Battle of Salzbach

Death of marshal Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne

Date	July 27, 1675
Location	Sasbach (Ortenau), present-day Germany
Result	Imperial victory

Belligerents

Holy Roman Empire

France

Commanders and leaders

Raimondo Montecuccoli

Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne †

The Battle of Salzbach or Sasbach was fought July 27, 1675, between the armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire, during the Franco-Dutch War. The term "battle" is something of a misnomer because the encounter consisted primarily of an artillery duel. However, it was costly for the French: the great French marshal, the Vicomte de Turenne, was killed by a cannonball. The Imperial army was commanded by the Italian Field Marshal Raimondo Montecuccoli.

The Franco-Dutch War largely stemmed from the desires of King Louis XIV to achieve glory through military victory and to punish the Netherlands for what he perceived to be Dutch betrayal during the War of Devolution (1667-68). The Dutch had started that war as a French ally but, faced with Louis's growing territorial ambitions, had ended by allying with England and Sweden to curb French expansionism. Pressure from this new alliance forced Louis to accept a compromise end to the War of Devolution. Louis then paid off Sweden and England to abandon the alliance. In 1672, France invaded the Netherlands, but the Dutch managed to bog down the French advance. Soon other powers, including the Holy Roman Empire, joined the war against France.

In late 1674 and early 1675, Turenne's Winter Campaign showed the French marshal at his best in a struggle to expel an Imperial army, under the command of Alexander von Bournonville, from Alsace. Outnumbered, Turenne executed a daring march in the dead of winter around the enemy flank. A decisive French victory at the Battle of Turckheim on January 5, 1675, forced Bournonville's army to leave Alsace.

After Bournonville's defeat, Montecuccoli took over command of the Imperial forces in southern Germany. He hoped to make up for the recent disaster by crossing the Rhine River at Strasbourg and re-occupying Alsace. In the spring of 1675, he marched west through the Black Forest into the Rhine valley. There, he gathered in the remnants of Bournonville's army, some 8,000 men. The Imperial army now numbered 18,000 foot and 14,000 horse. On May 20, Montecuccoli established his headquarters at Willstatt. At the same time, his scouts reached Kehl, the town on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Strasbourg.

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Wikipedia