Siege of Mainz (1792)
| The siege of Mainz (1792) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Coalition | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
| Baron von Franz Joseph Albini | |||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine | |||||
| Units involved | |||||
| Army of the Rhine | |||||
The siege of Mainz was a short episode at the beginning of the First Coalition, for the victorious French army of Custine who seized the town October 21, 1792, after three days of siege. The French occupied Mainz, and tried to install the Republic of Mainz there.
After the declaration of war by France against Austria (1792) and the declaration of Mainz on 21 July 1792, Custine was given command of the Army of the Rhine to replace Nicolas Luckner, and in September occupied southern Rhineland about the cities of Speyer and Worms. The regiments of the Duke of Nassau left the Fortress of Mainz on October 5.
The French Revolution of 1789 found that the Prince Archbishop of Mainz, Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, a committed opponent who welcomed with open arms all French nobles fleeing the civil unrest. This made Mainz into an epicenter of the counter-revolution in Europe.
After the declaration of war by France to the Austrian Archduke Francis II April 20, 1792, counter-revolutionaries in Mainz gathered in July promising to defeat the French revolutionaries, in case they would undermine the royal family, and their "infliction of exemplary punishment." But the failure of the escape of Louis XVI to Varenne lead to the arrest and indictment of the king of France. Thus, on Aug. 4, 1792, the Archbishop of Mainz joined the Austro-Prussian coalition.
However, not only did the attempted invasion of France by the armies of the coalition fail on September 20 at the Battle of Valmy, but the Revolutionary Army proceeded on the offensive and crossed the Rhine, with the aim to take Mainz.
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