French lost 1,500 dead and wounded, 900 captured, 11 guns and 18 ammunition wagons captured, but possibly of greater significance, the Imperial Eagles
and guidons
of the 15th and 17th Dragoons were taken by the Austrians.
Despite Klenau's success at the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
, the Austrians could not sustain their positions around Klenau, and the entire line retreated toward Ulm. Napoleon's lightning campaign exposed the Austrian weaknesses, particularly of indecisive command structure and poor supply apparatus. The Austrians were low on ammunition and outgunned. The components of the army, division by division, were being separated from one another. Morale sank, "sapped by Mack's chaotic orders and their growing lack of confidence in their nominal commander," Ferdinand. Following the Austrian capitulation at Memmingen, 55 kilometres (34 mi) south of Ulm, the French achieved a morale boost over the Austrians at the Battle of Elchingen
, 14 October. Here, 12 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of Ulm, and slightly north of the Danube, Ney's VI Corps (20,000 men) captured half of the Austrian Reserve Artillery park at Thalfingen. In a further blow, Field Marshal Reisch was unable to destroy the Danube bridges, which Ney secured for the French. Ney received the victory title
, Duke of Elchingen.
At this point, the entire Austrian force, including Klenau's column, withdrew into Ulm
and its environs and Napoleon himself arrived to take command of the II, V, VI Corps, Ney's Cavalry and the Imperial Guard, numbering close to 80,000 men. Archduke Ferdinand and a dozen cavalry squadrons broke out through the French army and escaped into Bohemia. Again, as he had been at Mantua, Klenau was caught in a siege from which there was no escape, and again, he helped to negotiate the terms, when, on 21 October, Karl Mack surrendered the encircled army of 20,000 infantry and 3,273 cavalry. Klenau and the other officers were released on the condition that they not serve against France until exchanged, an agreement to which they held.
The Austrians abstained from the fighting in 1806–1808, and engaged in a military reorganization, directed by Archduke Charles. When they were ready to join the fight against France, in the spring and summer of 1809, it was a remodeled Austrian army that took the field. Despite their internal military reorganization, however, in the War of the Fifth Coalition
, the army retained much of its cumbersome command structure, which complicated the issuance of orders and the timely distribution of troops. When the Austrian army took the field in 1809, it battled for the "survival of the [Habsburg] dynasty," as Archduke Charles, the army's supreme commander, described the situation to his brother John.
On the Danubian plains north of Vienna, the summer battles of Aspern-Essling
and Wagram
shaped the outcome of the 1809 campaign. Klenau's forces played a critical role at both. At Aspern-Essling, Napoleon's army was decisively defeated for the first time in northern Europe, demonstrating that the master of Europe could himself be mastered. After their defeat at Wagram, the Austrians withdrew into Moravia
, leaving the French in control of that part of the Danube valley; Wagram was the largest European land-battle to date, engaging 262 battalions and 202 squadrons—153,000 men—for France and her allies, and 160 battalions and 150 squadrons—135,000 men—on the Austrian side.
For Klenau, the campaign started badly at the Battle of Eckmühl
(sometimes called Eggmühl), in southeastern Germany on 22 April 1809. Klenau commanded the Advance Guard, which included the 2nd Archduke Charles Legion, the Merveldt Uhlanen and a cavalry battery. Archduke Charles misread Napoleon's intentions and lost the advantage in the battle. Klenau's division suffered heavily and the Archduke Charles Legion was nearly wiped out in a charge by Louis Friant
's cavalry. Rosenberg's division on Klenau's flank was also badly mauled and suffered heavy casualties: 534 killed, 637 wounded, 865 missing, and 773 captured.
The disaster at Eckmühl was followed by another at Regensburg (also called the Battle of Ratisbon) on 23 April, where Klenau, at the head of six squadrons of Merveldt's Uhlanen (lancers), was crushed and scattered by Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
's heavy cavalry. Klenau and Major General Peter Vécsey
stormed back at Nansouty's force with the Klenau chevauxlegers. Although their onslaught threw back the leading French squadrons, the French heavy cavalry returned, joined by Hussars and Chasseurs. In the mêlee, it was difficult to distinguish French from Austrian, but eventually the French horse overwhelmed the Austrian flank and pushed them to the gates of Regensburg.
island, a vital river crossing, and the Austrians held the heights further to the east. Between them lay several villages, two of which were central in the engagement and gave the battle its name: They lay so close to Vienna
that the battle could be seen and heard from the city ramparts and Aspern
and Essling
(also spelled in German as Eßling) are today part of the Donaustadt
, a district of Austrian capital. At the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Klenau commanded a free-standing force of close to 6,000, including a battalion of the 1st Jäger, three battalions of the 3rd Infantry Regiment Archduke Charles, eight squadrons each of the Stipcisc Hussars and Schwarzenburg Uhlans, and a horse artillery battery of 64 guns. Typical confusion in the Austrian command structure meant he received his orders late, and Klenau's delay in deployment meant that his men approached the French III Corps at Essling in daylight and in close order; a two-gun French battery on the plain beyond the Essling, "mowed furrows" of enfilade fire in the Austrian ranks.
Despite the withering fire, Klenau's force reached Essling's edge, where his men set up 64 artillery pieces and bombarded the French for nearly an hour. Taking the village by storm, Austrian cavalry poured into the village from the north, and the French were pushed out in a methodical advance. Klenau's batteries were able to fire on the French-held bridges south of the village, over which the French had to retreat. In bitter house-to-house fighting, the Austrians entered the village. Combat at the granary was especially brutal, as Hungarian grenadiers battled unsuccessfully to dislodge the French from their positions in the second and third floors. The battle resumed at dawn of 22 April. Masséna cleared Aspern of Austrians, but while he did so, Rosenberg's force stormed Jean Lannes
' position at Essling. Lannes, reinforced by Vincent Saint-Hilaire
's division, subsequently drove Rosenberg out of Essling. At Aspern, Masséna was driven out by Hiller and Bellegarde's counter-attacks.
Meanwhile Napoleon had launched an attack on the main army at the Austrian center. Klenau's force stood on the immediate right flank of the center, opposite the attacking force of Lannes. The French cavalry, in reserve, prepared to move at either flank, or to the center, depending on where the Austrian line broke first. The French nearly broke through at the center but, at the last minute, Charles arrived with his last reserve, leading his soldiers with a color in his hand. Lannes was checked, and the impetus of the attack died out all along the line. In the final hours of the battle, Lannes himself was cut down by a cannonball from Klenau's artillery. Aspern was lost to the French. The Danube bridges upon which the French relied had been cut again by heavy barges, which the Austrians had released on the river. When he lost his route across the river, Napoleon at once suspended the attack. For his leadership at Essling, Klenau received the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.
Both sides lost close to 28,000 men, to wounds and death. For Napoleon, whose force was smaller, the losses were more costly. For Charles, the victory, which occurred within visual range of the Vienna ramparts, won him support from the hawks, or the pro-war party, in the Hofburg
. The Austrian victory at Aspern-Essling proved that Napoleon could be beaten. His force had been divided (Davout's corps had never made it over the Danube), and Napoleon had under-estimated the Austrian strength of force and, more importantly, the tenacity the Austrians showed in situations like that of Essling, when Klenau marched his force across open country under enemy fire. After Aspern-Essling, Napoleon revised his opinion of the Austrian soldier.
(5–6 July) Charles ordered the construction of a several-mile-long entrenchment, but did little else to shore up his force. Conversely, on the other side of the Danube, Napoleon brought in additional troops from Italy and Hungary. The day prior to the battle at Wagram, Klenau replaced General Johann von Hiller
, who had fallen ill, to command the 13,740 soldiers of VI Corps, and Armand von Nordmann
replaced him as commander of the Advance Guard. Klenau's Corps stood about 8 kilometres (5 mi) ahead of the main Austrian force. The Corps, about 8,000 men, were ordered to oppose any French advance on the Marchfeld plain. By mid-afternoon, Klenau could see Napoleon's massive force advancing toward them through the cornfields. Klenau managed a spirited, and gradual withdrawal to a position behind the Austrian line at the Russbach, and above the Wagram escarpment; this exposed several of the villages on the western edge of the Marchfield Plain, including Aspern and Essling, to French capture.
On the next day of battle, Klenau was ordered to a forward position, to complete a double-envelopment of Napoleon's force, envisioned by Charles as the best means of inducing panic among the French troops. At dawn, or so, at 0400, his cannonade rained havoc on Boudet's division of Massena's IV Corps; Massena sent another division under Claude Legrand
to support Boudet. Klenau's corps managed to retake both Essling and Aspern, without the same vigorous contest that had occurred two months earlier. Half the pincer movement was well underway, although Klenau's force could not move further ahead: The guns on the Island of Lobau prevented further advance. There was no support from Kollorat's forces on his flank, and for the closing prong of the pincer movement, Archduke John was no where in sight; he had not abandoned his baggage, and was plodding slowly, with his army, toward the battlefield, but still a good day's march away. Despite the mile-long gap in the French line, and the advance of Austrian cavalry, Klenau's men could not hold them against André Masséna
's prolonged mid-day assault. Charles watched from his command post at Wagram as Klenau's forces stubbornly clung to their positions, but were overwhelmed by the inexorable progress of Masséna's troops, what Klenau later called Masséna's Infernal Column. Klenau organized the rear guard for the Army's retreat into Moravia
, and lost 15 percent of his force. General René Savary
, who directed part of the French pursuit, wrote that the Klenau's soldiers had "fought in a manner calculated to instill a cautious conduct into any man disposed to deeds of rashness."
As a consequence, Austria withdrew from the Coalition. Although France had not completely defeated them, the Treaty of Schönbrunn
, signed on 14 October 1809, imposed a heavy political, territorial, and economic price. France received Carinthia
, Carniola
, and the Adriatic ports, while Galicia was given to France's ally Poland. The Salzburg
area went to the French ally, Bavaria
. Austria lost over three million subjects, about 20 percent of her total population, which dramatically reduced the military force that Austria could field. Francis also agreed to pay an indemnity equivalent to almost 85 million franc
s, gave recognition to Joseph Bonaparte
as the King of Spain, and affirmed Habsburg participation in Napoleon's Continental System
. Francis reluctantly agreed to Napoleon's marriage with his daughter, Marie Louise
, which Napoleon assumed, incorrectly, would eliminate Austria as a future threat.
in 1812; by 1813, the military landscape was dramatically different. Prussia was the first to defect from Napoleon's cause; possibly the arrival of the remnants of the Grande Armée in Berlin convinced the Prussian leadership that it was not only safe, but expedient. The remains of Napoleon's invasion force staggered back from Russia in early 1813 in appalling condition. Of the I Corps, only 2,281 men of the original 70,000 could be mustered. The Imperial Guard strength fell from 50,000 to 1,533, and 200 of those were disabled by amputation, frostbite, or injuries. Some historians suggest that the nature of the opposition to Napoleon changed in these few months, from opposition by dynasties to opposition by whole peoples, giving the War of the Sixth Coalition
its nationalist character.
By the end of April, French forces gained control of Leipzig. At Lützen
, on 2 May Napoleon lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap. The Russian commander, Peter Wittgenstein
, ignored the primary directive of the Trachenberg plan, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig
. After a day of heavy fighting, the combined forces retreated. A few weeks later, at the Battle of Bautzen
, 20–21 May 1813, the combined Russian and Prussian force surprised Ney's corps in a confused assault, which narrowly escaped destruction when Napoleon appeared with reinforcements. The outwitted Blücher
and Wittgenstein escaped because Michel Ney
failed to block the retreat. Despite his string of victories, Napoleon sought an armistice in early June, to allow a series of negotiations, to take place in Prague. The Armistice of Poischwitz, signed 4 June 1813, established a cease-fire throughout central and eastern Europe that was intended to last until mid-July; the combatants had to give six days' notice of its termination. The various interested parties—Russian, Prussian, Austrian, Saxon, Swedish, Bavarian, British and others—explored the possibilities of new alliances.
(Russia, Prussia, Britain, Sweden and, eventually, Austria), differed significantly from the earlier coalitions. Unlike previous coalitions in which the participants had organized their armies independently of one another, the Allies of the Sixth Coalition created multi-national armies. This theoretically accomplished two goals: Napoleon could not defeat them piecemeal, and the presence of soldiers from several states within a single armed force limited "politically motivated acts of national self-interest." Klenau, promoted to General der Kavallerie (full general) on 26 July 1813, held command of an independent corps in the Army of Bohemia. This Army of Bohemia illustrated one of the biggest differences in the Sixth Coalition's organizational schema: it included 127,435 Austrians, 78,200 Russians, and 44,907 Prussians.
The Coalition also pursued a different operational plan. The Coalition's operational strategy brought its different forces closer and closer together in concentric circles, to a single point in Saxony. Known as the Trachenberg Plan, the Sixth Coalition's operating plan established clear, concise and specific guidelines for commanders, from the Army through the basic company level: act offensively against an inferior foe; act defensively against a superior foe, underscoring to commanders at all levels the risk of underestimating the threat of Napoleon and his army. The new plan divided the Allied force into three armies: Silesia, Bohemia, and Northern Germany. The Silesian army, composed of Prussians and Russians, left 50,000 men in the Province of Silesia and moved the remaining 100,000 to join with 120,000 Austrians in Saxony. The Crown Prince of Sweden, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
, a former Marshal of France
and a favorite of Napoleon's, established an army of observation at Hamburg
and Lübeck
, and another 70,000 concentrated 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Berlin
. Using this plan, the Coalition pushed Napoleon and his allies into an increasingly smaller circle of operation. In theory, while this concentrated Napoleon's force, it also limited his maneuvering options. Furthermore, it concentrated the Coalition forces around the French and Allied armies, ultimately at the Saxon cities of Dresden
, and then Leipzig
.
demonstrated the problems of the Coalition's strategy. On 25 August, the three monarchs—Alexander II of Russia
, Francis II of Austria, and Frederick William III of Prussia
—and their staffs assembled on a overlook of the city to discuss their strategy. The city's weak defenses were clear from this vantage point: the French and Saxon garrison of 20,000 men under Marshal Saint-Cyr
could not hope to hold a city of that size. The Tsar and General Jean Victor Moreau, formerly a General of France and by 1813 an adviser to the Coalition, wanted to attack at once; Schwarzenberg wanted to wait until additional forces arrived.
By waiting one day, the Coalition lost the advantage. As the Coalition assaulted the southern suburbs of the city, Napoleon arrived from the north and west with the Guard and Marmont's VI Corps, covering 140 kilometres (87 mi) in forced marches over three days. The leading elements of Klenau's corps were placed on the army's left flank, separated from the main body by the Weißeritz
, flooded after almost a week of rain. Marshal
Joachim Murat
took advantage of this isolation and inflicted heavy losses on the Austrians. A French participant observed, separating Klenau's corps from the Austrian army, Murat "hurl[ed] himself upon it at the head of the carabineers
and cuirassier
s. His movement was decisive; Klenau could not resist that terrible charge. Nearly all his battalions were compelled to lay down their arms, and two other divisions of infantry shared their fate." Murat captured intact a division of five infantry regiments (15,000 men) under command of Lieutenant Field Marshal Joseph, Baron von Mesko de Felsö-Kubiny
, plus 15 of their regimental and company colors. As the left wing disintegrated, the French swarmed over the flank; the right wing was also driven back, and the entire force had to withdraw.
After the immediate defense of Dresden, though, Napoleon's situation deteriorated. Vandamme pursued the retreating Army of Bohemia, expecting to be supported by St. Cyr and General Marmont, who were still busy in Dresden. Vandamme approached the Russian corps commanded by Ostermann-Tolstoy, but left a valley behind him unprotected as he descended out of the mountain into Bohemia. As he engaged Ostermann-Tolstoy, he saw some troops behind him, which soon attacked him; thus beset from two sides, his young troops were unable to defend themselves; at the Battle of Kulm
, Vandamme lost his entire artillery, and the Austrians acquired about 7,500 prisoners, including the general himself.
To the north of Dresden, as Napoleon appeared to be engaged, looking elsewhere, Blücher brought his troops south, toward the city. Realizing the danger, Napoleon directed his main army north again, to repel the Prussians; as he did so, the wiley Blücher withdrew. Other portions of the French army had comparable difficulties. Marshal Oudinot was repelled by Bernadotte at the Battle of Großbeeren, and MacDonald, near the Bober river. Furthermore, Napoleon began to suffer from illness, referred to variously as a colic or fatigue.
(16–19 October), Klenau's force took the heavily-defended village Liebertwolkwitz, but were forced out in a French counter-attack. A contemporary witness later described finding dead Austrians at the church cemetery, pinned to the walls with bayonets. Klenau's primary objective was the village of Liebertwolkwitz. He took the Kolmberg, a nearby height also known as the Schwedenschanze (Swedish fortification), a defensive remnant of the Thirty Years' War
about 4 kilometres (2 mi) east of the village, and established a battery there, but did not bring enough troops to support it. An attack by 4,000 of Jacques MacDonald's infantry secured the hill; although Klenau's cavalry managed to push the French back, they could not retake the hill. In the action, Klenau's horse was shot and killed, and he was nearly captured, but he struggled back to his line, and reorganized his men.
Eventually, Klenau's corps took the village and the Kolmberg several times, to be pushed out by the French, to counter-attack, retreat, counter-attack and retreat and this see-sawing back and forth, the attacks, counter-attacks experienced by Klenau's force, were characteristic of the battle. On the critical first day of the battle, 16 October, a French 100-gun artillery barrage forced a hole in the line between the Russian and Prussian forces on Klenau's flank. When Murat's cavalry charged the hole, Klenau's corps, plus reserve cavalry, eventually forced the cavalry back to the cover of the French artillery. Klenau's force made a short retreat, leaving a detachment at the Kolmberg. By mid-afternoon, the Allied columns had been driven to their starting positions, but had maintained their line; as one part of the line was forced back, its flanks dropped back with it, maintaining a continuous line and preventing a French flanking operation. In this first-day action, Klenau's force played a vital role in preventing MacDonald from flanking Prince Schwarzenberg's
main army.
At the close of fighting on 16 October, Napoleon knew he had lost the battle. He had only one fresh corps in reserve, and the Coalition had been reinforced by 100,000 fresh troops that afternoon. Furthermore, Bavaria had joined the Coalition, increasing its strength. Despite the Coalition's blunders, and there had been several, primarily made by Schwarzenberg, the Trachenberg Plan had worked. The morale of the French army was low; the morale of the Coalition armies was high. Although the French still held Leipzig, the army was in shambles. Every house was filled with wounded, and the casualties were so great that the city authorities opened the corn storage house, which filled with 6,000 wounded. As if the storm of cannon and musketry fire were not enough, nature produced one of her own; rain pounded the region from the afternoon until the next day. Wet soldiers combed rubbish heaps for food waste and broke into the guarded bakeries to steal bread. The appearance of a bread wagon sparked a food riot. On the night of the 16th, the French controlled the Kolmberg that Klenau had fought over all day, and a Hessian soldier wrote: "it was the worst bivouac we had experienced on this campaign. The weather was wet and windy ... we had to use water from puddles in which lay the blood of men and horses ... and half the men remained under arms at all times."
The next day of battle, 17 October, remained quiet for the Army of Bohemia, lying at the southern sector. The Army had been severely damaged, and was in no condition to engage in an offensive action; Schwarzenberg ordered the army to remain in its order of battle, but he did not inform Blücher, in the north-western sector, of this decision, and Blücher, the impatient and eccentric Prussian, assaulted the villages of Gohlis and Eutritzsch, and then pushed on the outer Halle Gate of Leipzig itself in a combined Russian and Prussian cavalry attack.
. His IV Austrian Corps of the Army of Bohemia included the division of Lt. General Alexander Ivanovich, Count Ostermann-Tolstoy
, and the militia of Major General Alexey Nikolayevich Titov
, a total of approximately 41,000 troops. Klenau eventually negotiated a capitulation in which the French troops would return to France with their honors, on condition that they would not fight against the Allies for six months. The supreme commander refused to ratify the capitulation. Marshal Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr surrendered to Klenau on 11 November, but Schwarzenburg refused to agree to the capitulation and the French troops marched into captivity into Austria instead. The victors took 94 French field guns and 151 Saxon fortress guns, and wrested from the French complete control over the Kingdom of Saxony.
During the 1814 campaigns, Klenau remained with the Army of Bohemia as it approached Paris slowly, from the south-east, via the Seine
river valley. The armies would be as many as 32 kilometres (20 mi) apart. Their communications would be conducted through Wittgenstein's cavalry and some irregular cossacks, which was directly opposite to the Trachenberg plan. Schwarzenberg knew it was exactly what Napoleon would want them to do, but reluctantly agreed to it.
Initially, Napoleon managed to drive a wedge between Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia and Blücher's Prussian; by mid-February, he had succeeded in separating the two armies by 89 kilometres (55 mi). Blücher, who had been unpredictable since the start of the campaign, plunged through French resistance, through Belgium and into northern France. At the Battle of Brienne
, on 20 January 1814, Napoleon had inflicted a tactical and strategic defeat on him, stopping his headlong progress along the Marne
river into France. Then, in February, Napoleon succeeded in putting together four consecutive victories in six days, but this did not encourage the French population to rise up in his support. Blücher, defeated so badly at the Battle of Vauchamps
that he suffered a nervous breakdown, handed command to August Neidhardt von Gneisenau. By this time, orders had reached the Prussians to stop their forward plunge and reunite flanks with the Army of Bohemia.
At the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
on 20 to 21 March, Napoleon attacked Schwarzenberg's force and was repulsed. He managed to extricate his army from the Austrian grasp, in a tactical victory. Klenau fought as well at the Battle of La Fère-Champenoise on 25 March 1814, south-east of Paris; he participated in a series of cavalry charges which, eventually, broke the French squares and forced the French forces under Auguste de Marmont to withdraw. Marmont later brought his force to the Austrian line and ordered it to surrender; Marmont's refusal to defend either the Emperor or his empire, his "little rebellion," signaled the end of Napoleon's hopes. Although he sought to establish a regency for his son, Tsar Alexander demanded an unconditional abdication, which occurred 6 April 1814. Afterward, Klenau commanded a corps in Italy, known as the Korps Klenau.
After the war ended in 1815, Klenau was appointed commanding general in Moravia and Silesia. He held this office until his death on 6 October 1819 at Brno
, in the modern-day Czech Republic
.
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n noble, was a field marshal in the Habsburg army. Klenau joined the Habsburg military as a teenager and fought in Austria's wars with the Ottoman Empire, the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, and commanded a corps in several important battles of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
In the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, Klenau distinguished himself at the Wissembourg lines
First Battle of Wissembourg (1793)
In the First Battle of Wissembourg on 13 October 1793, an Allied army commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser attacked and defeated Jean Pascal Carlenc's French army defending behind the Lauter River...
, and led a battle-winning charge at Handschuhsheim in 1795. As commander of the Coalition's
War of the Second Coalition
The "Second Coalition" was the second attempt by European monarchs, led by the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Russian Empire, to contain or eliminate Revolutionary France. They formed a new alliance and attempted to roll back France's previous military conquests...
left flank in the Adige
Adige
The Adige is a river with its source in the Alpine province of South Tyrol near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland. At in length, it is the second longest river in Italy, after the River Po with ....
campaign in northern Italy in 1799, he was instrumental in isolating the French-held fortresses on the Po River
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
by organizing and supporting a peasant uprising in the countryside. Afterward, Klenau became the youngest lieutenant field marshal in the history of the Habsburg military.
As a corps commander, Klenau led key elements of the Austrian army at the Austrian victory at Aspern-Esslingen
Battle of Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling , Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles...
and its defeat at Wagram
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
, where his troops covered the retreat of the main Austrian force. He commanded the IV Corps at the 1813 Battle of Dresden
Battle of Dresden
The Battle of Dresden was fought on 26–27 August 1813 around Dresden, Germany, resulting in a French victory under Napoleon I against forces of the Sixth Coalition of Austrians, Russians and Prussians under Field Marshal Schwartzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory was not as complete as it could...
and again at the Battle of Nations at Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, where he prevented the French from outflanking the main Austrian force on the first day of the engagement. After the Battle of Nations, Klenau organized and implemented the successful Dresden blockade and negotiated the French capitulation there. In the 1814–15 campaign, he commanded the Corps Klenau of the Army of Italy. After the war in 1815, Klenau was appointed commanding general in Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
and Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
. He died in 1819.
Family and early career
Johann von Klenau was born into an old Bohemian nobility family at Benatek CastleBenátky nad Jizerou
Benátky nad Jizerou is a town on the Jizera river in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, between the cities Stará Boleslav and Mladá Boleslav.The city was the site of a castle and observatory built by astronomer Tycho Brahe.-External links:...
in the Austrian province of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
on 13 April 1758. The family of Klenau dates to the fifteenth century, and the family of Janowitz to the fourteenth. The family name of Klenau regularly appears in records after the sixteenth century. The Klenau family was one of the oldest dynasties in Bohemia, and many of the noble families of Bohemia have sprung from marriages into the Klenau line. The original name of the family was Przibik, with the predicate von Klenowa. The family was raised to the baronetcy in 1623 with the certificate granted to one Johann von Klenowa and, in 1629, to his son, Wilhelm. The Imperial councilor and judge in Regensburg, Wilhelm von Klenau, was raised to comital status in 1630, and to the status of Reichsgraf, or imperial count, in 1633.
Johann Klenau entered the 47th Infantry Regiment Ellrichshausen in 1774, at the age of 17, and became a second lieutenant in 1775. After transferring to a Chevauleger
Light cavalry
Light cavalry refers to lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
regiment as a Rittmeister
Rittmeister
Rotamaster was the military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in charge of a squadron , the equivalent of O3 or Captain, in the German-speaking armies, Austro-Hungarian, Polish-Lithuanian, Russian and some other states.The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different...
, or captain of cavalry, Klenau fought in the short War of the Bavarian Succession, also known as the Potato War. Most of this conflict occurred in Bohemia (part of the modern Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
) from 1778 to 1779, between the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. The war had no battles, but was instead a series of skirmishes and raids, making it the ideal situation for a captain of light cavalry. In their raids, forces from both sides sought to confiscate or destroy the other's provisions, fodder, and material.
In the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791), one of the House of Habsburg's many 18th-century wars with the Ottoman Empire, Klenau served in the 26th Dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
Regiment Toscana, and later transferred to the 1st Dragoon Regiment Kaiser. His regiment repulsed an attack of superior numbers of Ottoman forces on 28 September 1788, at Zemun
Zemun
Zemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
, near Belgrade, for which he received a personal commendation and earned his promotion to major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
. In his early military career Klenau demonstrated, not only at Zemun but also in the earlier skirmishing and raids of 1778 and 1779, the attributes required of a successful cavalry officer: the military acumen to evaluate a situation, the flexibility to adjust his plans on a moment's notice, and the personal courage to take the same risks he demanded of his men.
Background
Initially, the rulers of Europe considered the 1789 revolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in France as an affair between the French king and his subjects, and not a matter in which they should interfere. However, as the rhetoric grew more strident after 1790, the European monarchs began to view the French upheavals with alarm. Among the concerned monarchs were the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
, who feared for the life and well-being of his sister, the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. In August 1791, in consultation with French émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
nobles and Frederick William II
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
of Prussia, he issued the Declaration of Pillnitz
Declaration of Pillnitz
The Declaration of Pillnitz was a statement issued on 27 August 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and Frederick William II of Prussia...
, in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
and his family. They threatened ambiguous, but quite serious, consequences if anything should happen to the royal family.
The French Republican position became increasingly difficult. Compounding problems in international relations, French émigrés agitated for support of a counter-revolution. From their base in Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, adjacent to the French–German border, they sought direct support for military intervention from the royal houses of Europe, and raised an army. On 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on Austria and its allies. In this War of the First Coalition (1792–1798), France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her. Portugal and the Ottoman Empire also joined the alliance against France.
Klenau and the War of the First Coalition
On 12 February 1793, Klenau received his promotion to lieutenant colonelOberstleutnant
Oberstleutnant is a German Army and Air Force rank equal to Lieutenant Colonel, above Major, and below Oberst.There are two paygrade associated to the rank of Oberstleutnant...
in a Lancer
Uhlan
Uhlans were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was later used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies....
regiment, and joined the Austrian force in the Rhineland, serving under General of Cavalry Count Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigismund, Count Wurmser 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 successful campaigns in the Rhineland in the initial years of the French Revolutionary Wars, he...
. He was captured later in the spring near the town of Offenbach, but was freed unexpectedly by two Austrian Hussars from the 17th Regiment Archduke Alexander Leopold, who came upon him and his captors. At the first Battle of Wissembourg
First Battle of Wissembourg (1793)
In the First Battle of Wissembourg on 13 October 1793, an Allied army commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser attacked and defeated Jean Pascal Carlenc's French army defending behind the Lauter River...
, Klenau commanded a brigade in Friedrich, Baron von Hotze's
Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze
Friedrich Hotze, also known as Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze , a Swiss-born field marshal in the Austrian army during the French Revolutionary Wars, campaigned in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition and in Switzerland in the War of the Second Coalition, notably at Battle of...
3rd Column on 13 October 1793, during which the Habsburg force stormed the 19 kilometres (12 mi) earthen ramparts held by the French.
By the terms of the Peace of Basel
Peace of Basel
The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France .* The first of the three treaties of 1795, France made peace with Prussia on 5 April; , * The Second was with Spain on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees; and*...
(22 July 1795), the Prussian army was to leave the Rhine and Main
Main river
Main rivers are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also include some smaller watercourses. A main river is defined as a watercourse marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure or appliance for controlling or regulating...
river valleys; as it did so, the French quickly over-ran these territories. On 20 September, the fortress at Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
surrendered to the French without firing a shot. Mannheim had been garrisoned by a Bavarian commander, Lieutenant General Baron von Belderbusch, and several battalions of Bavarian grenadiers, fusiliers, and guard regiments, plus six companies of artillery. A small Austrian force augmented the Bavarian contingent. At the same time, further north, the fortified town of Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, also garrisoned by Bavarians, capitulated to the French. With these capitulations, the French controlled the Rhine crossings at Düsseldorf and at the junction of the Rhine and the Main rivers. To maintain contact with the forces on their flanks, the Austrian commanders, outraged at this fait accompli, had to withdraw across the Main river.
The nearby city of Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, further south of the Main on the Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
River, appeared to be the next French target. Lieutenant Field Marshal Peter Quasdanovich
Peter Quasdanovich
Peter Vitus Freiherr von Quosdanovich was a general of the Austrian Empire. Feldmarschall-Lieutenant and Commander of the Order of Maria Theresa...
, who had remained in the region between Mannheim and Heidelberg, used a hastily-enhanced abatis
Abatis
Abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a term in field fortification for an obstacle formed of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced or tied with wire...
to establish a defensive line at the sleepy country village of Handschuhsheim, east of the city of Heidelberg. The French force of two divisions—about 12,000 men—outnumbered the 8,000 defenders, and the position seemed untenable.
Klenau's charge
At Handschuhsheim, Klenau commanded a mounted brigade that included the six squadrons of the 4th Cuirassiers Regiment Hohenzollern, two squadrons of the 3rd Dragoon Regiment Kaiser, six squadrons of the 44th Hussar regiment Szeckler, and four squadrons of the French émigréArmy of Condé
The Army of Condé was a French field army during the French Revolutionary Wars. One of several émigré field armies, it was the only one to survive the War of the First Coalition; others had been formed by the Comte d'Artois and Mirabeau-Tonneau...
regiment Allemand. On 24 September 1795, seeing the French, with five battalions and a regiment of Chasseurs overwhelming the troops of General Adam Bajalics von Bajahaza
Adam Bajalics von Bajahaza
Adam Bajalics von Bajaháza, also Adam Bajalić von Bajaházy or Adam Bayalitsch, entered Austrian military service and fought against Prussia, Ottoman Turkey, and France...
, Klenau quickly organized his own brigade into three columns and attacked. In a battle-winning charge, Klenau's brigade (approximately 4,000 men) dispersed the French divisions of Charles Pichegru
Charles Pichegru
Jean-Charles Pichegru was a French general and political figure of the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars.-Early life and career:...
's Army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of General of Division Georges Joseph Dufour
Georges Joseph Dufour
Georges Joseph Dufour was a French Republican and military commander during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.-Biography:...
. His cavalry caught Dufour's entire division in the open, dispersed Dufour's six squadrons of Chasseurs, and cut down Dufour's infantry. With a loss of 193 men and 54 horses, the Austrians inflicted over 1,500 French casualties, including 1,000 killed; they also captured eight guns, nine ammunition caissons and their teams, and General Dufour himself. In the action, General of Brigade Dusirat was wounded, as was Dufour before his capture. Additional Austrian losses included 35 men and 58 horses killed, six officers, 144 men and 78 horses wounded, and two men and three horses missing. For his role in this exploit, Klenau was promoted to colonel
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
Military Order of Maria Theresa
The Military Order of Maria Theresa was an Order of the Austro-Hungarian Empire founded on June 18, 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolin, by the Empress...
. At Handschuhsheim, as he had earlier at Zemon, Klenau demonstrated his "higher military calling," establishing himself as an intrepid, tenacious, and quick-thinking field officer.
Action in the Italian theater
In 1796, Klenau commanded the advance guard of Peter Quasdanovich's right column in northern Italy. As the column descended from the Alps at the city of BresciaBrescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
, reconnaissance found the local French garrison unprepared. At midnight, Klenau led two squadrons of the 8th Hussar Regiment Wurmser (named for its Colonel-Proprietor
Proprietor (Inhaber)
A Proprietor, or Inhaber, was a term used in the Habsburg military to denote special honors extended to a noble or aristocrat. The Habsburg army was organized on principles developed for the feudal armies in which regiments were raised by a wealthy noble, called the Inhaber who also acted as...
Dagobert von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigismund, Count Wurmser 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 successful campaigns in the Rhineland in the initial years of the French Revolutionary Wars, he...
), a battalion of the 37th Infantry Regiment De Vins, and one company of the Mahony Jäger
Jäger (military)
Jäger is a term that was adopted in the Enlightenment era in German-speaking states and others influenced by German military practice to describe a kind of light infantry, and it has continued in that use since then....
. With their approach masked by fog and darkness, the small force surprised the Brescia garrison on the morning of 30 July, capturing not only the 600–700 French soldiers stationed there, but also three officials of the French Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
: Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
, Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
, and François Étienne de Kellermann
François Étienne de Kellermann
Francois Étienne de Kellermann, 2nd Duc de Valmy was a French cavalry general noted for his daring and skillful exploits during the Napoleonic Wars...
. However, within two days, Klenau's force had to face Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
and 12,000 Frenchmen; his small advance guard was quickly pushed out of Brescia on 1 August. At the subsequent Battle of Lonato
Battle of Lonato
The Battle of Lonato was fought on 3 and 4 August 1796 between the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte and a corps-sized Austrian column led by Feldmarschallleutnant Peter Quasdanovich. A week of hard-fought actions that began on 29 July and ended on 4 August resulted in the...
of 2–3 August 1796, the French forced Quasdanovich's column to withdraw into the mountains. This isolated Quasdanovich's force from Wurmser's main army by Lake Garda
Lake Garda
Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age...
, and freed the French to concentrate on the main force at Castiglione delle Stiviere
Castiglione delle Stiviere
Castiglione delle Stiviere is a town and comune in the province of Mantua, in Lombardy, Italy, 30 km northwest of Mantua by road.-History:During the War of the Spanish Succession, the French under the duc de Vendôme occupied it....
, further south; Bonaparte's victory at the Battle of Castiglione
Battle of Castiglione
The Battle of Castiglione saw the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte attack an army of Habsburg Austria led by Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser on 5 August 1796. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated and driven back along a line of hills to the river crossing at...
forced Wurmser across the Mincio River, and allowed the French to return to the siege of Mantua
Siege of Mantua (1796-1797)
In the Siege of Mantua, which lasted from 4 July 1796 to 2 February 1797 with a short break, French forces under the overall command of Napoleon Bonaparte besieged and blockaded a large Austrian garrison for many months until it surrendered...
.
By early September, Klenau's force had rejoined Wurmser's column and fought at the Battle of Bassano
Battle of Bassano
The Battle of Bassano was fought on 8 September 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, between a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces led by Count Dagobert von Wurmser. The battle ended in a French victory...
on 8 September. Here, the Austrians were outnumbered almost two to one by the French. As the Austrian army retreated, Bonaparte ordered a pursuit that caused the Austrians to abandon their artillery and baggage. Most of the third battalion of the 59th Jordis, and the first battalion of the Border Infantry Banat were captured and these units ceased to exist after this battle. The Austrians lost 600 killed and wounded, and 2,000 captured, plus lost 30 guns, eight colors, and 200 limbers and ammunition waggons. Klenau was with Wurmser's column again as it fought its way to besieged Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
and he participated in the combat at La Favorita near there on 15 September. This was the second attempt to relieve the fortress; as the Austrians withdrew from the battle, they retreated into Mantua itself, and from 15 September until 2 February 1797, Klenau was trapped in the fortress while the city was besieged. Following the Austrian loss at the Battle of Rivoli
Battle of Rivoli
The Battle of Rivoli was a key victory in the French campaign in Italy against Austria. Napoleon Bonaparte's 23,000 Frenchmen defeated an attack of 28,000 Austrians under Feldzeugmeister Jozsef Alvinczi, ending Austria's fourth and final attempt to relieve the Siege of Mantua...
, 48 kilometres (30 mi) north of Mantua, on 14–15 January 1797, when clearly there would be no Austrian relief for Mantua, Klenau negotiated conditions of surrender with French General Jean Sérurier
Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier
Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier, 1st Comte Sérurier , was a French soldier and political figure who rose to the rank of Marshal of France.-Early life:...
, although additional evidence suggests that Bonaparte was present and dictated far more generous terms than Klenau expected. When the garrison capitulated in February, Klenau co-signed the document with Wurmser.
Peace and the Congress of Rastatt
Although the Coalition forces—Austria, Russia, Prussia, Great Britain, Sardinia, among others—had achieved several victories at VerdunBattle of Verdun (1792)
The Battle of Verdun was fought on August 20, 1792 between French Revolutionary forces and a Prussian army. The Prussians were victorious. This therefore opened the path to Paris....
, Kaiserslautern
Battle of Kaiserslautern
The Battle of Kaiserslautern was a battle of the War of the First Coalition , fought near the German city of Kaiserslautern...
, Neerwinden
Battle of Neerwinden (1793)
The Battle of Neerwinden took place on near the village of Neerwinden in present-day Belgium between the Austrians under Prince Josias of Coburg and the French under General Dumouriez...
, Mainz
Battle of Mainz
The Battle of Mainz was fought on 29 October 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between France and Austria. The battle was fought near the city of Mainz now in western Germany and ended in an Austrian victory.-People involved:...
, Amberg and Würzburg
Battle of Würzburg
The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of Habsburg Austria 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...
, in Italy the Coalition's achievements were more limited. In northern Italy, despite the presence of the most experienced of the Austrian generals—Dagobert Wurmser—the Austrians could not lift the siege at Mantua, and the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces to the border of Habsburg lands. Napoleon dictated a cease-fire at Leoben on 17 April 1797, which led to the formal peace treaty, the Treaty of Campo Formio
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of revolutionary France and the Austrian monarchy...
, which went into effect on 17 October 1797.
The treaty called for meetings between the involved parties to work out the exact territorial and remunerative details. These were to be convened at a small town in the mid-Rhineland, Rastatt
Second Congress of Rastatt
The Second Congress of Rastatt, which was opened in December 1797, was intended to rearrange the map of Germany by providing compensation for those princes whose lands on the left bank of the Rhine had been seized by France....
, close to the French border. The primary combatants of the First Coalition, France and Austria, were highly suspicious of each other's motives, and the Congress quickly derailed in a mire of intrigue and diplomatic posturing. The French demanded more territory than originally agreed. The Austrians were reluctant to cede the designated territories. The Rastatt delegates could not, or would not, orchestrate the transfer of agreed-upon territories to compensate the German princes for their losses. Compounding the Congress's problems, tensions grew between France and most of the First Coalition allies, either separately or jointly. Ferdinand of Naples
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
refused to pay agreed-upon tribute to France, and his subjects followed this refusal with a rebellion. The French invaded Naples and established the Parthenopaean Republic
Parthenopaean Republic
The Parthenopean Republic was a French-supported republic in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples, formed during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops...
. A republican uprising in the Swiss cantons, encouraged by the French Republic which offered military support, led to the overthrow of the Swiss Confederation and the establishment of the Helvetic Republic
Helvetic Republic
In Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...
.
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
from their possessions. This angered Paul, Tsar of Russia
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
, who was the honorary head of the Order. The French Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
was convinced that the Austrians were conniving to start another war. Indeed, the weaker the French Republic seemed, the more seriously the Austrians, the Neapolitans, the Russians, and the English actually discussed this possibility.
Outbreak of war in 1799
Archduke Charles of AustriaArchduke Charles, Duke of Teschen
Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen was an Austrian field-marshal, the third son of emperor Leopold II and his wife Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain...
, arguably among the best commanders of the House of Habsburg in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, had taken command of the Austrian army in late January. Although Charles was unhappy with the strategy set by his brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
, he had acquiesced to the less ambitious plan to which Francis and his advisers, the Aulic council
Aulic Council
The Aulic Council was originally an executive-judicial council for the Holy Roman Empire....
, had agreed: Austria would fight a defensive war and would maintain a continuous defensive line from the southern bank of the Danube, across the Swiss Cantons and into northern Italy. The archduke had stationed himself at Friedberg
Friedberg, Bavaria
Friedberg is a city in the district Aichach-Friedberg, Bavaria, Germany, with some 30,000 inhabitants. It is located next to Augsburg at the Lech river...
for the winter, 4.7 kilometres (3 mi) east-south-east of Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
. His army settled into cantonments in the environs of Augsburg, extending south along the Lech River
Lech River
The Lech is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube in length with a drainage basin of .Its source is located in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where the river rises from lake Formarinsee in the Alps at an altitude of...
.
As winter broke in 1799, on 1 March, General Jean Baptiste Jourdan and his army of 25,000, the Army of the Danube
Army of the Danube
The Army of the Danube was a field army of the French Directory in the 1799 southwestern campaign in the Upper Danube valley. It was formed on 2 March 1799 by the simple expedient of renaming the Army of Observation, which had been observing Austrian movements on the border between First...
, crossed the Rhine at Kehl
Kehl
Kehl is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg.-History:...
. Instructed to block the Austrians from access to the Swiss alpine passes, Jourdan planned to isolate the armies of the Coalition in Germany from allies in northern Italy, and prevent them from assisting one another. By crossing the Rhine in early March, Jourdan acted before Charles' army could be reinforced by Austria's Russian allies, who had agreed to send 60,000 seasoned soldiers and their more-seasoned commander, Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov
Alexander Suvorov
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov , Count Suvorov of Rymnik, Prince in Italy, Count of the Holy Roman Empire , was the fourth and last generalissimo of the Russian Empire.One of the few great generals in history who never lost a battle along with the likes of Alexander...
. Furthermore, if the French held the interior passes in Switzerland, they could prevent the Austrians from transferring troops between northern Italy and southwestern Germany, and use the routes to move their own forces between the two theaters.
The Army of the Danube advanced through the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
and eventually established a line from Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
to the south bank of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, centered at the Imperial City
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
of Pfullendorf
Pfullendorf
Pfullendorf is a small historic city in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Its location is in the district of Sigmaringen, 25 km north of Lake Constance and south of the Danube valley and therefore on the continental divide between the watersheds of the...
in Upper Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
. At the same time, the Army of Switzerland, under command of Andre Massena
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
, pushed toward the Grisons
Grison Alps
The Grison Alps are the mountains of the Graubünden canton of Switzerland . There are many significant peaks in the Grison Alps, including the Tödi and the highest peak, Piz Bernina...
, intending to cut the Austrian lines of communication and relief at the mountain passes by Luziensteig and Feldkirch. The Army of Italy
Army of Italy (France)
The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...
, commanded by Louis Joseph Schérer
Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer
Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer , born in Delle, near Belfort, became a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and on three occasions led armies in combat.-Early career:...
, had already advanced into northern Italy, to deal with Ferdinand and the recalcitrant Neapolitans.
Campaigns of 1799–1800
At the onset of the 1799 campaign in Italy, Klenau and his 4,500 troops incited and then assisted an uprising of 4,000 or more peasants in the Italian countryside, adjacent to the Po River. The general insurgency pinned down the French on the east bank of the Po RiverPo River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
. Klenau's troops, especially some of his Italian-speaking officers, incited peasants against French authority, provided arms and suggested military targets of opportunity, and incorporated the Austrian-armed peasants into their military actions.
Klenau's siege of Ferrara
The FerraraFerrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
fortress had been constructed in the 16th century by Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
, built in the style of the Trace italienne, or a star, and it straddled the southwest corner of the town's fortifications. The fortress offered whoever possessed it a strategic point in the region: it was the lynch-pin of the French defense. In spring 1799, it was commanded by Chef-de-brigade Lapointe with a garrison of close to 2,500. On 15 April, Klenau approached the fortress and requested its capitulation. The commander refused. Klenau blockaded the city, leaving a small group of artillery and troops to continue the siege. For the next three days, Klenau patrolled the countryside, capturing the surrounding strategic points of Lagoscuro, Borgoforte
Borgoforte
Borgoforte is a comune in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 130 km southeast of Milan and about 14 km southwest of Mantua....
and the Mirandola
Mirandola
Mirandola is a city and comune of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the Province of Modena, 31 km northeast of the provincial capital by railway.- History :Mirandola originated as a Renaissance city-fortress...
fortress. The besieged garrison made several sorties from the Saint Paul's Gate, which were repulsed by the insurgent peasants. The French attempted two rescues of the beleaguered fortress: In the first, on 24 April, a force of 400 Modenese was repulsed at Mirandola. In the second, General Montrichard
Montrichard
Montrichard is a town and commune in the Loir-et-Cher département, in France.-Geography:The town lies on the north bank of the Cher river. south of Blois, west of Vierzon and east of Tours...
tried to raise the city blockade by advancing with a force of 4,000. Finally, at the end of the month, a column of Pierre-Augustin Hulin
Pierre-Augustin Hulin
Pierre-Augustin Hulin was a French general under Napoleon Bonaparte who took part in the storming of the Bastille, the trial of the Duke d'Enghien, and the foiling of the Malet coup.- Early life :...
reached and resupplied the fortress.
Klenau took possession of the town on 21 May, and garrisoned it with a light battalion. The Jewish residents of Ferrara paid 30,000 ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s to prevent the pillage of the city by Klenau's forces; this was used to pay the wages of Gardani's troops. Although Klenau held the town, the French still possessed the town's fortress. After making the standard request for surrender at 0800, which was refused, Klenau ordered a barrage from his mortars and howitzers. After two magazines
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
caught fire, the commandant was summoned again to surrender; there was some delay, but a flag of truce was sent at 2100, and the capitulation was concluded at 0100 the next day. Upon taking possession of the fortress, Klenau found 75 new artillery pieces, plus ammunition and six months' worth of provisions. The peasant uprisings pinned down the French and by capturing Ferrara, Klenau helped to isolate the other French-held fortresses from patrols, reconnaissance, and relief and supply forces. This made the fortresses and their garrisons vulnerable to Suvorov's
Alexander Suvorov
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov , Count Suvorov of Rymnik, Prince in Italy, Count of the Holy Roman Empire , was the fourth and last generalissimo of the Russian Empire.One of the few great generals in history who never lost a battle along with the likes of Alexander...
main force, operating in the Po River
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
valley. In the course of the summer, Suvorov's forces took a key position on the Tidone River on 17 June 1799, west of Piacenza
Piacenza
Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...
, another at the junction of the Trebbia River and the Po, in northern Italy, on 17–20 June 1799, and the town of Novi Ligure
Novi Ligure
Novi Ligure is a town and comune north of Genoa, in the Piedmont region of the province of Alessandria of northwest Italy.The town produces food, iron, steel, and textiles. It is an important junction for both road and railroad....
on 15 August 1799, 22 kilometres (14 mi) southeast of Alessandria
Alessandria
-Monuments:* The Citadel * The church of Santa Maria di Castello * The church of Santa Maria del Carmine * Palazzo Ghilini * Università del Piemonte Orientale-Museums:* The Marengo Battle Museum...
on the Tanaro river
Tanaro River
The Tanaro , known as Tanarus in ancient times, is a 276 km-long river in northwestern Italy. It rises in the Ligurian Alps, close to the border with France and is the most significant right-side tributary to the Po in terms of length, size of drainage basin and discharge.-Source:The Tanaro proper...
.
1800 Campaign in Swabia
In early 1800, Klenau transferred to the K(aiserlich) und K(oeniglich) (Imperial and Royal) army of Germany, in SwabiaSwabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
, under the command of Feldzeugmeister Paul, Baron von Kray. The 1800 campaign in southwest Germany began on 1 May 1800, at the village of Büsingen, 4 kilometres (2 mi) east of Schaffhausen (Switzerland); there a small force of 6,000 men under command of General of Brigade François Goullus
François Goullus
Francois Goullus, was a brigadier general and baron of the First French Empire during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
defeated 4,000 men, three battalions of the 7th Infantry Regiment Schröder, commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl Eugen, Prince von Lothringen-Lambesc. Following this clash, the impenetrable Württemberg fortress, Hohentwiel
Hohentwiel
Hohentwiel is an extinct volcano in the Hegau region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. About 20 miles from Lake Constance, it lies in the German city of Singen....
, capitulated to the French, in what the Duke of Württemberg considered a scandalous lack of military courage.
After these encounters, the French army moved toward Stockach, less than 10 kilometres (6 mi) northwest of Hohentwiel, where they engaged the Austrian force, under Kray, in the battles of Engen and Stockach and Messkirch
Battle of Messkirch
The Battle of Meßkirch was fought on 4 and 5 May 1800 and resulted the victory of French army against the Austrians.-Overview:On 25 April 1800 the French Armée d'Allemagne, under Jean Victor Marie Moreau, crossed the Rhine River at Kehl and Schaffhausen. The 1st Demi-Brigade, of the Corps led by...
against the troops of the French Army of the Rhine, under Jean Victor Moreau. Stockach, at the western tip of Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
, covered east-west and north-south crossroads; it and near-by Engen, only 20 kilometres (12 mi) west, had been the site of a French loss 14 months earlier. In 1800, a different general, Moreau, brought 84,000 troops against Kray's 72,000 men; this concentration of French force pushed the Austrian army eastward. Two days later, at Messkirch 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Stockach, Moreau brought 52,000 men, including Claude Lecourbe
Claude Lecourbe
Claude Jacques Lecourbe , born in Besançon, was a French general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars....
's and Dominique Vandamme
Dominique Vandamme
General Dominique-Joseph René Vandamme, Count of Unseburg was a French military officer, who fought in the Napoleonic Wars....
's divisions, which had experienced the disappointing French loss in 1799, and Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
Count Étienne-Marie-Antoine-Champion de Nansouty was a French cavalry commander during the French Revolutionary Wars who rose to the rank of General of Division in 1803 and subsequently held important military commands during the Napoleonic Wars. Of noble Burgundian descent, he was a student at...
's experienced cavalry against Kray's force of 48,000. Although the French lost more men, once again they drove the Austrians from the field.
Despite the Imperial losses at these battles, Klenau's solid field leadership led to his promotion to lieutenant field marshal
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
, making him the youngest (at age 42) of that rank in the history of the Habsburg military. That year he also married the widowed Maria Josephina Somsich de Sard, daughter of Tallian de Viseck. They had one daughter, Maria, born at the end of the year. From 1801 to 1805, during which Austria remained aloof from the ongoing friction between Britain and Napoleon's France, Klenau commanded a division in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, and was named as Colonel and Proprietor
Proprietor (Inhaber)
A Proprietor, or Inhaber, was a term used in the Habsburg military to denote special honors extended to a noble or aristocrat. The Habsburg army was organized on principles developed for the feudal armies in which regiments were raised by a wealthy noble, called the Inhaber who also acted as...
of the 5th Dragoon Regiment.
Background
In a series of conflicts from 1803 to 1815, known as the Napoleonic Wars, the alliances of the powers of Europe formed five coalitions against the First French EmpireFirst French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
of Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
. Like the wars sparked by the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
of 1789, these wars revolutionized the construction, organization, and training of European armies and led to an unprecedented militarization, mainly due to mass conscription
Levée en masse
Levée en masse is a French term for mass conscription during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the one from 16 August 1793.- Terminology :...
. French power rose quickly, conquering most of Europe, but collapsed rapidly after France's disastrous invasion of Russia
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
in 1812. Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat in the 1813–1814 campaigns, resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
in France. Although Napoleon made a spectacular return in 1815, known as the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
, his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, the pursuit of his army and himself, his abdication, and his banishment to the Island of Saint Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
, concluded the Napoleonic wars.
War of the Third Coalition
In the War of the Third Coalition, 1803–1806, an alliance of AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and others fought the First French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
and its client states
French client republic
During its occupation of neighboring parts of Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars, France established republican regimes in these territories...
. Although several naval battles determined control of the seas, the outcome of the war was determined on the continent, predominantly in two major land operations. In the Ulm campaign
Ulm Campaign
The Ulm Campaign consisted of a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm...
, Klenau's force achieved the single Austrian victory prior to the surrender of the Austrian army in Swabia. In the second determining event, the decisive French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
over the combined Russian and Austrian force forced a final capitulation of the Austrian forces and took the Habsburgs out of the Coalition. This did not establish a lasting peace on the continent. Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
worries about growing French influence in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
sparked the War of the Fourth Coalition
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....
in 1806, in which Austria did not participate.
Danube campaign: Road to Ulm
Upon Austria's entrance into the war in summer 1805, Klenau joined the Habsburg army in southern Germany and became mired in a short campaign that exposed the worst of the Habsburg military organization. Archduke Charles was sick, and had retired to recuperate. Archduke FerdinandArchduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este
Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este was the third son of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and of his wife Princess Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este, last member and heiress of the house of Este. For much of the Napoleonic Wars he was in command of the Austrian army.Ferdinand was born...
, the brother-in-law of the Emperor Francis, was theoretically in command, but Ferdinand was a poor choice of replacement, having neither experience, maturity, nor aptitude. Although Ferdinand retained nominal command, decisions were placed in the hands of Karl Mack, who was timid, indecisive, and ill-suited for such an important assignment. Furthermore, Mack had been wounded earlier in the campaign, and was unable to take full charge of the army. Consequently, command further devolved to Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg
Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg
Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg (or Charles Philip, Prince of Schwarzenberg (April 18, 1771 – October 15, 1820) was an Austrian field marshal.- Life :...
, an able military officer, but as yet inexperienced in the command of such a large army.
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
. At the first
Battle of Wertingen
In the Battle of Wertingen on October 8, 1805, French forces led by Marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes mauled a small Austrian corps commanded by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Auffenberg. This was the opening battle of the Ulm Campaign.-Background:...
, near the Bavarian town of Wertingen
Wertingen
Wertingen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 13 km east of Dillingen, and 28 km northwest of Augsburg.The German band Killerpilze comes from Wertingen....
, 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, on 8 October, Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
's Cavalry Corps and grenadiers of Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
' V Corps surprised an Austrian force half their size. The Austrians had assembled in line, and the cavalry and grenadiers cut them down before the Austrians could form their defensive squares. Nearly 3,000 were captured. A day later, at Günzburg
Günzburg
Günzburg is a Große Kreisstadt and capital of the district of Günzburg in Swabia, Bavaria. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city of Günzburg—which had not previously been assigned to a Kreis —with the district of Günzburg and the district of Krumbach.Günzburg lies...
immediately south of the Danube River, the French again met an Austrian force; General Mack could not decide on a plan, and the French 59th Regiment of the Line stormed a bridge over the Danube, and, in a humiliating episode, chased two large Austrian columns toward Ulm. In this action, the French secured an important bridgehead on the Danube River.
The string of French victories did not last, and Lieutenant Field Marshal Klenau provided the only ray of hope in a campaign fraught with losses. At Haslach
Haslach
Haslach is a small city in south-west Germany, in the district Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. As of 2010 it had a population of 7,010.-History:...
, Klenau had arranged his 25,000 infantry and cavalry in a prime defensive position and, on 11 October, an overly-confident General of Division Dupont attacked Klenau's force with fewer than 8,000 men. The French lost 1,500 dead and wounded, 900 captured, 11 guns and 18 ammunition wagons captured, but possibly of greater significance, the Imperial Eagles
French Imperial Eagle
French Imperial Eagle refers to the figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the Grande Armée of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars....
and guidons
Colours, standards and guidons
In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours, standards or Guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 years ago...
of the 15th and 17th Dragoons were taken by the Austrians.
Despite Klenau's success at the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
The Battle of Haslach-Jungingen, also known as the Battle of Albeck, fought on 11 October 1805 at Ulm-Jungingen north of Ulm at the Danube, was part of the War of the Third Coalition, which was a part of the greater Napoleonic Wars.-Background:...
, the Austrians could not sustain their positions around Klenau, and the entire line retreated toward Ulm. Napoleon's lightning campaign exposed the Austrian weaknesses, particularly of indecisive command structure and poor supply apparatus. The Austrians were low on ammunition and outgunned. The components of the army, division by division, were being separated from one another. Morale sank, "sapped by Mack's chaotic orders and their growing lack of confidence in their nominal commander," Ferdinand. Following the Austrian capitulation at Memmingen, 55 kilometres (34 mi) south of Ulm, the French achieved a morale boost over the Austrians at the Battle of Elchingen
Battle of Elchingen
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on October 14, 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the army of Emperor Napoleon I of France while other...
, 14 October. Here, 12 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of Ulm, and slightly north of the Danube, Ney's VI Corps (20,000 men) captured half of the Austrian Reserve Artillery park at Thalfingen. In a further blow, Field Marshal Reisch was unable to destroy the Danube bridges, which Ney secured for the French. Ney received the victory title
Victory title
A victory title is an honorific title adopted by a successful military commander to commemorate his defeat of an enemy nation. This practice was first used by Ancient Rome and is still most commonly associated with the Romans, but it has also been adopted as a practice by many modern empires,...
, Duke of Elchingen.
At this point, the entire Austrian force, including Klenau's column, withdrew into Ulm
Battle of Ulm
The Battle of Ulm was a series of minor skirmishes at the end of Napoleon Bonaparte's Ulm Campaign, culminating in the surrender of an entire Austrian army near Ulm in Württemberg....
and its environs and Napoleon himself arrived to take command of the II, V, VI Corps, Ney's Cavalry and the Imperial Guard, numbering close to 80,000 men. Archduke Ferdinand and a dozen cavalry squadrons broke out through the French army and escaped into Bohemia. Again, as he had been at Mantua, Klenau was caught in a siege from which there was no escape, and again, he helped to negotiate the terms, when, on 21 October, Karl Mack surrendered the encircled army of 20,000 infantry and 3,273 cavalry. Klenau and the other officers were released on the condition that they not serve against France until exchanged, an agreement to which they held.
Action on the Danube by Vienna
War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition, fought in the year 1809, pitted a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and Bavaria. Major engagements between France and Austria, the main participants, unfolded over much of Central Europe from April to July, with...
, the army retained much of its cumbersome command structure, which complicated the issuance of orders and the timely distribution of troops. When the Austrian army took the field in 1809, it battled for the "survival of the [Habsburg] dynasty," as Archduke Charles, the army's supreme commander, described the situation to his brother John.
On the Danubian plains north of Vienna, the summer battles of Aspern-Essling
Battle of Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling , Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles...
and Wagram
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
shaped the outcome of the 1809 campaign. Klenau's forces played a critical role at both. At Aspern-Essling, Napoleon's army was decisively defeated for the first time in northern Europe, demonstrating that the master of Europe could himself be mastered. After their defeat at Wagram, the Austrians withdrew into Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, leaving the French in control of that part of the Danube valley; Wagram was the largest European land-battle to date, engaging 262 battalions and 202 squadrons—153,000 men—for France and her allies, and 160 battalions and 150 squadrons—135,000 men—on the Austrian side.
For Klenau, the campaign started badly at the Battle of Eckmühl
Battle of Eckmühl
The Battle of Eckmühl fought on 21 April – 22 April 1809, was the turning point of the 1809 Campaign, also known as the War of the Fifth Coalition...
(sometimes called Eggmühl), in southeastern Germany on 22 April 1809. Klenau commanded the Advance Guard, which included the 2nd Archduke Charles Legion, the Merveldt Uhlanen and a cavalry battery. Archduke Charles misread Napoleon's intentions and lost the advantage in the battle. Klenau's division suffered heavily and the Archduke Charles Legion was nearly wiped out in a charge by Louis Friant
Louis Friant
Louis Friant was born in the village of Morlancourt, 8 km south of Albert near the river Somme. The village would later suffer the misfortune of lying along the Western Front trench-lines of World War I....
's cavalry. Rosenberg's division on Klenau's flank was also badly mauled and suffered heavy casualties: 534 killed, 637 wounded, 865 missing, and 773 captured.
The disaster at Eckmühl was followed by another at Regensburg (also called the Battle of Ratisbon) on 23 April, where Klenau, at the head of six squadrons of Merveldt's Uhlanen (lancers), was crushed and scattered by Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
Count Étienne-Marie-Antoine-Champion de Nansouty was a French cavalry commander during the French Revolutionary Wars who rose to the rank of General of Division in 1803 and subsequently held important military commands during the Napoleonic Wars. Of noble Burgundian descent, he was a student at...
's heavy cavalry. Klenau and Major General Peter Vécsey
Peter Vecsey
Peter Vecsey is an American sports columnist and analyst, specializing in basketball. In his childhood, he attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School, in Queens, NY, and graduated in 1961. Vecsey currently writes a column on the NBA for the New York Post. He was...
stormed back at Nansouty's force with the Klenau chevauxlegers. Although their onslaught threw back the leading French squadrons, the French heavy cavalry returned, joined by Hussars and Chasseurs. In the mêlee, it was difficult to distinguish French from Austrian, but eventually the French horse overwhelmed the Austrian flank and pushed them to the gates of Regensburg.
Aspern and Essling
By May 1809, the Austrians were pushed to within visual distance of Vienna, and in a critical engagement on the banks of the Danube river, the French and their allies grappled for control of the Marchfeld plain with the Austrians. The French held LobauLobau
The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...
island, a vital river crossing, and the Austrians held the heights further to the east. Between them lay several villages, two of which were central in the engagement and gave the battle its name: They lay so close to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
that the battle could be seen and heard from the city ramparts and Aspern
Aspern
Aspern is part of Donaustadt, the 22nd district of Vienna.In 1904, the formerly independent village was incorporated into Vienna as part of the 21st district, Floridsdorf. Only in 1946 did it become part of the newly created 22nd district, Donaustadt. The area is known because of the Battle of...
and Essling
Essling
Essling is part of Donaustadt, the 22nd district of Vienna.The area is known because of the Battle of Aspern-Essling, which was fought nearby on May 21 and May 22, 1809....
(also spelled in German as Eßling) are today part of the Donaustadt
Donaustadt
Donaustadt is the 22nd district of Vienna, Austria .Donaustadt is the eastern fourth of Vienna.- Geography :The Donaustadt district is in the northeast part of Vienna and is the largest of the districts in area, occupying about one-quarter of the Vienna city area, 102.24 km².It borders the...
, a district of Austrian capital. At the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Klenau commanded a free-standing force of close to 6,000, including a battalion of the 1st Jäger, three battalions of the 3rd Infantry Regiment Archduke Charles, eight squadrons each of the Stipcisc Hussars and Schwarzenburg Uhlans, and a horse artillery battery of 64 guns. Typical confusion in the Austrian command structure meant he received his orders late, and Klenau's delay in deployment meant that his men approached the French III Corps at Essling in daylight and in close order; a two-gun French battery on the plain beyond the Essling, "mowed furrows" of enfilade fire in the Austrian ranks.
Despite the withering fire, Klenau's force reached Essling's edge, where his men set up 64 artillery pieces and bombarded the French for nearly an hour. Taking the village by storm, Austrian cavalry poured into the village from the north, and the French were pushed out in a methodical advance. Klenau's batteries were able to fire on the French-held bridges south of the village, over which the French had to retreat. In bitter house-to-house fighting, the Austrians entered the village. Combat at the granary was especially brutal, as Hungarian grenadiers battled unsuccessfully to dislodge the French from their positions in the second and third floors. The battle resumed at dawn of 22 April. Masséna cleared Aspern of Austrians, but while he did so, Rosenberg's force stormed Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
' position at Essling. Lannes, reinforced by Vincent Saint-Hilaire
Louis Vincent Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire
Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond, comte de Saint-Hilaire was a French general during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.-Early career:...
's division, subsequently drove Rosenberg out of Essling. At Aspern, Masséna was driven out by Hiller and Bellegarde's counter-attacks.
Meanwhile Napoleon had launched an attack on the main army at the Austrian center. Klenau's force stood on the immediate right flank of the center, opposite the attacking force of Lannes. The French cavalry, in reserve, prepared to move at either flank, or to the center, depending on where the Austrian line broke first. The French nearly broke through at the center but, at the last minute, Charles arrived with his last reserve, leading his soldiers with a color in his hand. Lannes was checked, and the impetus of the attack died out all along the line. In the final hours of the battle, Lannes himself was cut down by a cannonball from Klenau's artillery. Aspern was lost to the French. The Danube bridges upon which the French relied had been cut again by heavy barges, which the Austrians had released on the river. When he lost his route across the river, Napoleon at once suspended the attack. For his leadership at Essling, Klenau received the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.
Both sides lost close to 28,000 men, to wounds and death. For Napoleon, whose force was smaller, the losses were more costly. For Charles, the victory, which occurred within visual range of the Vienna ramparts, won him support from the hawks, or the pro-war party, in the Hofburg
Hofburg Imperial Palace
Hofburg Palace is a palace located in Vienna, Austria, that has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria...
. The Austrian victory at Aspern-Essling proved that Napoleon could be beaten. His force had been divided (Davout's corps had never made it over the Danube), and Napoleon had under-estimated the Austrian strength of force and, more importantly, the tenacity the Austrians showed in situations like that of Essling, when Klenau marched his force across open country under enemy fire. After Aspern-Essling, Napoleon revised his opinion of the Austrian soldier.
Wagram
In the lull between the Battle of Aspern-Essling and the Battle of WagramBattle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
(5–6 July) Charles ordered the construction of a several-mile-long entrenchment, but did little else to shore up his force. Conversely, on the other side of the Danube, Napoleon brought in additional troops from Italy and Hungary. The day prior to the battle at Wagram, Klenau replaced General Johann von Hiller
Johann von Hiller
Johann Baron von Hiller, June 10, 1754 – June 5, 1819, was an Austrian general during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
, who had fallen ill, to command the 13,740 soldiers of VI Corps, and Armand von Nordmann
Armand von Nordmann
Joseph-Armand Ritter von Nordmann, born 31 August 1759 – died 6 July 1809, was a French officer in the French Royal Army. He transferred his allegiance to Habsburg Austria during the French Revolution, like other French émigrés...
replaced him as commander of the Advance Guard. Klenau's Corps stood about 8 kilometres (5 mi) ahead of the main Austrian force. The Corps, about 8,000 men, were ordered to oppose any French advance on the Marchfeld plain. By mid-afternoon, Klenau could see Napoleon's massive force advancing toward them through the cornfields. Klenau managed a spirited, and gradual withdrawal to a position behind the Austrian line at the Russbach, and above the Wagram escarpment; this exposed several of the villages on the western edge of the Marchfield Plain, including Aspern and Essling, to French capture.
On the next day of battle, Klenau was ordered to a forward position, to complete a double-envelopment of Napoleon's force, envisioned by Charles as the best means of inducing panic among the French troops. At dawn, or so, at 0400, his cannonade rained havoc on Boudet's division of Massena's IV Corps; Massena sent another division under Claude Legrand
Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand
Claude Just Alexandre Louis Legrand was a French general. He commanded French divisions at several notable battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He rose to senator on 5 April 1813, then Pair de France on 4 June 1814 and chevalier de Saint-Louis on 27 June 1814...
to support Boudet. Klenau's corps managed to retake both Essling and Aspern, without the same vigorous contest that had occurred two months earlier. Half the pincer movement was well underway, although Klenau's force could not move further ahead: The guns on the Island of Lobau prevented further advance. There was no support from Kollorat's forces on his flank, and for the closing prong of the pincer movement, Archduke John was no where in sight; he had not abandoned his baggage, and was plodding slowly, with his army, toward the battlefield, but still a good day's march away. Despite the mile-long gap in the French line, and the advance of Austrian cavalry, Klenau's men could not hold them against André Masséna
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
's prolonged mid-day assault. Charles watched from his command post at Wagram as Klenau's forces stubbornly clung to their positions, but were overwhelmed by the inexorable progress of Masséna's troops, what Klenau later called Masséna's Infernal Column. Klenau organized the rear guard for the Army's retreat into Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, and lost 15 percent of his force. General René Savary
Anne Jean Marie René Savary
Anne Jean Marie René Savary, 1st Duc de Rovigo , French general and diplomat, was born at Marcq in the Ardennes.-Biography:...
, who directed part of the French pursuit, wrote that the Klenau's soldiers had "fought in a manner calculated to instill a cautious conduct into any man disposed to deeds of rashness."
Aftermath
Treaty of Schönbrunn
The Treaty of Schönbrunn , sometimes known as the Treaty of Vienna, was signed between France and Austria at the Schönbrunn Palace of Vienna on 14 October 1809. This treaty ended the Fifth Coalition during the Napoleonic Wars...
, signed on 14 October 1809, imposed a heavy political, territorial, and economic price. France received Carinthia
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....
, Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
, and the Adriatic ports, while Galicia was given to France's ally Poland. The Salzburg
Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
area went to the French ally, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. Austria lost over three million subjects, about 20 percent of her total population, which dramatically reduced the military force that Austria could field. Francis also agreed to pay an indemnity equivalent to almost 85 million franc
Franc
The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...
s, gave recognition to Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
as the King of Spain, and affirmed Habsburg participation in Napoleon's Continental System
Continental System
The Continental System or Continental Blockade was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a large-scale embargo against British trade, which began on November 21, 1806...
. Francis reluctantly agreed to Napoleon's marriage with his daughter, Marie Louise
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Marie Louise of Austria was the second wife of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and later Duchess of Parma...
, which Napoleon assumed, incorrectly, would eliminate Austria as a future threat.
War of Liberation 1813
Napoleon engaged in his disastrous Russian campaignFrench invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
in 1812; by 1813, the military landscape was dramatically different. Prussia was the first to defect from Napoleon's cause; possibly the arrival of the remnants of the Grande Armée in Berlin convinced the Prussian leadership that it was not only safe, but expedient. The remains of Napoleon's invasion force staggered back from Russia in early 1813 in appalling condition. Of the I Corps, only 2,281 men of the original 70,000 could be mustered. The Imperial Guard strength fell from 50,000 to 1,533, and 200 of those were disabled by amputation, frostbite, or injuries. Some historians suggest that the nature of the opposition to Napoleon changed in these few months, from opposition by dynasties to opposition by whole peoples, giving the War of the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
its nationalist character.
By the end of April, French forces gained control of Leipzig. At Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1813)
In the Battle of Lützen , Napoleon I of France lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked...
, on 2 May Napoleon lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap. The Russian commander, Peter Wittgenstein
Peter Wittgenstein
Ludwig Adolph Peter, Prince Wittgenstein was a Russian Field Marshal distinguished for his services in the Napoleonic wars.-Life:...
, ignored the primary directive of the Trachenberg plan, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. After a day of heavy fighting, the combined forces retreated. A few weeks later, at the Battle of Bautzen
Battle of Bautzen
In the Battle of Bautzen a combined Russian/Prussian army was pushed back by Napoleon, but escaped destruction, some sources claim, because Michel Ney failed to block their retreat...
, 20–21 May 1813, the combined Russian and Prussian force surprised Ney's corps in a confused assault, which narrowly escaped destruction when Napoleon appeared with reinforcements. The outwitted Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
and Wittgenstein escaped because Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
failed to block the retreat. Despite his string of victories, Napoleon sought an armistice in early June, to allow a series of negotiations, to take place in Prague. The Armistice of Poischwitz, signed 4 June 1813, established a cease-fire throughout central and eastern Europe that was intended to last until mid-July; the combatants had to give six days' notice of its termination. The various interested parties—Russian, Prussian, Austrian, Saxon, Swedish, Bavarian, British and others—explored the possibilities of new alliances.
Changes in Coalition Strategy
While delegates bickered in Prague, similar to the situation in Rastatt in 1799, the diplomats negotiated throughout the war zone and in the capitals of Europe, to create a new set of alliances. The subsequent Sixth CoalitionWar of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
(Russia, Prussia, Britain, Sweden and, eventually, Austria), differed significantly from the earlier coalitions. Unlike previous coalitions in which the participants had organized their armies independently of one another, the Allies of the Sixth Coalition created multi-national armies. This theoretically accomplished two goals: Napoleon could not defeat them piecemeal, and the presence of soldiers from several states within a single armed force limited "politically motivated acts of national self-interest." Klenau, promoted to General der Kavallerie (full general) on 26 July 1813, held command of an independent corps in the Army of Bohemia. This Army of Bohemia illustrated one of the biggest differences in the Sixth Coalition's organizational schema: it included 127,435 Austrians, 78,200 Russians, and 44,907 Prussians.
The Coalition also pursued a different operational plan. The Coalition's operational strategy brought its different forces closer and closer together in concentric circles, to a single point in Saxony. Known as the Trachenberg Plan, the Sixth Coalition's operating plan established clear, concise and specific guidelines for commanders, from the Army through the basic company level: act offensively against an inferior foe; act defensively against a superior foe, underscoring to commanders at all levels the risk of underestimating the threat of Napoleon and his army. The new plan divided the Allied force into three armies: Silesia, Bohemia, and Northern Germany. The Silesian army, composed of Prussians and Russians, left 50,000 men in the Province of Silesia and moved the remaining 100,000 to join with 120,000 Austrians in Saxony. The Crown Prince of Sweden, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
Charles XIV John of Sweden
Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...
, a former Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
and a favorite of Napoleon's, established an army of observation at Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
, and another 70,000 concentrated 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Using this plan, the Coalition pushed Napoleon and his allies into an increasingly smaller circle of operation. In theory, while this concentrated Napoleon's force, it also limited his maneuvering options. Furthermore, it concentrated the Coalition forces around the French and Allied armies, ultimately at the Saxon cities of Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, and then Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
.
Battle of Dresden
Strategically, the Battle of DresdenBattle of Dresden
The Battle of Dresden was fought on 26–27 August 1813 around Dresden, Germany, resulting in a French victory under Napoleon I against forces of the Sixth Coalition of Austrians, Russians and Prussians under Field Marshal Schwartzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory was not as complete as it could...
demonstrated the problems of the Coalition's strategy. On 25 August, the three monarchs—Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, Francis II of Austria, and Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
—and their staffs assembled on a overlook of the city to discuss their strategy. The city's weak defenses were clear from this vantage point: the French and Saxon garrison of 20,000 men under Marshal Saint-Cyr
Laurent, marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, 1st Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr was a French commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who rose to Marshal of France and Marquis...
could not hope to hold a city of that size. The Tsar and General Jean Victor Moreau, formerly a General of France and by 1813 an adviser to the Coalition, wanted to attack at once; Schwarzenberg wanted to wait until additional forces arrived.
By waiting one day, the Coalition lost the advantage. As the Coalition assaulted the southern suburbs of the city, Napoleon arrived from the north and west with the Guard and Marmont's VI Corps, covering 140 kilometres (87 mi) in forced marches over three days. The leading elements of Klenau's corps were placed on the army's left flank, separated from the main body by the Weißeritz
Weißeritz
The Weißeritz is a river in Saxony. The 12 km short left tributary of the Elbe runs through Freital and Dresden. Its name is derived from west Slavic bystrica . The official name of the river used in documents and hydrographic maps is Vereinigte Weißeritz...
, flooded after almost a week of rain. Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
took advantage of this isolation and inflicted heavy losses on the Austrians. A French participant observed, separating Klenau's corps from the Austrian army, Murat "hurl[ed] himself upon it at the head of the carabineers
Carabinier
A Carabinier was originally a cavalry soldier armed with a carbine...
and cuirassier
Cuirassier
Cuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. They were the successors of the medieval armoured knights...
s. His movement was decisive; Klenau could not resist that terrible charge. Nearly all his battalions were compelled to lay down their arms, and two other divisions of infantry shared their fate." Murat captured intact a division of five infantry regiments (15,000 men) under command of Lieutenant Field Marshal Joseph, Baron von Mesko de Felsö-Kubiny
Joseph, Baron von Mesko de Felsö-Kubiny
Joseph de Mesko, Freiherr von Felsö-Kubiny was a cavalry general and field marshal in Austrian service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.- Military service :...
, plus 15 of their regimental and company colors. As the left wing disintegrated, the French swarmed over the flank; the right wing was also driven back, and the entire force had to withdraw.
After the immediate defense of Dresden, though, Napoleon's situation deteriorated. Vandamme pursued the retreating Army of Bohemia, expecting to be supported by St. Cyr and General Marmont, who were still busy in Dresden. Vandamme approached the Russian corps commanded by Ostermann-Tolstoy, but left a valley behind him unprotected as he descended out of the mountain into Bohemia. As he engaged Ostermann-Tolstoy, he saw some troops behind him, which soon attacked him; thus beset from two sides, his young troops were unable to defend themselves; at the Battle of Kulm
Battle of Kulm
The Battle of Kulm was a battle near the town Kulm and the village Přestanov in northern Bohemia. It was fought on 29–30 August 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition...
, Vandamme lost his entire artillery, and the Austrians acquired about 7,500 prisoners, including the general himself.
To the north of Dresden, as Napoleon appeared to be engaged, looking elsewhere, Blücher brought his troops south, toward the city. Realizing the danger, Napoleon directed his main army north again, to repel the Prussians; as he did so, the wiley Blücher withdrew. Other portions of the French army had comparable difficulties. Marshal Oudinot was repelled by Bernadotte at the Battle of Großbeeren, and MacDonald, near the Bober river. Furthermore, Napoleon began to suffer from illness, referred to variously as a colic or fatigue.
Battle of Leipzig
From 12 to 15 October, the days of skirmishing preliminary to the Battle of LeipzigBattle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
(16–19 October), Klenau's force took the heavily-defended village Liebertwolkwitz, but were forced out in a French counter-attack. A contemporary witness later described finding dead Austrians at the church cemetery, pinned to the walls with bayonets. Klenau's primary objective was the village of Liebertwolkwitz. He took the Kolmberg, a nearby height also known as the Schwedenschanze (Swedish fortification), a defensive remnant of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
about 4 kilometres (2 mi) east of the village, and established a battery there, but did not bring enough troops to support it. An attack by 4,000 of Jacques MacDonald's infantry secured the hill; although Klenau's cavalry managed to push the French back, they could not retake the hill. In the action, Klenau's horse was shot and killed, and he was nearly captured, but he struggled back to his line, and reorganized his men.
Eventually, Klenau's corps took the village and the Kolmberg several times, to be pushed out by the French, to counter-attack, retreat, counter-attack and retreat and this see-sawing back and forth, the attacks, counter-attacks experienced by Klenau's force, were characteristic of the battle. On the critical first day of the battle, 16 October, a French 100-gun artillery barrage forced a hole in the line between the Russian and Prussian forces on Klenau's flank. When Murat's cavalry charged the hole, Klenau's corps, plus reserve cavalry, eventually forced the cavalry back to the cover of the French artillery. Klenau's force made a short retreat, leaving a detachment at the Kolmberg. By mid-afternoon, the Allied columns had been driven to their starting positions, but had maintained their line; as one part of the line was forced back, its flanks dropped back with it, maintaining a continuous line and preventing a French flanking operation. In this first-day action, Klenau's force played a vital role in preventing MacDonald from flanking Prince Schwarzenberg's
Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg
Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg (or Charles Philip, Prince of Schwarzenberg (April 18, 1771 – October 15, 1820) was an Austrian field marshal.- Life :...
main army.
At the close of fighting on 16 October, Napoleon knew he had lost the battle. He had only one fresh corps in reserve, and the Coalition had been reinforced by 100,000 fresh troops that afternoon. Furthermore, Bavaria had joined the Coalition, increasing its strength. Despite the Coalition's blunders, and there had been several, primarily made by Schwarzenberg, the Trachenberg Plan had worked. The morale of the French army was low; the morale of the Coalition armies was high. Although the French still held Leipzig, the army was in shambles. Every house was filled with wounded, and the casualties were so great that the city authorities opened the corn storage house, which filled with 6,000 wounded. As if the storm of cannon and musketry fire were not enough, nature produced one of her own; rain pounded the region from the afternoon until the next day. Wet soldiers combed rubbish heaps for food waste and broke into the guarded bakeries to steal bread. The appearance of a bread wagon sparked a food riot. On the night of the 16th, the French controlled the Kolmberg that Klenau had fought over all day, and a Hessian soldier wrote: "it was the worst bivouac we had experienced on this campaign. The weather was wet and windy ... we had to use water from puddles in which lay the blood of men and horses ... and half the men remained under arms at all times."
The next day of battle, 17 October, remained quiet for the Army of Bohemia, lying at the southern sector. The Army had been severely damaged, and was in no condition to engage in an offensive action; Schwarzenberg ordered the army to remain in its order of battle, but he did not inform Blücher, in the north-western sector, of this decision, and Blücher, the impatient and eccentric Prussian, assaulted the villages of Gohlis and Eutritzsch, and then pushed on the outer Halle Gate of Leipzig itself in a combined Russian and Prussian cavalry attack.
Klenau and the Siege of Dresden
After the battle, the allied high command assigned Klenau to blockade the large French garrison at DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. His IV Austrian Corps of the Army of Bohemia included the division of Lt. General Alexander Ivanovich, Count Ostermann-Tolstoy
Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy
Alexander Ivanovich Count Osterman-Tolstoy was a Russian nobleman and soldier in the era of the French Revolutionary Wars...
, and the militia of Major General Alexey Nikolayevich Titov
Alexey Nikolayevich Titov
Alexey Nikolayevich Titov , was a Russian composer and violinist.Titov was born and died in St. Petersburg. Alongside his musical career, Titov was a major general in the Russian cavalry. His music, most of which is for the stage , was primarily written for local St. Petersburg theater and dance...
, a total of approximately 41,000 troops. Klenau eventually negotiated a capitulation in which the French troops would return to France with their honors, on condition that they would not fight against the Allies for six months. The supreme commander refused to ratify the capitulation. Marshal Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr surrendered to Klenau on 11 November, but Schwarzenburg refused to agree to the capitulation and the French troops marched into captivity into Austria instead. The victors took 94 French field guns and 151 Saxon fortress guns, and wrested from the French complete control over the Kingdom of Saxony.
War in France 1814–1815 and post-war career
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During the 1814 campaigns, Klenau remained with the Army of Bohemia as it approached Paris slowly, from the south-east, via the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
river valley. The armies would be as many as 32 kilometres (20 mi) apart. Their communications would be conducted through Wittgenstein's cavalry and some irregular cossacks, which was directly opposite to the Trachenberg plan. Schwarzenberg knew it was exactly what Napoleon would want them to do, but reluctantly agreed to it.
Initially, Napoleon managed to drive a wedge between Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia and Blücher's Prussian; by mid-February, he had succeeded in separating the two armies by 89 kilometres (55 mi). Blücher, who had been unpredictable since the start of the campaign, plunged through French resistance, through Belgium and into northern France. At the Battle of Brienne
Battle of Brienne
The Battle of Brienne was fought on January 29, 1814, and resulted in the victory of Emperor Napoleon I's French forces over the Russian and Prussian forces commanded by the Prussian Generalfeldmarschall Prince von Blücher....
, on 20 January 1814, Napoleon had inflicted a tactical and strategic defeat on him, stopping his headlong progress along the Marne
Marne
Marne is a department in north-eastern France named after the river Marne which flows through the department. The prefecture of Marne is Châlons-en-Champagne...
river into France. Then, in February, Napoleon succeeded in putting together four consecutive victories in six days, but this did not encourage the French population to rise up in his support. Blücher, defeated so badly at the Battle of Vauchamps
Battle of Vauchamps
The Battle of Vauchamps, the final major engagement of the Six Days Campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition, was fought on 14 February 1814...
that he suffered a nervous breakdown, handed command to August Neidhardt von Gneisenau. By this time, orders had reached the Prussians to stop their forward plunge and reunite flanks with the Army of Bohemia.
At the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
The Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube was Napoleon’s penultimate battle before his abdication and exile to Elba...
on 20 to 21 March, Napoleon attacked Schwarzenberg's force and was repulsed. He managed to extricate his army from the Austrian grasp, in a tactical victory. Klenau fought as well at the Battle of La Fère-Champenoise on 25 March 1814, south-east of Paris; he participated in a series of cavalry charges which, eventually, broke the French squares and forced the French forces under Auguste de Marmont to withdraw. Marmont later brought his force to the Austrian line and ordered it to surrender; Marmont's refusal to defend either the Emperor or his empire, his "little rebellion," signaled the end of Napoleon's hopes. Although he sought to establish a regency for his son, Tsar Alexander demanded an unconditional abdication, which occurred 6 April 1814. Afterward, Klenau commanded a corps in Italy, known as the Korps Klenau.
After the war ended in 1815, Klenau was appointed commanding general in Moravia and Silesia. He held this office until his death on 6 October 1819 at Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, in the modern-day Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
.