Battle of Lechfeld (910)

The First Battle of Lechfeld
Part of the Hungarian invasions of Europe
Date 12 June, 910 Location Lechfeld plain, near Augsburg, Bavaria Result Crushing Hungarian victory
Belligerents
East Francia, Swabia	Principality of Hungary
Commanders and leaders
- Louis the Child -Count Gozbert of Alemannia (the real commander of the army) † -Managolt, count of Alemannia †	Unknown Hungarian commander
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Heavy, among them count Gozbert, and Managolt, the count of Alemannia	Light

The Battle of Lechfeld in 910, was an important victory by a Magyar army over Louis the Child's united Frankish Imperial Army. Located south of Augsburg, the Lechfeld is the flood plain that lies along the Lech River. At this time the Grand Prince of Hungary was Zolta, Zoltán of Hungary, but there is no record of him taking part in the battle.

This battle is one of the greatest examples of the success of the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors, but also is a good example how the psychological warfare can cause important defeats on the enemy.

The battle appears as the first Battle of Augsburg in Hungarian historiography.

Antapodosis, seu rerum per Europam gestarum, written by Liutprand of Cremona,Continuator Reginonis, Annales Alamannici, Necrologies of the German counts (Gozbert and Managolt), killed in this battle. The chronicle named Annalium Boiorum VII, written in the 16th century by the Bavarian humanist Johannes Aventinus is also a very important source of this battle, because it narrates in a detailed way the first battle of Augsburg, relying on old sources, which today are lost. However he makes some mistakes by putting this battle in 907, quickly after the Battle of Pressburg, its place at Ennsburg in Bavaria, and instead of Swabians, names the Bavarians as its participants.

The majority of the historians accept the date and place of the battle given by Liutprand of Cremona as 910 and Augsburg. respectively. Although Liutprand of Cremona's work Antapodosis was written in the 950s, so only a few decades after the events, the Hungarian historian Torma Béla believes that not him, but Aventinus, who wrote in the XVI. century, was right when he put the battle which he presents in detail, in 907 and at Ennsburg and not Augsburg, as Liutprand points. However, he represents a dissenting opinion, from the other historians, who believe, that the contemporary Liutprand's information is right.

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