Siege of Zara (1813)
| Siege of Zadar/Zara (1813) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Napoleonic Wars | |||||||
 Part of Zara's (present day Zadar) fortification system |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom Austria
|
 French Empire Italy
|
||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
George Cadogan Franjo Ksaver Tomašić
|
General Claude Roize, Baron de l'Empire |
||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,900 2 frigates |
2,000 12 gunboats |
||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| low | 600 men & 238 cannons captured 12 gunboats sunk (later salvaged) |
||||||
The Siege of Zadar also known as the Blockade of Zadar (Italian: Zara) (at the time known as Siege of Zara) was a military event that took place during the Adriatic Campaign as part of the Napoleonic Wars between 22 November to 5 December 1813. An Anglo-Austrian force under overall command of George Cadogan in HMS Havannah blockaded and bombarded Zadar which was held by a French garrison and within two weeks the place surrendered.
The Treaty of Schönbrunn with the Austrian Empire in 1809 had solidified French influence in the Adriatic by formalising their control of the Illyrian Provinces on the Eastern shore. After the Battle of Vis (Ital.:Lissa) in March 1811 however, the Royal Navy had achieved dominance over the French in the Adriatic Sea. Austria declared war on France in August 1813 and working in conjunction with the Austrian armies now invading the Illyrian Provinces and Northern Italy, Rear Admiral Thomas Fremantle's ships were able to rapidly transport British and Austrian troops from one point to another, forcing the surrender of the strategic ports.
In November 1813, HMS Havannah was attached to Thomas Fremantles squadron that had successfully blockaded and besieged Trieste. She was then detached to take the port of Zadar with the assistance of Weazel. Zadar was a regular fortification with 110 pieces of brass cannon, seven mortars and eleven mounted howitzers manned by a garrison of 2,000 troops, nearly half of them Croatian commanded by an experienced French general, Baron Roize.
...
Wikipedia