Siege of Valenciennes (1793)

The Grand Attack on Valenciennes by the Combined Armies under the Command of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, 25 July 1793

Date	25 May to 27 July 1793
Location	Valenciennes, France
Result	Coalition victory

Belligerents

Republican France

Great Britain

Habsburg Austria

Hanover

Commanders and leaders

Jean Becays Ferrand

Duke of York

Joseph de Ferraris

Strength

9,000

25,000

Casualties and losses

9,000

1,300

The Siege of Valenciennes took place between 13 June and 28 July 1793, during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. The French garrison under Jean Henri Becays Ferrand was blockaded by part of the army of Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, commanded by the Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Valenciennes fell on 28 July, resulting in an Allied victory.

Following the defeat of the French Republican armies at Neerwinden, the Allied army under the Prince of Coburg recovered much of the Austrian Netherlands and began besieging Condé-sur-l'Escaut, while the demoralised French army's attempts to relieve the fortress in actions at Saint-Amand and Raismes were driven back. By mid-May Coburg was reinforced to a strength approaching 90,000, which allowed the Allies to drive the French from an entrenched camp in the Battle of Famars on 23 May, and lay siege to Valenciennes.

Many of the French who had been driven from Famars took refuge in the fortified town of Valenciennes, raising its garrison considerably.

Coburg selected the recently arrived Duke of York to lead the siege operations with his own command and 14,000 Austrians, while Austrian General Joseph de Ferraris was attached to supervise the technical aspects. The British government were surprised by this, the British were inexperienced in heavy siege warfare and lacked equipment, it was even suspected the Austrians had some sinister reasons for choosing York York's Chief of Engineers Colonel James Moncrief believed that the place could be carried by an assault without the need for a long protracted investment, but Ferraris would hear none of it and insisted on a formal siege of trenches following full procedures.

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