The Battle of Siegburg was the first engagement of the French offensive across the

River Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sourc ...

- that offensive was to become the main campaign of 1796 during the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...

. On 30 May 1796 ''général de division''

Jean-Baptiste Kléber Jean-Baptiste Kléber () (9 March 1753 – 14 June 1800) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he entered Habsburg service seven years later. However, his plebeian ances ...

crossed the river at

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

with the two divisions commanded by ''général de division''

Lefebvre Lefebvre () is a common northern French surname. Other variations include Lefèbvre, Lefèvre, Lefeuvre (western France) and Lefébure (northern France and Normandy). In the Occitan and Arpitan extension area, the variation is Fabre, Favre, Faure ...

and ''général de division'' Colaud. He then moved on

Siegburg Siegburg (i.e. ''fort on the Sieg river''; Ripuarian: ''Sieburch'') is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the banks of the rivers Sieg and Agger, 10 kilometres from the former seat of ...

, where he won the battle on 1 June, thus enabling general

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Count Jourdan (29 April 1762 – 23 November 1833), was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon I in ...

to bring the bulk of his force across the Rhine at

Neuwied Neuwied () is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. Th ...

History

Accounts of the battle

Habsburg

French

Forces

Results

Bibliography

* Erzherzog Carl von Österreich: ''Grundsätze der Strategie 2.'' Anton Strauss, Wien 1814 (eingeschränkte Vorschau in der Google-Buchsuche). * Jean Baptiste Jourdan übersetzt von Johann Bachoven von Echt
''Denkwürdigkeiten der Geschichte des Feldzugs von 1796.''
Koblenz 1823 * Leopold Bleibtreu: ''Kriegsbegebenheiten bei Neuwied 1792 bis 1797.'' Carl Georgi, Bonn 1834, urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:1-73887. * Peter Heinz Krause: ''Belagert, erobert, geplündert. Siegburger Kriegszeiten von 1583 bis 1714. Ein militärhistorischer Überblick'' (''= Historische Studien.'' Band 1). Verlag Franz Schmitt, Siegburg 1998, , S. 63–64. * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Schlacht von Altenkirchen 1796 in ihrem historischen Kontext'', in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreises Altenkirchen 55 (2012), S. 183–194.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegburg, Battle of

Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Battles in North Rhine-Westphalia