Höchstädt an der Donau is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the district of Dillingen,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated near the banks of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. It consists of the following suburbs: Höchstädt an der Donau, Deisenhofen, Oberglauheim, Schwennenbach and Sonderheim. The town is the seat of the

municipal association Municipal associations (german: Verwaltungsgemeinschaften) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''stipul ...

Höchstädt an der Donau, which includes the towns

Blindheim Blindheim (), traditionally known in English as Blenheim ( ), is a village and a municipality in the Bavarian district of Dillingen in southern Germany. It is north of Augsburg, on the left bank of the Danube River. The municipality consists ...

Finningen Finningen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria in Germany. It is 7 km north of the town of Dillingen. The population is 1206 (as of 2017). The town is a member of the municipal association Höchstädt an der Donau ...

Lutzingen Lutzingen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria in Germany. The town is a member of the municipal association Höchstädt an der Donau Höchstädt an der Donau is a town in the district of Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany. It ...

and Schwenningen. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the wealthy mercantile family Höchstetter, which came from the town, was part of the mercantile patriciate of

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. In the early 18th century, the town was the site of two battles. The

First Battle of Höchstädt The First Battle of Höchstädt (the Second Battle of Höchstädt became known in English as the Battle of Blenheim) was fought on 20 September 1703, near Höchstädt in Bavaria, and resulted in a French-Bavarian victory under Marshal Villa ...

(german: Erste Schlacht von Höchstädt) on 20 September 1703 cost over 5,000 lives. A year later in 1704, the

Battle of Blenheim The Battle of Blenheim (german: Zweite Schlacht bei Höchstädt, link=no; french: Bataille de Höchstädt, link=no; nl, Slag bij Blenheim, link=no) fought on , was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied v ...

or Second Battle of Höchstädt (german: Zweite Schlacht von Höchstädt) occurred between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n forces (led by

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

and

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...

) on one side, and

n and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

troops (commanded by

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name. The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names. List of people Monarchs *Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459� ...

, and the

Comte de Tallard Camille d'Hostun de la Baume, duc de Tallard (14 February 1652 – 20 March 1728) was a French noble, diplomat and military commander, who became Marshal of France. Military career Tallard was granted a commission in the French army at the age of ...

) on the other side. The carnage of the Battle of Blenheim was so horrific (over 20,000 men died at the end of the day) that farmers are said to still dig up skulls from the fields today, as described in the poem "

After Blenheim "After Blenheim" is an anti-war poem written by English Romantic poet laureate Robert Southey in 1796. The poem is set at the site of the Battle of Blenheim (1704), with the questions of two small children about a skull one of them has found. T ...

", written by

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...

, which tells about children finding the skull of one of the ''"... many thousand men, said he, Were slain in that great victory."'' In June 1800, the armies of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

, under command of

Jean Victor Moreau Jean Victor Marie Moreau (, 14 February 1763 – 2 September 1813) was a French general who helped Napoleon Bonaparte to power, but later became a rival and was banished to the United States. Biography Rise to fame Moreau was born at Morla ...

, fought Austrian regulars and

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

contingents, under the general command of

Pál Kray Baron Paul Kray of Krajova and Topolya (german: Paul Freiherr Kray von Krajova und Topola; hu, Krajovai és Topolyai báró Kray Pál; 5 February 1735 – 19 January 1804), was a soldier, and general in Habsburg service during the Seven Y ...

. Kray had taken refuge in the fortress at

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

; Moreau diverted his army to approach Ulm from the east and, after a small group of men captured a foothold on the northern bank of the Danube, his forces were able to move against the fortress on both sides of the river. At this battle, the culmination of the Danube Campaign of 1800, Moreau forced Kray to abandon Ulm and withdraw into eastern Bavaria."Höchstädt", ''History of the Wars of the French Revolution: Including Sketches of the Civil History of Great Britain and France, from the Revolutionary Movements, 1788, to the Restoration of a General Peace, 1815,'' Kuhl, France, 1820, p. 183.

References

External links

The Renaissance castle of Höchstädt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hochstadt An Der Donau Dillingen (district) Populated places on the Danube