The Battle of Frauenfeld was a military encounter during the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...

(1799-1802). It took place on 25 May 1799 between Austrian and French troops. The battle ended in the evening with the retreat of the Austrians, but on the following day the French withdrew.

Background

The

Swiss Old Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th century ...

was occupied by the French Empire in 1798 and the French-supported

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (, , ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

was established on its territory. Thus, at the beginning of the War of the Second Coalition, French troops under General

André Masséna André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli (born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817) was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.Donald D. Horward, ed., trans, annotated, The Fre ...

(1758–1817) were operating on Swiss soil. After defeats in the

Battle of Feldkirch The Battle of Feldkirch (23 March 1799) saw some French corps led by André Masséna attack a weaker Austrian force under Franz Jellacic. Defending fortified positions, the Austrians repulsed all of the French columns, though the struggle las ...

and the Battle of Stockach, the French had to pull back and abandon eastern Switzerland. Two Austrian armies under General

Friedrich von Hotze Friedrich Freiherr (Baron) von Hotze (20 April 1739 – 25 September 1799), was a Swiss-born general in the Austrian army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He campaigned in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition and in Switzer ...

(1739–1799) and

Archduke Charles Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (german: link=no, Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third s ...

(1771–1847) pursued them. They sought to unite these two armies as quickly as possible. On 22 May 1799, the

vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

of the Archduke's army reached

Frauenfeld Frauenfeld (Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Sw ...

, where they stopped in order to meet up with the vanguard of General Hotze's army, which occurred on 24 May. After the advance troops of the Austrians had already linked up, General Massena who was stationed at

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

decided to make an attempt to prevent the enemy's main forces from linking together. At this point he posted four French and two Helvetian

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s, a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

of Helvetian

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with "marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" i ...

s, five

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

s of

Hussar A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

s and eight cannons under General

Charles Nicolas Oudinot Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Count Oudinot, 1st Duke of Reggio (25 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc – 13 September 1847 in Paris), was a Marshal of the Empire. He is known to have been wounded 34 times in battle, being hit by artillery shells, sabers, ...

(1767–1847) and General (1754–1799) to meet the enemy at Frauenfeld. General

Nicolas Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in Frenc ...

(1769–1851) followed in reserve with three more French and three Helvetian battalions.

Battle

On the morning of 25 May 1799, around 5 o'clock, General Oudinot encountered the weak Austrian garrison at Frauenfeld. These troops slowly withdrew over the Thur. Around 9 o'clock however more troops from Hotze's army arrived (six battalions and six squadrons) under Franz Petrasch of Wyl, on the left flank and in the rear of the French. The French were forced to bring their main force up against this new enemy. About 22,000 Austrians were now arrayed against about 14,000 French and Swiss troops. This clash continued without a clear victor until evening. As a result, there were very heavy losses. The Adjutant General of the Helvetian troops himself, General

Johann Weber Johann Weber (19 June 1828 (or 1823) – 23 April 1878) was a Switzerland, Swiss politician and President of the Swiss Council of States (1869/1870). He was born in Seeberg. External links

* * 1828 births 1878 deaths People from Obe ...

(1752–1799) fell victim to a sharpshooter. Since the outcome of the battle was so unclear, General Petrasch decided to retreat at 7 o'clock in the evening. The Austrians lost about 2,000 men in the battle (mostly captured) and two cannons. During the battle, two further columns of Massena's army attacked the Austrian archduke's main forces near

Rorbas Rorbas is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Rorbas has an area of . Of this, 35.7% is used for agricultural purposes, 46.6% is forested and 15% is settled (buildings or roads). The rema ...

and Andelfingen in order to push them back over the Thur. After some initial success, however, the French were themselves pushed back. Despite the tactical success at Frauenfeld, Massena's position thus remained untenable and he led a withdrawal in the direction of Zurich on 26 May. Contemporaries, like

Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His mos ...

, criticised Massena for having three columns (and the reserve under Soult) operate separately from one another instead of concentrating his whole force against Hotze's army. Only in this way, they said, could he have defeated the Austrians.In this sense: Carl von Clausewitz: ''Die Feldzüge von 1796 und 1799 in Italien und in der Schweiz'', Leipzig 1999, pp. 432–435

Aftermath

Because of the failure of the French attack on the Archduke's army and the subsequent French retreat, there was no further obstacle to the union of the two Austrian armies. After further defeats, the French army scored a victory at the end of September in the

Second Battle of Zurich The Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 September 1799) was a key victory by the Republican French army in Switzerland led by André Masséna over an Austrian and Russian force commanded by Alexander Korsakov near Zürich. It broke the stal ...

. After this, the French regained the city of Frauenfeld and other territory.

Bibliography

* Carl von Clausewitz: ''Die Feldzüge von 1796 und 1799 in Italien und in der Schweiz'', Mundus-Verlag, Leipzig 1999, p. 435 * Rudolf Hanhart: ''Erzählungen aus der Schweizergeschichte nach den Chroniken'', Part 4, Basel 1838, pp. 632–636
Online-Version
* Johann Georg Heinzmann: ''Kleine Schweizer Chronik'', Part 2, Bern 1801, pp. 636–646
Online-Version
* Max Steiner: ''Das Gefecht von Frauenfeld 1799'', Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1999, {{ISBN, 978-3-7193-1170-4

References

1799 in Europe Helvetic Republic Frauenfeld