Austria
ALMENAR 1710
From the surrender of Lerida until 1710, there were not any more large- scale military actions on the Eastern Peninsular front, because the Bourbon army was not able to launch major campaigns against Catalonia, given its precarious situation on the other fronts that had to be defended. However, in 1710 Philip’s troops began a campaign, this time aimed at definitely…
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LEIPZIG (BATTLE OF THE NATIONS)
16–18 October 1813 Johann Peter Krafft (1780-1856)-‘victory declaration after the battle of Leipzig, 1813’-oil on canvas-1813 Berlin-Deutsches Historiches Museum. The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought between Napoleon and the three Allied armies that had been approaching the city for several days: the…
Franz Joseph’s Empire, Sisi, and Hungary I
Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph with his troops at the Battle of Solferino, 1859 On 6 October 1849, the former prime minister of Hungary, Count Louis Batthyány, was taken into the courtyard of the main gaol of Pest. An Austrian military court had condemned him to hang for treason on account…
Franz Joseph’s Empire, Sisi, and Hungary II
Kaiser Franz Josef I und Kaiserin Elisabeth In April 1859, the Austrian National Bank collapsed, refusing to honour its own currency. Franz Joseph had treated the bank as a ‘grand state treasury’, taking what he needed, and he simply did not understand what it meant when earlier that year his…
Battle for Znaim
10-11 July 1809 This battle, the last fought during the War of the Fifth Coalition, occurred as a result of the French pursuit of the defeated Austrians after the Battle of Wagram (5-6 July 1809). Marshal Auguste de Marmont began the action on the tenth and was soon in difficulty.…
The Austrian Army Takes Stock: The 1798 Adjustierungsvorschrift
For the Austrian army it was indeed a moment to reflect on what had gone wrong in Italy and which reforms of tactics were now necessary. The practices of Guibert, the callous breaking of the rules of ‘civilised’ warfare, required a response. The Archduke Charles began to apply his considerable…
Marengo: a battle won
The Battle of Marengo, by Louis-François Lejeune As the day of 14 June dawned, Melas’s troops were completing their concentration on the Scrivian plain near the village of Marengo. Melas knew his business well. He was old enough to remember the relevant lessons of the Seven Years War and under…