Battle of Würzburg
| The Battle of Würzburg | |||||||
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| Part of the French Revolutionary Wars | |||||||
 Marienberg fortress overlooking Würzburg |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republican France
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 Habsburg Austria
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
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Archduke Charles
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| Strength | |||||||
| 30,000 | 30,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3,000, 7 guns | 1,500 | ||||||
The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of Habsburg Austria led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and an army of the First French Republic led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. The French attacked the archduke's forces, but they were resisted until the arrival of reinforcements decided the engagement in favor of the Austrians. The French retreated west toward the Rhine River. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Würzburg is 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Frankfurt.
The summer of 1796 saw the two French armies of Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau advance into southern Germany. They were opposed by Archduke Charles, who supervised two weaker Austrian armies commanded by Wilhelm von Wartensleben and Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour. At the Battle of Amberg on 24 August, Charles managed to concentrate superior numbers against Jourdan, forcing him to withdraw. At Würzburg, Jourdan attempted a counterattack in a bid to halt his retreat. After his defeat, Charles forced Jourdan's army back to the Rhine. With his colleague in retreat, Moreau was isolated and compelled to abandon southern Germany.
The French army advanced against what they thought to be an isolated Austrian division under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Anton Sztáray. Jourdan's plan was to attack Sztáray with the divisions of Generals of Division Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte and Jean Étienne Championnet, leaving the divisions of Generals of Division Jacques Bonnaud and Paul Grenier in reserve. However, the early morning mist enabled Archduke Charles to bring up the division of Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze as a reinforcement to Sztáray, effectively undoing what Jourdan thought to be a great numerical superiority for the French.
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