The Battle of Wagram (July 5-6, 1809) was decisive for the outcome of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place in the Marchfeld plains, on the north bank of the Danube, the main combat zone being located around the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 km northeast of Vienna. The two days of struggle saw the French Imperial Army prevail, under the command of Napoleon I, against the Austrian Imperial Army commanded by Archduke Charles of Austria-Teschen. The battle of Wagram was the deadliest of the battles that had taken place until then, and would only be equaled or surpassed by the battles of Moskva and Leipzig. After the fight, exhausted and having suffered very heavy losses, the French forces could not pursue their enemy. Nevertheless, the situation of the Austrians, already very difficult before the fight, then becomes desperate after the defeat.
Context
After the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805, Emperor Francis II of Austria ratified the Treaty of Pressburg which concluded a costly peace with Imperial France. Indeed, Austria had to pay France a war indemnity amounting to 40 million florins, at the same time ceding 10% of its population of 24 million subjects to the French authority, which provided the Empire with 16 % of his annual income. This newly francized population came to populate the Sister Republics created by Napoleon at the end of this treaty, in Italy and in Bavaria (The Confederation of the Rhine), which act as buffer states against enemies from the east, also providing it with new areas for military recruitment. The Prussian defeat at the end of the 1806 campaign finally pushed Francis II to abandon his title of Holy Emperor, retaining only the title of Emperor of Austria. Of course, this treaty proved unpopular in Austrian decision-making circles, and a belligerent party was formed. Archduke Charles, a recognized strategist and the only Austrian general who could stand up to Napoleon, was appointed Generalissimus (supreme commander), with orders to reform the army, whose incompetence was exposed in broad daylight after the defeat of 1805. At the same time, Austria began looking for allies. After the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Russia became an ally of Napoleon. Prussia postponed negotiations, only to refuse the invitation to war. Great Britain, already at war with France, received this proposal favorably, but was unable to participate in the Austrian war effort, its military forces being mobilized in Spain. Austria had to wage this war alone, but nevertheless nurtured the hope of rallying to its cause the nascent nationalist movements in Germany and Italy. Eventually, apart from the pro-Austrian revolt of Andreas Hofer in the Bavarian Tyrol, the German peoples under French rule remained loyal to Napoleon.
Beginning of hostilities
On April 9, 1809, the Imperial armies under the command of Archduke Charles invaded Italy from the north and Bavaria, without first declaring war, a simple message from Charles ("I have ordered my forces to advance and to consider as enemies all who oppose them") reaching the French outposts. A few hours later, the Austrians attack. Despite the fact that Napoleon expected an Austrian attack, it came sooner than he predicted, and as a result was still in Paris when Charles advanced. The slowness of the attack did not prevent it from being initially successful, however, with Munich falling to the Austrians; before them stood only a divided French army. However, the arrival of Napoleon I with the Imperial Guard changed the situation. Indeed, after successful counter-attacks at Abensberg, Landshut, Eckmühl and Regensburg, he managed to drive the Austrians back to the north bank of the Danube. Napoleon continued on his way, capturing Vienna on May 12 which did not cause the Austrian capitulation. Indeed, Charles kept his main body stationed northeast of the Imperial City intact. Napoleon then decided to cross the Danube in order to meet and defeat the Austrian army. The Archduke, who had anticipated this movement, waited until part of the French army had established itself in the Mühlau salient and the villages of Aspern and Essling to flank it and then attack the French bridgehead. Napoleon tried to strengthen his position by sending reinforcements, but their delivery was made impossible by Austrian barges loaded with stones and destined to crash against the puny French bridges. There followed two days of intense fighting, where the French, outnumbered and constantly short of ammunition, had to repel the Austrians, and at the end of which Napoleon ordered a retreat on the island of Lobau. Napoleon left 7,000 dead there and one of his most able marshals, Marshal Lannes. At Lobau he exposed his men to enemy cannon, the dense packs of French troops providing prime targets for the Austrian gunners. However, Charles preferred to place an observation corps on the left bank and retreated a few kilometers back. Napoleon recognized the need for a new crossing of the Danube, and prepared for it with more meticulousness. On June 1, French engineers began the construction of a pontoon and bridges, this time much stronger than the previous ones. The bridges (three main and 8 secondary) were completed on June 21. Boats were requisitioned, loaded with guns to patrol along the Danube. Finally, Lobau became a gigantic supply base for the imperial army, harboring provisions, ammunition and troops. On July 5, 162,000 French soldiers found themselves on the left bank of the Danube. The Marchfeld Plains were then the next destination of the Imperial troops. This plain was a training ground for Austrian soldiers, and was therefore well known to the Archduke, who had deployed his troops defensively along the Wagram, the southern slope of an alluvial terrace, and behind the Russbach.
Austrian Army
During the two days of battle, Charles could rely only on the main Austrian army, the Kaiserlich-königliche Armee. The Archduke had planned for the army of Archduke John of Austria to take part in the battle, but the latter did not arrive until the end of the second day. Consequently, the Austrian forces available amount to 137,000 men and 415 artillery pieces. The Austrian army was divided into several corps.
Vanguard under the command of Lieutenant General Armand von Nordmann
I Corps:General of Cavalry Count Heinrich Johann de Bellegarde
II Corps:Lieutenant General Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
III Corps:Lieutenant General Johann Kollowrat
IV Corps:Lieutenant General Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini
VI Corps:Lieutenant General Johann von Klenau
I Reserve Corps:General of Cavalry Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein
The V Corps (9,000 men) under the command of Prince Henry XV Reuss of Plauen was left out in order to monitor the lines of communication between Bohemia and Moravia. He therefore took no part in the fight.
French Army
Unlike his Austrian counterpart, Napoleon was able to muster two secondary armies for the upcoming battle. The first, the Army of Italy, came from northern Italy to Vienna and was under the command of the Viceroy of Italy, Prince Eugene. The second was the XI Corps of the Army of Dalmatia, commanded by Major General Auguste de Marmont. However, these two armies did not arrive on the battlefield until noon on July 6, together with the Bavarian division of General Carl Philipp von Wrede of the VII Corps. Consequently, Napoleon mustered 165,000 men and 433 pieces of artillery, organized into Corps, dividing the Grand Army of Germany:
The Imperial Guard under the direct command of Napoleon;
II Corps commanded by Major General Nicolas Oudinot;
III Corps commanded by Marshal Louis- Nicolas Davout;
IV Corps commanded by Marshal of the Empire André Masséna;
VII Corps under the command of Marshal François Joseph Lefèbvre (absent) in addition to the Bavarian division of General de Wrede;
IX Corps (Franco-Saxon) of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte;
XI Corps (Army of Dalmatia) of Major General Auguste de Marmont;
The Cavalry Reserve Corps (3 divisions of heavy cavalry) of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières.
The Army of Italy, which constituted the vanguard of the Napoleonic army, was composed of two corps and a battalion of guards:
A detachment of the Royal Italian Guards regiment of General of Division Fontanelli;
V Corps of General of Division Étienne-Jacques-Joseph Macdonald;
VI Corps of General of Paul Grenier Division.
Napoleon also had massive artillery on the island of Lobau:28 18-pound cannons, 24 12-pounders, 17 heavy mortars 28 centimeters in circumference, 10 howitzers and a large number of small calibers (4 and 6 pounds).
Battlefield
The battle took place about 10 km northeast of Vienna, on the plains of Marchfeld. Located on the left bank of the Danube, the city of Pressburg, where the army of Archduke John is stationed, is located only 40 km from the battlefield. The Marchfeld plain was a vast and almost entirely flat agricultural expanse, partially covered with crops in this month of July. In 1809, there were several villages, separated by short distances, the plain was bounded to the north by a river, the Russbach, with banks covered with river vegetation. The river was a real obstacle to the cavalry, and the crossing of the artillery required the construction of bridges. To the north of the river there was a kind of escarpment at the level of the village of Deutsch-Wagram, thus giving it its name. The villages along the Russbach represent strategic defensive positions for the Austrian army, while behind the Russbach stretches the Wagram escarpment, an excellent vantage point. The battlefield will be bounded to the north by the village of Deutsch-Wagram, to the west by the village of Kagran, to the south by the villages of Aspen and Essling and to the east by the village of Glinzerdorf. /P>
Description
On July 5, Lobau was transformed into a giant warehouse, and Napoleon was ready.
Strategies
Napoleon's strategy was to create a diversion north of Lobau, at the site of the battle of Aspern-Essling, with the aim of drawing the Austrian army there. At the same time, he intended to cross the Danube to the east of this point, in order to be able to flank the Austrian army. This strategy avoided him a direct attack by crossing the Russbach, and allowed him to surround an Austrian army with no way out.
Charles knew that Napoleon was going to cross at the same place as before. But rather than defend the left bank under the fire of Lobau's French artillery, or even try to defend the plains of Marchfeld—the hilly terrain being too advantageous for Napoleon's light troops—he withdrew most of his army behind the Russbach, in the form of a V, its two extremities being at the level of the villages of Süssenbrunn in the west and Markgrafneusiedl in the east, the summit of the latter being at the level of the village of Wagram. Charles constantly oscillated between an offensive and defensive strategy, but on the eve of the battle he decided to keep this disposition in order to use one wing to surround Napoleon during his attack on the other wing. The communication being faulty, it resulted that the lieutenant-general Nordmann who commanded the vanguard on the Austrian left, kept a position which he should not occupy.
First maneuvers
Thanks to his fortified bridgehead, Napoleon brought his 165,000 men across the Danube during the night of July 4-5. His army was composed of Oudinot's IInd Corps, Davout's III Corps, Masséna's IV Corps, Beauharnais' Army of Italy, Bernadotte's IX Saxon Corps and Marmont's XI Corps. Note also the presence of the Imperial Guard, the cavalry reserve of Bessières and the Bavarian contingent of Carl von Wrede, who arrived on July 6 after 6 days of march.
At the same time, Charles did not take care to gather all his available forces. A brigade of Johann Kollowrat's Corps was set aside, Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen's V Corps was taken as a reserve and kept in the northwest, and Archduke John's forces were left at Pressburg. Finally, some additional divisions could be called in reinforcement from Galicia and Bohemia. If Charles had assembled all his forces at Wagram, he would have benefited from an additional 60,000 men. His army consisted of the vanguard of Armand von Nordmann, the I Corps of Heinrich Graf von Bellegarde, the IInd Corps of Prince Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, the III Corps of Kollowrat, the IV Corps of Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini, Johann von Klenau's VI Corps (Klenau took command of this corps replacing Johann Von Hiller at the dawn of the battle), Johann Liechtenstein's reserve of Grenadiers and cavalry. On July 5, Napoleon deployed his troops near Aspern and Essling.
First Day
Austrian artillery pounded the two villages intensely as the French army deployed. A few outposts under the command of Nordmann and Klenau were dispatched, Nordmann's troops having lost 50% of their manpower but retaining cohesion and effectiveness. By noon the whole area near Aspern and Essling was in French hands. Later in the afternoon, the French army formed a semi-circle with Masséna on the far left, Bernadotte, Eugène and Oudinot in the center, and Davout on the far right, supported by two brigades of cavalry covering his own right flank in order to face the anticipated arrival of Archduke John.
Around 6 p.m., with the aim of taking a decisive action giving him the advantage at the end of this first day but also in order to avoid the arrival of the Archduke John, Napoleon ordered an attack on the Austrian center, aiming in particular the Bellegarde and Hohenzollern Corps all along the Russbach. The attack was uncoordinated and proved to be disastrous. The Austrian forces were first driven back from Wagram, before Charles could rally his men and push back the French. The Austrian counter-attacks then made it possible to recover all the ground conceded to Napoleon during his offensive. Aderklaa's street fighting was a foretaste of the next day's battle, and was characterized by an abundance of so-called friendly fire, notably when MacDonald's Italians fired on Bernadotte's Saxon troops, their white uniforms confusing them with the Austrians.
Second day:the Austrian offensive
In his review of the tactical situation, Charles concluded that the relative smallness of the French front and the depth of its lines allowed Napoleon to strike and break his line anywhere. In order to remedy this, he ordered a simultaneous attack, both on the two French flanks and on the center. An attack on the right front constituted a feint in order to draw in the French reserves and drive them away. The real attack was in fact aimed at the left flank of the French army at Aderklaa. If his strategy succeeded, he would recreate Hannibal's feat at Cannes as the French would be surrounded, the Danube cutting off any retreat.
However, the length of the Austrian front, the incompetent General Staff and the non-arrival of Jean got the better of Charles' strategy. At 4 a.m. on the morning of July 6, the first Austrian attacks targeted the French right flank. Uncoordinated, this attack was interrupted by Davout's men. However, the III and VI Corps represented a real threat to Napoleon on his left wing.
In the center the Austrians managed to push back Bernadotte's IX Corps, abandoning Akerdlaa, which fell into Austrian hands without a shot. As they advanced through the village, the Austrians repelled the Saxons, who dispersed before Bernadotte's attempts to rally. Napoleon then encountered Bernadotte rallying his troops, and relieved him of command of the IX Corps immediately. In an effort to repel the Austrians, Napoleon mustered 112 guns of all calibers and formed a large battery in its center, which showered the Austrian columns with lead. Artillery and cavalry attacks halted the advance of Kallowrat's Corps. Klenau came into contact with a French division, but exposed himself to the guns of Jean Reynier de Lobau. Masséna's Corps, which had retreated north, then returned to Aspern-Essling under Austrian fire, and melted on Klenau's left flank as it tried to force its way into Napoleon's left rear. This move stabilized the French left flank.
Second day:French counter-offensive
Meanwhile, on the right flank, the situation began to improve, with Oudinot and Davout advancing towards the village of Markgrafsneusiedl. The area adjacent to the village was the scene of heavy fighting and Davout's Corps drove Rosenberg's troops out of the village to capture it around 3:00 p.m. Davout then attacked the left flank.
A major attack was now launched against the advancing Austrian centre, under the command of Major General MacDonald, who was attached to the Army of Italy under the command of Beauharnais. MacDonald formed a square consisting of 8,000 men (27 battalions) and launched this formation on the Austrian center. The latter responded with an intense artillery barrage and several light cavalry attacks. General Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle then came to support MacDonald with his hussars, losing his life there. After a fierce melee, the general's attack was interrupted without being able to break the Austrian center. It prevented Charles from being able to reinforce his left flank, however, and the Austrians then began to evacuate the position, retreating cleanly towards Znaim to the northwest.
Exhausted from nearly 40 hours of fighting, the French army followed rather than pursued the Austrians. MacDonald received that day, and on the battlefield, his marshal's baton.
Napoleon nevertheless won the battle. To his right, Louis-Nicolas Davout steals Hohenzellern; in the center Eugène de Beauharnais and Nicolas-Charles Oudinot advance to the south, André Masséna repels Klénau. Defeated but not routed, the Austrian army abandons the battlefield.
Consequences
Charles called his brother for help, but the latter did not reach Wagram until the morning of July 7, and therefore unable to change the course of the battle. Five days later, Napoleon defeated the Austrian vanguard at Znaim, and Charles offered an armistice, which Napoleon accepted.
MacDonald was promoted field marshal for his commanding qualities in his attack on the center. Oudinot and Marmont received their sticks at Znaim, Marmont being somewhat surprised at this honour. Quickly, the soldiers came up with a song about the promotion of these three men:France named MacDonald, the army named Oudinot, friendship named Marmont.
Colonel-Major Pierre Daumesnil (1776-1832) lost a leg at Wagram, which leg became famous in 1814. Daumesnil, promoted to the rank of general, refused that year to hand over to the Russians the Château de Vincennes, of which he was the governor since 1812, declaring:“Tell the Allies that when they give me back my leg, I will give them the keys to the place; until then, let them pass out to sea, out of the reach of the cannonballs, if they do not want to feel the effect”.
Avenue de Wagram, one of the avenues leading to the Arc de Triomphe on Place de l'Etoile in Paris, was named in 1864 in memory of this battle.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Napoleon's Chief of Staff, received the title of Prince of Wagram.
Analytics
Wagram was the first battle in which Napoleon failed to achieve a decisive victory without suffering many casualties. Indeed, the French lost nearly 34,000 men at Wagram, to which must be added the 20,000 lost at Aspern-Essling. Unlike the campaign of 1807 where the difficult and marginal victory at Eylau had been followed by overwhelming success at Friedland, the campaign of 1809 ultimately ended in a costly and unconvincing victory. This could be interpreted as the manifestation of the gradual decline in the quality of Napoleon's troops, and the improvement of those of his adversaries, who now understood their past mistakes and generally understood Napoleon's strategies. These heavy losses, which included experienced troops and about thirty generals including Lasalle and Lannes at Aspern-Essling, could not be compensated for thereafter. The dismissal of Bernadotte's command, a consequence of his failure at the battle of Wagram, had unexpected consequences:elected to everyone's surprise as heir to the throne of Sweden the following year, the former marshal would prove to be by subsequently decisive support for the Allies. According to I. Castle, the Austrian losses were 41,250 men, including 23,750 killed or wounded, 10,000 missing and 7,500 captured, while the French losses amounted to 37,500 men, including 27,500 killed or wounded and 10,000 missing or captured. Four Austrian generals were killed or mortally wounded:Armand von Nordmann, Josef Philipp Vukassovich, Peter Vecsey and Konstantin Ghilian Karl d'Aspré.
Personalities who participated in the battle
Austrian
Armand von Nordmann (en)
Heinrich Johann de Bellegarde
Frédéric François Xavier de Hohenzollern-Hechingen
Johann Kollowrat (en)
Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini (en)
Johann von Klenau
John I of Liechtenstein
Henry XV of Reuss-Plauen
English
Napoleon I
Eugène de Beauharnais
Auguste-Frédéric-Louis Viesse de Marmont
Carl Philipp von Wrede
Nicolas Oudinot
Louis Nicolas Davout
André Masséna
Jean Baptiste Bernadotte
Jean -Baptiste Bessières
Étienne Macdonald
Paul Grenier
Louis-Alexandre Berthier
General information
Date July 5 and 6, 1809
Location Wagram, a village 15 km north of Vienna, Austria
Issue
Decisive French victory
Treaty of Schönbrunn (1809)
End of the Fifth Coalition
Belligerents French Empire Empire of Austria
Commanders Napoleon I Archduke Charles
Forces present 154,000 soldiers 433 guns
158,200 soldiers 415 guns
Losses 25,000 to 37,000 dead and wounded
30,000 to 40,000 dead and wounded