Battle of Schliengen

Part of The War of the First Coalition
and the French Revolutionary Wars

The hilly terrain and deep forests complicated battle tactics.

Date	24 October 1796
Location	Schliengen, Baden (formerly Markgräflerland)
Result	Austrian victory

Belligerents

Republican France

Habsburg Austria

Commanders and leaders

Jean Moreau

Archduke Charles

Strength

32,000

24,000

Casualties and losses

1,200

800

Digby Smith. "Battle of Schliengen." Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Merchanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole, 1998, pp. 125–126.

Coordinates: 47°45′20″N 7°34′38″E / 47.75556°N 7.57722°E / 47.75556; 7.57722

At the Battle of Schliengen (24 October 1796), both the French Army of the Rhine and Moselle under the command of Jean-Victor Moreau and the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles of Austria claimed victories. The village of Schliengen lies in the present-day Kreis Lörrach close to the border of present-day Baden-Württemberg (Germany), the Haut-Rhin (France), and the Canton of Basel-Stadt (Switzerland).

During the French Revolutionary Wars, Schliengen was a strategically important location for the armies of both Republican France and Habsburg Austria. Control of the area gave either combatant access to southwestern German states and important Rhine river crossings. On 20 October Moreau retreated from Freiburg im Breisgau and established his army along a ridge of hills. The severe condition of the roads prevented Archduke Charles from flanking the French right wing. The French left wing lay too close to the Rhine to outflank, and the French center, positioned in a 7-mile (11 km) semi-circle on heights that commanded the terrain below, was unassailable. Instead, he attacked the French flanks directly, and in force, which increased casualties for both sides.

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