Battle of Emmendingen

Moreau's troops withdraw through the Val d'Enfer (Valley of Hell)

Date	19 October 1796
Location	Emmendingen (now southern Germany)
Result	Austrian victory

Belligerents

Republican France

Habsburg Austria

Commanders and leaders

Jean Moreau

Archduke Charles
Gen

Strength

32,000

28,000

Casualties and losses

2,800, 2 guns, Gen. Michel de Beaupuy †

1,000 Gen. Wilhelm von Wartensleben †

Both armies lost a general in action.

Coordinates: 48°7′17″N 7°50′57″E / 48.12139°N 7.84917°E / 48.12139; 7.84917

The Battle of Emmendingen (19 October 1796) was fought between the French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle under Jean Victor Marie Moreau and the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine commanded by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The Austrians won the battle and forced the French to withdraw to the south where the Battle of Schliengen was fought five days later. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, the first conflict of the larger French Revolutionary Wars.

Emmendingen is located on the Elz River in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Emmendingen of Germany. It is located at the Elz River, 14 km (8.7 mi) north of Freiburg im Breisgau.

At the end of the Rhine Campaign of 1795 the two sides called a truce in January 1796. This agreement lasted until 20 May 1796 when the Austrians announced that it would end on 31 May. The Coalition Army of the Lower Rhine included 90,000 troops. The 20,000-man right wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg stood on the east bank of the Rhine behind the Sieg River, observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf. The garrisons of Mainz Fortress and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress counted 10,000 more. Charles posted the remainder of the Habsburg and Coalition force on the west bank behind the Nahe.Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser led the 80,000-strong Army of the Upper Rhine. Its right wing occupied Kaiserslautern on the west bank while the left wing under Anton Sztáray, Michael von Fröhlich and Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé guarded the Rhine from Mannheim to Switzerland. The original Austrian strategy was to capture Trier and to use their position on the west bank to strike at each of the French armies in turn. However, after news arrived in Vienna of Bonaparte's successes, Wurmser was sent to Italy with 25,000 reinforcements. Reconsidering the situation, the Aulic Council gave Archduke Charles command over both Austrian armies and ordered him to hold his ground.

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