Battle of Emmendingen
- When
- 1796
- Where
- Emmendingen on the Elz River, Baden-Württemberg
- Episodes
- 1
On 19 October 1796, the French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle under Jean Victor Marie Moreau fought the Coalition Army of the Upper Rhine commanded by Archduke Charles at Emmendingen on the Elz River in Baden-Württemberg. Rugged terrain and bad weather shaped the engagement, which occurred during the War of the First Coalition.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. The action took place during the War of the First Coalition, the first phase of the French Revolutionary Wars, in which France faced most neighboring European states plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. The French Rhine Campaign of 1795 had proved especially disastrous, and a truce called in January 1796 ended that campaign; the Austrians announced on 20 May 1796 that the agreement would end on 31 May.
Terrain and Conditions. The rugged terrain at Emmendingen complicated the fighting, allowing the Habsburg force to snipe at French troops and to block any passage toward Kehl. Rainy and cold weather hampered both sides, turning streams and rivulets into rushing torrents and making roadways slippery.
Location. Emmendingen lies on the Elz River in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 9 miles (14 km) north of Freiburg im Breisgau. The supplied passages do not state the battle's outcome or report the death of commanding generals, so the legacy row's claim that generals on both sides were killed cannot be confirmed here.
People involved
- Jean Victor Marie Moreau · Commander of the French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle
- Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen · Commander of the First Coalition Army of the Upper Rhine
Sources
- Battle of Emmendingen Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-19
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.