Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793)

1793 battle during the War of the First Coalition

Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793)

Part of French Revolutionary Wars

Wissembourg in the 17th century
| Date| 26-29 December 1793

|

Location|

Wissembourg, Bas-Rhin, France

49°02′18″N 7°56′49″E﻿ / ﻿49.0383°N 7.9469°E﻿ / 49.0383; 7.9469Coordinates: 49°02′18″N 7°56′49″E﻿ / ﻿49.0383°N 7.9469°E﻿ / 49.0383; 7.9469
Result|  Strategic French victory
Belligerents
France|  Austria
Prussia
Electorate of Bavaria
Hesse-Kassel
Commanders and leaders
Lazare Hoche
Charles Pichegru|  Dagobert Wurmser
Ernst von Rüchel
Count Minucci
Strength
35,000[1]|  38,000
Casualties and losses
Not known|  Not known, 21 guns

class=notpageimage|

Location within Europe

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Rhine campaign of 1793–94

* Mainz
* 1st Arlon
* Landau
* Pirmasens
* 1st Wissembourg
* Fort-Louis
* Biesingen
* Haguenau
* 1st Kaiserslautern
* Froeschwiller
* 2nd Wissembourg
* 2nd Arlon
* 2nd Kaiserslautern
* Trippstadt
* 3rd Kaiserslautern
* Luxembourg

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War of the First Coalition (List)

* Porrentruy
* Quiévrain
* Marquain
* Tuileries
* Verdun
* Thionville
* Valmy
* Lille
* Mainz
* Jemappes
* Sardinia
* Martinique
* Guadeloupe
* Den Helder
* Siegburg
* Altenkirchen
* Wetzlar
* Kircheib
* 1st Kehl
* Malsch
* Neresheim
* Amberg
* Newfoundland
* Würzburg
* Limburg
* 2nd Kehl
* Biberach
* Ireland
* Fishguard
* Neuwied
* Diersheim

* * *

* Flanders campaign
* Chouannerie
* Mediterranean campaign
* War in the Vendée
* War of the Pyrenees
* Italian campaigns
* East Indies Theatre
* Rhine campaign of 1793–94
* Atlantic campaign
* Rhine campaign of 1795
* Rhine campaign of 1796
* Anglo-Spanish War

The Second Battle of Wissembourg from 26 December 1793 to 29 December 1793 saw an army of the First French Republic under General Lazare Hoche fight a series of clashes against an army of Austrians, Prussians, Bavarians, and Hessians led by General Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. There were significant actions at Wœrth on 22 December and Geisberg on 26 and 27 December. In the end, the French forced their opponents to withdraw to the east bank of the Rhine River. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition phase of the French Revolutionary Wars.

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Battle
* 3 Notes
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Background[edit]

During the First Battle of Wissembourg on 13 October 1793, the Lines of Weissenburg, defended by the French Army of the Rhine, were stormed by an Austrian-Allied army under Wurmser.[2][3] A month later, Austrian engineer Franz von Lauer compelled Fort-Louis on the Rhine to surrender to the Allies.[4] The French government responded to the crisis by sending reinforcements from the Army of the Moselle.[5]

On 17 November, the 739-man French garrison of Bitche repelled a Prussian assault on the citadel. A French traitor led the picked force of 1,200 into the outer fortifications. The alert defenders spotted Oberst (Colonel) von Wartensleben's attackers and drove them out of the fort with the loss of 120 killed and 251 captured. The French lost a handful of men killed and wounded and 63 captured. The traitor was captured and shot.[6] That same day, Prussian General Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth with 13,000 troops defeated Hoche's 20,000 men at Biesingen. The French lost 760 killed and wounded, plus 42 captured. Prussian losses were only 16 killed and 92 wounded.[7]

The Battle of Kaiserslautern followed on 28 to 30 November 1793 when Hoche with 29,115 infantry, 5,046 cavalry, and 52 guns engaged Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel with 26,000 Prussians and Saxons. The Allies defeated the French with a loss of 2,400 killed and wounded, plus 700 men and two guns captured. Prussian casualties numbered 616 while the Saxons lost 190 men. Following the policy of King Frederick William II, Brunswick failed to follow up his victory with a vigorous pursuit.[8]

## Battle[edit]

The allies were in their turn dispossessed by Hoche on 26 December and forced to retreat behind the Rhine.[9][10][11]

It was a French victory and enabled French forces to secure the whole of Alsace. It also led to a definitive break between the Austrians and the Prussians, who both blamed each other for the defeat.[citation needed] The battle's name is engraved on the north pillar of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ Smith, pp 65-66
2. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Weissenburg" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 499–500.
3. ^ Adolphe Thiers, John Boyd (translated by Frederic Shoberl). The History of the French Revolution, Carey and Hart, 1844. p. 335
4. ^ Smith, p 61
5. ^ Smith, p 66
6. ^ Smith, pp 61-62
7. ^ Smith, p 62
8. ^ Smith, pp 62-63
9. ^ Friedrich Christoph Schlosser, David Davison (Translated by David Davison). History of the Eighteenth Century and of the Nineteenth Till the Overthrow of the French Empire: With Particular Reference to Mental Cultivation and Progress, Chapman and Hall, 1845. p. 540
10. ^ Lazare Hoche
11. ^ Note: Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition claims that Charles Pichegru was in command of the assaulting French forces.

## References[edit]

* Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9

## External links[edit]

* Media related to Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793) at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by
Battle of Truillas | French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns
Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793)  | Succeeded by
Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies

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1793|

* First Coalition
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* Battle of Hondschoote
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* Battle of Peyrestortes (Pyrenees)
* Siege of Toulon (18 Sep – 18 Dec 1793)
* First Battle of Wissembourg (13 Oct 1793)
* Battle of Truillas (Pyrenees)
* Second Battle of Wissembourg (26–27 Dec 1793)

1794|

* Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (24 Apr 1794)
* Second Battle of Boulou (Pyrenees) (30 Apr – 1 May 1794)
* Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794)
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1795|

* Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795)
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1796|

* Battle of Lonato (3–4 Aug 1796)
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* First Battle of Bassano (8 Sep 1796)
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* Battle of Schliengen (26 Oct 1796)
* Second Battle of Bassano (6 Nov 1796)
* Battle of Calliano (6–7 Nov 1796)
* Battle of Arcole (15–17 Nov 1796)
* Ireland expedition (Dec 1796)

1797|

* Naval Engagement off Brittany (13 Jan 1797)
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1802|

* Treaty of Amiens (25 Mar 1802)
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Military leaders

France|

| French Army|

* Eustache Charles d'Aoust
* Pierre Augereau
* Alexandre de Beauharnais
* Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
* Louis-Alexandre Berthier
* Jean-Baptiste Bessières
* Guillaume Brune
* Jean François Carteaux
* Jean-Étienne Championnet
* Chapuis de Tourville
* Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine
* Louis-Nicolas Davout
* Louis Desaix
* Jacques François Dugommier
* Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
* Charles François Dumouriez
* Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino
* Louis-Charles de Flers
* Paul Grenier
* Emmanuel de Grouchy
* Jacques Maurice Hatry
* Lazare Hoche
* Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
* François Christophe de Kellermann
* Jean-Baptiste Kléber
* Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
* Jean Lannes
* Charles Leclerc
* Claude Lecourbe
* François Joseph Lefebvre
* Étienne Macdonald
* Jean-Antoine Marbot
* Marcellin Marbot
* François Séverin Marceau
* Auguste de Marmont
* André Masséna
* Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey
* Jean Victor Marie Moreau
* Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise
* Joachim Murat
* Michel Ney
* Pierre-Jacques Osten [fr]
* Nicolas Oudinot
* Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon
* Jean-Charles Pichegru
* Józef Poniatowski
* Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
* Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer
* Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier
* Joseph Souham
* Jean-de-Dieu Soult
* Louis-Gabriel Suchet
* Belgrand de Vaubois
* Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno

|

French Navy|

* Charles-Alexandre Linois

Opposition|

|  Austria|

* József Alvinczi
* Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen
* Count of Clerfayt (Walloon)
* Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg
* Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze (Swiss)
* Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth
* Pál Kray (Hungarian)
* Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (French)
* Maximilian Baillet de Latour (Walloon)
* Karl Mack von Leiberich
* Rudolf Ritter von Otto (Saxon)
* Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
* Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich
* Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen
* Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (Hungarian)
* Karl Philipp Sebottendorf
* Dagobert von Wurmser

|

Britain|

* Sir Ralph Abercromby
* James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez
* Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
* Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

Netherlands|

* William V, Prince of Orange

Prussia|

* Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
* Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen

Russia|

* Alexander Korsakov
* Alexander Suvorov

Spain|

* Luis Firmin de Carvajal
* Antonio Ricardos

Other significant figures and factions

Patriotic Society of 1789|

* Jean Sylvain Bailly
* Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
* François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
* Isaac René Guy le Chapelier
* Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
* Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
* Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
* Nicolas de Condorcet

Feuillants
and monarchiens

* Grace Elliott
* Arnaud de La Porte
* Jean-Sifrein Maury
* François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy
* Guillaume-Mathieu Dumas
* Antoine Barnave
* Lafayette
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* Charles Malo François Lameth
* André Chénier
* Jean-François Rewbell
* Camille Jordan
* Madame de Staël
* Boissy d'Anglas
* Jean-Charles Pichegru
* Pierre Paul Royer-Collard
* Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

Girondins|

* Jacques Pierre Brissot
* Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière
* Madame Roland
* Father Henri Grégoire
* Étienne Clavière
* Marquis de Condorcet
* Charlotte Corday
* Marie Jean Hérault
* Jean Baptiste Treilhard
* Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
* Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
* Jean Debry
* Olympe de Gouges
* Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet
* Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux

The Plain|

* Abbé Sieyès
* de Cambacérès
* Charles-François Lebrun
* Pierre-Joseph Cambon
* Bertrand Barère
* Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot
* Philippe Égalité
* Louis Philippe I
* Mirabeau
* Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville
* Jean Joseph Mounier
* Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
* François de Neufchâteau

Montagnards|

* Maximilien Robespierre
* Georges Danton
* Jean-Paul Marat
* Camille Desmoulins
* Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
* Paul Barras
* Louis Philippe I
* Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau
* Jacques-Louis David
* Marquis de Sade
* Georges Couthon
* Roger Ducos
* Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois
* Jean-Henri Voulland
* Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai
* Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville
* Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas
* Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier
* Jean-Pierre-André Amar
* Prieur de la Côte-d'Or
* Prieur de la Marne
* Gilbert Romme
* Jean Bon Saint-André
* Jean-Lambert Tallien
* Pierre Louis Prieur
* Antoine Christophe Saliceti

Hébertists
and Enragés|

* Jacques Hébert
* Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
* Pierre Gaspard Chaumette
* Charles-Philippe Ronsin
* Antoine-François Momoro
* François-Nicolas Vincent
* François Chabot
* Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte
* Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel
* François Hanriot
* Jacques Roux
* Stanislas-Marie Maillard
* Charles-Philippe Ronsin
* Jean-François Varlet
* Theophile Leclerc
* Claire Lacombe
* Pauline Léon
* Gracchus Babeuf
* Sylvain Maréchal

Others|

| Figures|

* Charles X
* Louis XVI
* Louis XVII
* Louis XVIII
* Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien
* Louis Henri, Prince of Condé
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* Marie Antoinette
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* Jean Sylvain Bailly
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* Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes
* Talleyrand
* Thérésa Tallien
* Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target
* Catherine Théot
* Madame de Lamballe
* Madame du Barry
* Louis de Breteuil
* de Chateaubriand
* Jean Chouan
* Loménie de Brienne
* Charles Alexandre de Calonne
* Jacques Necker
* Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil
* List of people associated with the French Revolution

|

Factions|

* Jacobin
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* Panthéon Club
* Social Club

Influential thinkers

* Les Lumières
* Beaumarchais
* Edmund Burke
* Anacharsis Cloots
* Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
* Pierre Claude François Daunou
* Diderot
* Benjamin Franklin
* Thomas Jefferson
* Antoine Lavoisier
* Montesquieu
* Thomas Paine
* Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* Abbé Sieyès
* Voltaire
* Mary Wollstonecraft

Cultural impact

* La Marseillaise
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* Marianne
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* French Republican calendar
* Metric system
* Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
* Cult of the Supreme Being
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* Sans-culottes
* Phrygian cap
* Women in the French Revolution
* Incroyables and merveilleuses
* Symbolism in the French Revolution
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* Influence of the French Revolution

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