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85-596: He began his career fighting the revolutionary armies of France. Early in the wars of the First Coalition , he saw victory at Neerwinden in 1793, before being defeated at Wattignies in 1793 and Fleurus in 1794. In 1796, as chief of all Austrian forces on the Rhine , Charles defeated Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at Amberg , Würzburg and Limburg , and then won victories at Wetzlar , Emmendingen and Schliengen that forced Jean Victor Marie Moreau to withdraw across

170-638: A cloth merchant in Lyon and disciplinarian employer. Working as an apprentice clerk at the clothing shop, Jourdan endured for about a year in Lyon before enlisting in the Royal army in 1778, joining the regiment of Auxerrois stationed in the Île de Ré , which was destined for service in the American War of Independence . Jourdan spent the rest of the year with the regiment in Île de Ré before it departed for

255-716: A French defeat, which never occurred. Relations between the French revolutionaries and neighbouring monarchies had deteriorated following the Declaration of Pillnitz in August 1791 . Eight months later, following a vote of the revolutionary-led Legislative Assembly , France declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792 ; Prussia , having allied with Austria in February, declared war on France in June 1792. In July 1792, an army under

340-545: A few exceptions. Arthur Wellesley named Charles as the greatest general of his time. Charles was arguably the best commander ever produced by the House of Habsburg , and undoubtedly the most able Habsburg general of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era . Archduke Charles is credited with handing Napoleon his first major defeat. He has been described as the best general Republican France ever fought, with

425-670: A few years, Jourdan was put under the care of an uncle, the Abbé Laurent Jourdan, a parish priest who ran a boarding school in Beaurecueil , in Provence . His father died when he was nine years old, at around 1771, leaving Jourdan as an impoverished orphan. After finishing his basic education at the school in Beaurecueil, at fifteen years old Jourdan was sent to the care of another uncle, Jean-François Jourdan,

510-454: A military writer, his position in the evolution of the art of war is very important, and his doctrines had naturally the greatest weight. Nevertheless, they cannot but be considered antiquated even in 1806. Caution and the importance of strategic points are the chief features of his system. The rigidity of his geographical strategy may be gathered from the prescription that "this principle is never to be departed from." Again and again he repeated

595-719: A prominent opponent of the royalist reactionaries and supported the Revolution of 1830 . After this event, he held the portfolio of foreign affairs for a few days and then became governor of the Hôtel des Invalides , a post he held until his death. Jourdan died in Paris on 23 November 1833 and was buried in Les Invalides. While in exile on Saint Helena , Napoleon admitted, I certainly used that man very ill ... I have learned with pleasure that since my fall he invariably acted in

680-471: A quickly assembled group of around 500 British reservists , militia and sailors under the command of John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor . After brief clashes with the local civilian population and Lord Cawdor's forces on 23 February, Tate was forced into an unconditional surrender by 24 February. This would be the only battle fought on British soil during the Revolutionary Wars. Austria signed

765-744: A separate peace accord with France (Second Treaty of Basel) and the French Directory annexed more of the Holy Roman Empire . North of the Alps , Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen defeated the invading armies during the Rhine campaign, but Napoleon Bonaparte succeeded against Sardinia and Austria in northern Italy (1796–1797) near the Po Valley , culminating in the Peace of Leoben and

850-750: A staff, whose chief was responsible for directing operations and executing the overall headquarters plan. War of the First Coalition French victory; Treaty of The Hague , Treaty of Paris , Peaces of Basel , Treaty of Tolentino , Treaty of Campo Formio First Coalition: [REDACTED] Dutch Republic (until 1795) [REDACTED] French Royalists [REDACTED]   Great Britain [REDACTED]   Holy Roman Empire (until 1797) [REDACTED] Kingdom of France (until 1792) [REDACTED] French Republic (from 1792) French satellites : French naval allies : [REDACTED] 1794: The War of

935-454: A strategic point, which was preferred to the defeat of the separated Prussian armies, and in the strange plans produced in Vienna for the campaign of 1859, and in the almost unintelligible Battle of Montebello in the same year. The theory and the practice of Archduke Charles form one of the most curious contrasts in military history. In the one he is unreal, in the other he displayed, along with

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1020-769: Is best remembered in the Revolution for leading the French to a decisive victory over the First Coalition at the Battle of Fleurus , during the Flanders campaign . Under the Empire he was rewarded by Napoleon with the title of Marshal and continued to hold military assignments, but suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Vitoria , which resulted in the Empire's permanent loss of Spain . In 1815 he became reconciled with

1105-663: The chasseurs of the National Guard in 1790, and when the National Assembly asked for volunteers, Jourdan was elected commander of the 9th battalion of volunteers from Haute-Vienne . He led his troops in the French victory at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792 and in the defeat at the Battle of Neerwinden on 18 March 1793. Jourdan's leadership skills were noticed and led to his promotion to Brigade general on 27 May 1793 and to general of division two months later. On 8 September, he led his division at

1190-672: The Austrian Netherlands and the Rhine , and Great Britain supporting revolts in provincial France and laying siege to Toulon in October 1793 . France suffered reverses ( Battle of Neerwinden , 18 March 1793) and internal strife ( War in the Vendée ) and responded with draconian measures. The Committee of Public Safety was formed (6 April 1793 ) and the levée en masse drafted all potential soldiers aged 18 to 25 (August 1793). The new French armies counterattacked, repelled

1275-505: The Battle of Hondschoote , in which he was wounded in the chest. On 22 September, he was named to lead the Army of the North . Three of his predecessors, Nicolas Luckner , Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine , and Jean Nicolas Houchard were under arrest and later executed by guillotine . Jourdan's first assignment was to relieve General Jacques Ferrand's 20,000-man garrison of Maubeuge which

1360-519: The Battle of Salamanca in July 1812, Joseph and Jourdan were forced to abandon Madrid and retreat to Valencia . Joining with Soult's army, which evacuated Andalusia , the French were able to recapture Madrid during the Siege of Burgos and push Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army back to Portugal. The following year, Wellington advanced again with a large, well-organized army. Repeatedly outmaneuvering

1445-629: The Bourbon Restoration , and later supported the July Revolution and served in his last years as governor of the Hôtel des Invalides . Jourdan was born in Limoges , in the province of Limousin , on 29 April 1762. He was the only surviving child of Roch Jourdan, a surgeon originally from Meyrargues , and Jeanne Foreau-Franciquet. His mother died at childbirth when he was two years old, and after being raised by his father for

1530-766: The Duke of Brunswick and composed mostly of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France. The capture of Verdun (2 September 1792) triggered the September massacres in Paris. France counterattacked with the victory at Valmy (20 September) and two days later the Legislative Assembly proclaimed the French Republic. Subsequently, these powers made several invasions of France by land and sea, in association with Prussia and Austria attacking from

1615-516: The Hundred Days and was appointed commander of Besançon . Jourdan submitted to the Bourbons again after the final French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo . Afterwards he refused to be a member of the court which sentenced Marshal Michel Ney to death. He was made a count ( comte de l’Empire ) in 1804, a Peer of France in 1819, and governor of Grenoble in 1816. In politics, Jourdan was

1700-463: The Peace of Basel , which recognized France's occupation of the left bank of the Rhine . The new French-dominated Dutch government bought peace by surrendering Dutch territory to the south of that river. A treaty of peace between France and Spain followed in July. The grand duke of Tuscany had been admitted to terms in February. The coalition thus fell into ruin and France proper would be free from invasion for many years. Britain attempted to reinforce

1785-459: The Rhine . The invasion commenced in July 1792. The Duke then issued a declaration on 25 July 1792, which had been written by the brothers of Louis XVI, that declared his [Brunswick's] intent to restore the King of France to his full powers, and to treat any person or town who opposed him as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law. This motivated the revolutionary army and government to oppose

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1870-473: The Sambre River . Casualties numbered 3,000 for each army. Undeterred, Jourdan immediately marched on Namur to the east-northeast of Charleroi. Instead of attacking Namur, he suddenly swung west and appeared to the north of Charleroi. After a brief siege, the 3,000-man Austrian garrison of Charleroi surrendered on 25 June. Military strategist B. H. Liddell Hart cited Jourdan's maneuver as an example of

1955-577: The Siege of Mantua . Bonaparte defeated successive Austrian armies sent against him under Johann Peter Beaulieu , Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser and József Alvinczi while continuing the siege. The rebellion in the Vendée was also crushed in 1796 by Louis Lazare Hoche . Hoche's subsequent attempt to land a large invasion force in Munster to aid the United Irishmen was unsuccessful. On 2 February Napoleon finally captured Mantua , with

2040-636: The Treaty of Campo Formio in October, ceding Belgium to France and recognizing French control of the Rhineland and much of Italy. The ancient Republic of Venice was partitioned between Austria and France. This ended the War of the First Coalition, although Great Britain and France remained at war. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Count Jourdan ( French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ batist ʒuʁdɑ̃] ; 29 April 1762 – 23 November 1833),

2125-653: The West Indies . A British fleet occupied Martinique , St. Lucia , and Guadeloupe , although a French fleet arrived later in the year and recovered the latter by ousting the invaders. After seizing the Low Countries in a surprise winter attack, France established the Batavian Republic as a puppet state . Even before the close of 1794 Prussia retired from any active part in the war, and on 5 April 1795 King Frederick William II concluded with France

2210-476: The indirect approach , even though it was probably inadvertent on the French general's part. Too late to save Charlerloi, Coburg's 46,000-strong army attacked Jourdan's 75,000 French on 26 June. The Battle of Fleurus proved to be a strategic French victory when Coburg called off his attacks and retreated. During the battle, the Allied attacks pushed back both French flanks, but Jourdan stubbornly fought it out and

2295-463: The invasion of Tobago in 1781. During his duty in the West Indies, Jourdan fell ill with what was officially diagnosed as hernia , though it was likely an intestinal disease, and bouts of illness troubled him for the rest of his military career. Due to this period of poor health he missed most of the campaigns of 1782, only returning to the army at the end of the year. In June 1784, Jourdan

2380-574: The Archduke Charles, already a field marshal , as Commander in Chief of the Austrian army and Head of the Council of War . Supported by the prestige of being the only general who had proved capable of defeating the French, he promptly initiated a far-reaching scheme of reform, which replaced the obsolete methods of the 18th century. The chief characteristics of the new order were the adoption of

2465-736: The Austrians suffered twin defeats at the battles of Wattignies and Wissembourg . British land forces were defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September. 1794 brought increased success to the revolutionary armies. A major victory against combined coalition forces at the Battle of Fleurus gained all of the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhineland for France. Although the British navy maintained its supremacy at sea, it

2550-707: The Austrians surrendering 18,000 men. Archduke Charles of Austria was unable to stop Napoleon from invading the Tyrol, and the Austrian government sued for peace in April. At the same time, there was a new French invasion of Germany under Moreau and Hoche. On 22 February, a French invasion force consisting of 1,400 troops from the La Legion Noire (The Black Legion) under the command of Irish American Colonel William Tate landed near Fishguard in Wales . They were met by

2635-520: The Austrians under Archduke Charles being driven back by Moreau and Jourdan almost to the Austrian frontier. But Charles, slipping away from Moreau, threw his whole weight on Jourdan, who was defeated at the Battle of Amberg in August. Jourdan failed to salvage the situation at the Battle of Würzburg and was forced over the Rhine after the Battle of Limburg , which cost the life of General François Séverin Marceau . Moreau had to fall back in turn, and

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2720-491: 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 constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that succeeded it. They were only loosely allied and fought without much apparent coordination or agreement; each power had its eye on a different part of France it wanted to appropriate after

2805-525: The French Army, and throughout the Peninsular War , the other marshals, who depended directly upon Napoleon, paid little heed either to Joseph or to Jourdan. Jourdan was blamed for the defeat at the Battle of Talavera in 1809 and replaced by Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult . He was reinstated as Joseph's chief of staff in September 1811 but given few troops. After the disastrous French defeat at

2890-492: The French Queen Marie Antoinette , had initially looked on the Revolution calmly. He became increasingly concerned as the Revolution grew more radical, although he still hoped to avoid war. On 27 August 1791, Leopold and King Frederick William II of Prussia , in consultation with émigré French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz , which declared the concern of the monarchs of Europe for

2975-516: The French capturing, then losing Mannheim . In the Rhine campaign of 1796 , Jourdan's Army of Sambre-et-Meuse formed the left wing of the advance into Bavaria . The whole of the French forces were ordered to advance on Vienna , Jourdan on the extreme left, General Jean Victor Marie Moreau in the centre by the Danube valley, and Napoleon on the right in Italy. The campaign began brilliantly, with

3060-595: The French had been successful on several other fronts, occupying the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice until the Massif de l'Authion, while General Custine invaded Germany, capturing Speyer , Worms and Mainz along the Rhine, and reaching as far as Frankfurt . Dumouriez went on the offensive in the Austrian Netherlands once again, winning a great victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November 1792, and occupying

3145-560: The French, the Anglo-Allied army forced Joseph and Jourdan to fight at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813, during which his marshal's baton was captured by the British. After the French decisive defeat, which resulted in the permanent loss of Spain, Jourdan held no important commands up to the fall of the French Empire. He adhered to the first Bourbon Restoration , in 1814, but joined Napoleon on his return to power during

3230-771: The Napoleonic Wars. As a military strategist, Charles was able to successfully execute complex and risky manoeuvres of troops. However, his contemporary Carl von Clausewitz criticised his rigidity and adherence to "geographic" strategy. Many Austrians nevertheless remember Charles as a hero of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Charles was born in Florence , Tuscany . His father, then Grand Duke of Tuscany, generously permitted Charles's childless aunt Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria and her husband Albert of Saxe-Teschen to adopt and raise

3315-554: The Prussian invaders by any means necessary, and led almost immediately to the overthrow of the King by a crowd which stormed the Tuileries Palace . Brunswick's army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, crossed into French territory on 19 August and easily took the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun . But at the Battle of Valmy on 20 September 1792 they came to a stalemate against Dumouriez and Kellermann in which

3400-465: The Rhine, and in the following year, he was entrusted with chief control of all the Austrian forces on that river. His conduct of the operations against Jourdan and Moreau in 1796 marked him out at once as one of the greatest generals in Europe. At first, falling back carefully and avoiding a decision, he finally marched away, leaving a mere screen in front of Moreau. Falling upon Jourdan, he beat him in

3485-513: The Rhine. He also defeated opponents at Zürich , Ostrach , Stockach , and Mannheim in 1799. He reformed Austria's armies to adopt the nation-at-arms principle. In 1809, he entered the War of the Fifth Coalition and inflicted Napoleon's first major setback at Aspern-Essling , before suffering a defeat at the bloody Battle of Wagram . After Wagram, Charles saw no more significant action in

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3570-593: The Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797). The First Coalition collapsed, leaving only Britain in the field fighting against France. As early as 1791, other monarchies in Europe were watching the developments in France with alarm, and considered intervening, either in support of Louis XVI or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II , brother of

3655-400: The advice that nothing should be hazarded unless one's army is completely secure, a rule which he himself neglected with such brilliant results in 1796. Strategic points, he says, not the defeat of the enemy's army, decide the fate of one's own country, and must constantly remain the general's main concern, a maxim which was never more remarkably disproved than in the war of 1809. The editor of

3740-411: The archduke's work is able to make but a feeble defense against Clausewitz 's reproach that Charles attached more value to ground than to the annihilation of the foe. In his tactical writings the same spirit is conspicuous. His reserve in battle is designed to "cover a retreat." The baneful influence of these antiquated principles was clearly shown in the maintenance of Königgrätz-Josefstadt in 1866 as

3825-410: The battles of Amberg (August), Würzburg and Limburg (September), and drove him over the Rhine with great loss. He then turned upon Moreau's army, which he defeated and forced out of Germany after the battles of Wetzlar , Emmendingen and Schliengen . In 1797 he was sent to arrest the victorious march of General Bonaparte in Italy, and he conducted the retreat of the over-matched Austrians with

3910-410: The best manner. He has thus afforded an example of that praiseworthy elevation of mind which distinguishes men one from another. Jourdan is a true patriot; and that is the answer to many things that have been said of him. Jourdan wrote Opérations de l'armée du Danube ("Operations of the Army of the Danube", 1799), Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire sur la campagne de 1796 ("Memoirs to serve history of

3995-444: The boy in Vienna. Charles spent his youth in Tuscany , at Vienna and in the Austrian Netherlands, where he began his career of military service in the wars of the French Revolution . He commanded a brigade at the Battle of Jemappes (1792), and in the campaign of 1793 distinguished himself at the Action of Aldenhoven and the Battle of Neerwinden . In this year he became Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands , an office he lost with

4080-444: The edge of Tyrol by September. However Jourdan was defeated by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and both armies were forced to retreat back across the Rhine. Napoleon, on the other hand, was successful in a daring invasion of Italy. In the Montenotte Campaign , he separated the armies of Sardinia and Austria , defeating each one in turn, and then forced a peace on Sardinia . Following this, his army captured Milan and started

4165-435: The entire country by the beginning of winter. On 21 January the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a trial. This united all European governments, including Spain , Naples & Sicily , and the Netherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793 and soon afterwards against Spain. In the course of the year 1793 the Holy Roman Empire ( on 23 March ),

4250-434: The exception of Alexander Suvorov . According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , his campaign of 1796 is considered almost faultless. That he sustained defeat in 1809 was due in part to the great numerical superiority of the French and their allies, and in part to the condition of his newly reorganized troops. His six weeks' inaction after the victory of Aspern is, however, open to unfavorable criticism. As

4335-474: The failure of the siege of Mainz by Jourdan . The French prepared a great advance on three fronts, with Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau on the Rhine and the newly promoted Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. The three armies were to link up in Tyrol and march on Vienna . In the Rhine campaign of 1796 , Jourdan and Moreau crossed the Rhine river and advanced into Germany. Jourdan advanced as far as Amberg in late August while Moreau reached Bavaria and

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4420-491: The first day's attack was a failure because of Carnot's interference, while the second day's success resulted from Jourdan using his own tactical judgment. In any case, only Carnot's account reached Paris. On 10 January 1794, after refusing to carry out an impossible order, Jourdan was brought before the Committee of Public Safety. Carnot presented Jourdan's arrest warrant, which was signed by Maximilien de Robespierre , Bertrand Barère , and Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois . Jourdan

4505-403: The first sign of battle, deserting en masse , in one case murdering General Théobald Dillon . The French soldiers were insulted, hissed, even assaulted. The situation of the "Flanders Campaign" was alarming. While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, an allied army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on

4590-415: The greatest skill, a vivid activity which made him for long the most formidable opponent of Napoleon. He was the 831st Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria . When Karl Mack von Leiberich became chief of staff of the army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in the Netherlands, he issued the Instruktionspunkte fur die gesamte Herren Generals , the last of 19 points setting out

4675-425: The highest skill. In the campaign of 1799 he once more opposed Jourdan , whom he defeated in the battles of Ostrach and Stockach , following up his success by invading Switzerland and defeating Masséna in the First Battle of Zurich , after which he re-entered Germany and drove the French once more over the Rhine after winning at Mannheim in 1799. Ill-health, however, forced him to retire to Bohemia , but he

4760-402: The highly professional French artillery distinguished itself. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it bought time for the revolutionaries and gave a great boost to French morale. Furthermore, the Prussians, facing a campaign longer and more costly than predicted, decided against the cost and risk of continued fighting and determined to retreat from France to preserve their army. Meanwhile,

4845-400: The invaders, and advanced beyond France. The French established the Batavian Republic as a sister republic (May 1795) and gained Prussian recognition of French control of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the first Peace of Basel . With the Treaty of Campo Formio , Austria ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France and Northern Italy was turned into several French sister republics. Spain made

4930-425: The kings of Portugal and Naples, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed. France introduced a new levy of hundreds of thousands of men, beginning a French policy of using levée en masse (mass conscription) to deploy more of its manpower than the other states could, and remaining on the offensive so that these mass armies could commandeer war material from

5015-424: The monarchical powers of Europe, disputes continued over the status of Imperial estates in Alsace , and the French authorities became concerned about the agitation of émigré nobles abroad, especially in the Austrian Netherlands and in the minor states of Germany. In the end, France declared war on Austria first, with the Assembly voting for war on 20 April 1792, after the presentation of a long list of grievances by

5100-417: The nation in arms principle and the adoption of French war organization and tactics. The army reforms were not yet completed by the war of 1809, in which Charles acted as commander in chief, yet even so it proved a far more formidable opponent than the old and was only defeated after a desperate struggle involving Austrian victories and large loss of life on both sides. Its initial successes were neutralised by

5185-544: The new régime , and accepted from Napoleon fresh military and civil employment. In 1800, Jourdan became inspector-general of cavalry and infantry and representative of French interests in the Cisalpine Republic . In 1804, Napoleon appointed Jourdan as a Marshal of the Empire. He remained in the newly created Kingdom of Italy until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte , whom his brother made King of Naples that year, selected Jourdan as his military adviser. He followed Joseph into Spain in 1808; but Joseph's throne had to be maintained by

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5270-417: The newly appointed foreign minister Charles François Dumouriez , who sought a war which might restore some popularity and authority to the King. Dumouriez prepared an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion. Its soldiers fled at

5355-418: The occupation of the Low Countries by the French revolutionaries in 1794. The year he became Governor he also received the army rank of lieutenant field marshal . Shortly thereafter another promotion saw him made Feldzeugmeister (equivalent of Lieutenant General). In the remainder of the war in the Low Countries he held high commands, and was present at the Battle of Fleurus (1794) . In 1795 he served on

5440-409: The operations of the year in Germany were a failure. The chief cause of defeat was the plan of campaign imposed upon the generals by their government. Jourdan was nevertheless made the scapegoat and was not employed for two years. In those years he became prominent as a politician and above all as the framer of the famous conscription law of 1798, which came to be known as the Jourdan law . When war

5525-409: The position of a modern Chief of Staff: "The Chief of Staff stands at the side of the Commander-in-Chief and is completely at his disposal. His sphere of work connects him with no specific unit". "The Commander-in-Chief decides what should happen and how; his chief assistant works out these decisions, so that each subordinate understands his allotted task". With the creation of the Korps in 1809, each had

5610-514: The ranks of the allies during the War of the Sixth Coalition , Charles was not given a command and the post of commander-in-chief of the allied Army of Bohemia went to the Prince of Schwarzenberg . Charles spent the rest of his life in retirement, except for a short time in 1815 when he was military governor of the Fortress Mainz . In 1822 he succeeded to the duchy of Saxe-Teschen. On 15 September/17 September 1815 in Weilburg , Charles married Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg (1797–1829). She

5695-414: The rebels in the Vendée by landing French Royalist troops at Quiberon , but failed, and attempts to overthrow the government in Paris by force were foiled by the military garrison led by Napoleon Bonaparte , leading to the establishment of the Directory . On the Rhine frontier, General Pichegru , negotiating with the exiled Royalists , betrayed his army and forced the evacuation of Mannheim and

5780-540: The reverses of Abensberg , Landshut and Eckmühl but, after the evacuation of Vienna, the archduke won a strong victory at the Battle of Aspern-Essling but soon afterwards lost at the Battle of Wagram after heavy casualties on both sides. At the end of the campaign the archduke gave up all his military offices. In 1808, when Napoleon had crowned his brother Joseph king of Spain, Archduke Charles had said to his brother, Emperor Francis II, "Now we know what Napoleon wants – he wants everything". When Austria joined

5865-410: The roles of staff officers, dealing with offensive and defensive operations, while helping the Commander-in-chief. In 1796, Archduke Charles augmented these with his own Observationspunkte , writing of the Chief of Staff: "he is duty bound to consider all possibilities related to operations and not view himself as merely carrying out those instructions". On 20 March 1801, Feldmarschalleutnant Duka became

5950-460: The short and disastrous war of 1805 Archduke Charles commanded what was intended to be the main army in Italy, but events made Germany the decisive theatre of operations; Austria sustained defeat on the Danube , and the archduke was defeated by Massena in the Battle of Caldiero . With the conclusion of peace he began his active work of army reorganisation, which was first tested on the field in 1809. In 1806 Francis II (now Francis I of Austria) named

6035-433: The situation seemed to demand it, although his education certainly prejudiced him in favor of the defensive at all costs. He was at the same time capable of forming and executing the most daring offensive strategy, and his tactical skill in the handling of troops, whether in wide turning movements, as at Würzburg and Zürich, or in masses, as at Aspern and Wagram, was certainly equal to that of most leaders of his time, with only

6120-605: The territory of their enemies. The Girondin faction of the French government sent Citizen Genet to the United States to encourage them to enter the war on France's side. The newly formed nation refused, and the Washington administration 's 1793 Proclamation of Neutrality threatened legal action against any citizen providing assistance to any side in the conflict. After a victory in the Battle of Neerwinden in March,

6205-621: The war in America. He first saw action at the capture of Granada in mid-1779. A few months later the Auxerrois regiment was put under the command of the Comte d'Estaing , and in this assignment Jourdan soon participated in the ill-fated assault at the Siege of Savannah , in October 1779. Through the next years he served in the West Indies . He took part in the successful defense of the recently captured island of Saint Vincent , in 1780, and in

6290-569: The well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as a way of taking action that would enable him to avoid actually doing anything about France, at least for the moment, Paris saw the Declaration as a serious threat and the revolutionary leaders denounced it. In addition to the ideological differences between France and

6375-704: The world's first peacetime Generalquartiermeister at the head of the staff and the wartime role of the Chief of Staff was now focused on planning and operations to assist the Commander. Archduke Charles produced a new Dienstvorschrift on 1 September 1805, which divided the staff into three: 1) Political Correspondence; 2) the Operations Directorate, dealing with planning and intelligence; 3) the Service Directorate, dealing with administration, supply and military justice. The Archduke set out

6460-775: 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 1804. He was also a Jacobin politician during the Directory phase of the French Revolution , serving as member of the Council of Five Hundred between 1797 and 1799. One of the most successful commanders of the French Revolutionary Army , Jourdan

6545-629: Was a daughter of Frederick William of Nassau-Weilburg (1768–1816) and his wife Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg . Charles died at Vienna on 30 April 1847. He is buried in tomb 122 in the New Vault of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. An equestrian statue was erected to his memory on the Heldenplatz in Vienna in 1860. The caution which the archduke preached so earnestly in his strategic works, he displayed in practice only when

6630-427: Was besieged by an Austrian-Dutch army commanded by Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld . The Committee of Public Safety felt that this mission was so important that it dispatched Lazare Carnot to oversee the operation. Jourdan defeated Coburg on 15–16 October at the Battle of Wattignies and broke the siege. Carnot claimed that it was his own intervention that won the victory. Historian Michael Glover writes that

6715-575: Was combined with the Army of the Ardennes and the right wing of the Army of the North to form an army which did not officially become the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse until 29 June 1794. With 70,000 soldiers of the new army, Jourdan laid siege to Charleroi on 12 June. A 41,000-man Austrian-Dutch army under the Prince of Orange defeated the French at the Battle of Lambusart on 16 June and drove them south of

6800-583: Was demobilized from the Royal army in Verdun , and, after a period of unemployment, returned to his native Limoges and found work at a cloth merchant's shop, where he proved to be an excellent employee. He married Jeanne Nicolas Avanturier, the sister of his boss, in Limoges on 22 January 1788, and the couple had six children. Jourdan welcomed the French Revolution with enthusiasm. He was appointed lieutenant of

6885-526: Was renewed in 1799, Jourdan was at the head of the army on the Rhine, but again suffered defeat at the hands of Archduke Charles at the battles of Ostrach and Stockach in late March. Disappointed and broken in health, he handed over command to General André Masséna . He resumed his political duties and was a prominent opponent of the Coup of 18 Brumaire , after which he was expelled from the Council of Five Hundred . Soon, however, he became formally reconciled to

6970-471: Was saved from certain execution when an eyewitness, representative on mission Ernest Joseph Duquesnoy rose and contradicted Carnot's version of events at Wattignies. Spared from arrest, Jourdan was nevertheless dismissed from the army and sent home. The government soon recalled Jourdan to lead the Army of the Moselle . In May, he was ordered north with the left wing of the Army of the Moselle. This force

7055-505: Was saved when General François Joseph Lefebvre 's division held its ground in the center. After Fleurus, the Allied position in the Austrian Netherlands collapsed. The Austrian Army evacuated Belgium and the Dutch Republic was dissolved by the advancing French armies in 1795. On 7 June 1795, Jourdan's army concluded the long but successful Siege of Luxembourg . Operations east of the Rhine were less successful that year, with

7140-503: Was soon recalled to undertake the task of checking Moreau's advance on Vienna. The result of the Battle of Hohenlinden had, however, foredoomed the attempt, and the archduke had to make the armistice of Steyr . His popularity was now such that the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg , which met in 1802, resolved to erect a statue in his honour and to give him the title of saviour of his country, but Charles refused both distinctions. In

7225-513: Was unable to support effectively any land operations after the fall of the Belgian provinces. The Prussians were slowly driven out of the eastern provinces and by the end of the year they had retired from any active part in the war. Against Spain, the French made successful incursions into both Catalonia and Navarre in the War of the Pyrenees . Action extended into the French colonies in

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