Battle of Mannheim (1799)

Part of War of the Second Coalition

Date	18 September 1799
Location	Mannheim, Germany
Result	Austrian victory

Belligerents

Habsburg Austria

Republican France

Commanders and leaders

Archduke Charles

Jacques Muller

Antoine Laroche

Michel Ney

Strength

18,000–22,000

5,200

Casualties and losses

1,300

3,500, 23 guns, 2 colors

The Battle of Mannheim (18 September 1799) was fought between a Habsburg Austrian army commanded by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and a Republican French army under Jacques Léonard Muller. Most of the French Army of the Rhine had retreated to the west bank of the Rhine River, leaving the division of Antoine Laroche Dubouscat to hold Mannheim on the east bank. Despite assistance by Michel Ney, Laroche's division was beaten and driven out of the city when attacked by Charles and a much superior force. The War of the Second Coalition action occurred in the city of Mannheim, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Frankfurt.

In the summer of 1799, Muller's 18,000-man army had the mission of drawing Charles' Austrian army away from Switzerland, the central and western portions of which were held by André Masséna's army. Moving south from Mannheim, the Army of the Rhine laid siege to Philippsburg. Provoked by this threat to his strategic rear, Charles and 30,000 troops moved north against Muller, who quickly withdrew. Muller erred in leaving Laroche to be mauled by Charles, but his campaign became a strategic success when Masséna severely defeated a Russian army at the Second Battle of Zurich on 25 and 26 September.

On 4 June 1799, the First Battle of Zurich was fought between André Masséna's 45,000-strong Army of the Danube and a 53,000-man Austrian army led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. Austrian casualties numbered 2,400 and eight guns while the French lost 4,400 men and 28 guns. Though the French held their ground, Masséna evacuated Zürich the next day and withdrew to a strong position overlooking the city. Altogether, Masséna commanded 76,781 troops. In Switzerland were infantry divisions under Claude Lecourbe (1st), Joseph Chabran (2nd), Jean-de-Dieu Soult (3rd), Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge (4th), Jean Victor Tharreau (5th), François Goullus (6th), Joseph Souham (7th) and Louis Marie Turreau (Valais), a cavalry division under Louis Klein and an infantry reserve under Jean Joseph Amable Humbert, plus occupation troops. The 6th and 7th Divisions were supervised by Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino while Lecourbe controlled the 1st and 2nd. Included in Masséna's command were Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand with 6,186 men and Claude-Sylvestre Colaud with 5,106 men watching the Rhine north of Strasbourg. Opposed to the French were 85,000 troops led by Charles, including a force watching the French divisions on the Rhine to the north and eight battalions under Gottfried von Strauch near the Saint Gotthard Pass in the south.

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