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Battle of
Aspern-Essling
1809 |
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| In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21 May
– 22 May 1809), Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube
near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the
Austrians under Archduke Charles. The battle was the first time
Napoleon had been personally defeated in over a decade. |
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| Background |
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| At the time of the battle Napoleon was in
possession of Vienna, the bridges over the Danube had been broken, and
the Archduke's army was near the Bisamberg, a mountain near Korneuburg,
on the left bank of the river. The French wanted to cross the Danube.
Lobau, one of the numerous islands which divide the river into minor
channels, was selected as the point of crossing. Careful preparations
were made, and on the night of the 19th-20th of May the French bridged
all the channels on the right bank to Lobau and occupied the island. By
the evening of the 20th many men had been collected there and the last
arm of the Danube, between Lobau and the left bank, bridged. Masséna's
corps at once crossed to the left bank and dodged the Austrian outposts.
Undeterred by the news of heavy attacks on his rear from Tyrol and from
Bohemia, Napoleon ferried all available troops to the bridges, and by
daybreak on the 21st, 40,000 men were collected on the Marchfeld, the
broad plain of the left bank, which was |
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also to be the scene of the Battle of Wagram.
The Archduke did not resist the passage. It was his intention, as
soon as a large enough force had crossed, to attack it before the
rest of the French army could come to its assistance. Napoleon had
accepted the risk of such an attack, but he sought |
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| at the same time to minimize it by
summoning every available battalion to the scene. His forces on the
Marchfeld were drawn up in front of the bridges facing north, with their
left in the village of Aspern (Gross-Aspern) and their right in Essling
(or Esslingen). Both places lay close to the Danube and could not
therefore be turned; Aspern, indeed, is actually on the bank of one of
the river channels. The French had to fill the gap between the villages,
and also move forward to give room for the supporting units to form up. |
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Hiller, Bellegarde and Hohenzollern were to converge upon
Aspern, the other two, under Rosenberg, to attack Essling. The
Austrian cavalry was in the center, ready to move out against any
French cavalry attacking the heads of the columns. During the 21st
the bridges became more and more unsafe, owing to the |
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| violence of the current, but the French
crossed without intermission all day and during the night |
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| First Day |
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| The battle began at Aspern; Hiller
carried the village at the first rush, but Masséna recaptured it, and
held his ground with the same tenacity as he had shown at Marengo. The
French infantry fought with the old stubborn bravery which it had failed
to show in the earlier battles of the war. The three Austrian columns
were unable to capture |
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more than half the village. The post was still held by Masséna
when night fell. Meanwhile, all the French infantry between the two
villages and in front of the bridges had been drawn into the fight
on the flank. Napoleon therefore, to create a diversion, sent
forward his center, now consisting only of cavalry, to charge the
enemy's |
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artillery, which was deployed in a
long line and firing on Aspern. The first charge of the French was
repulsed, but second attempt was made by heavy masses of cuirassiers.
The French horsemen drove off guns, rode round Hohenzollern's infantry
squares, and resisted the cavalry of Lichtenstein, but they were unable
to do more, and in the end they retired to their old position.
In the meanwhile Essling had been the scene of fighting almost as
desperate as that of Aspern. The French cuirassiers made heavy charges
on the flank of Rosenberg's force, and delayed an assault. In the
villages, Lannes with a single division resisted until night ended the
battle. The two armies bivouacked, and in Aspern the French and
Austrians lay within pistol shot of each other. The emperor was not
discouraged, and renewed efforts to bring up every available man. All
through the night more and more French troops came across. |
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| Second Day |
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| At the earliest dawn of the 22nd the
battle was resumed. Masséna swiftly cleared Aspern of the enemy, but at
the same time Rosenberg stormed Essling. Lannes, however, resisted
desperately, and reinforced by St Hilaire's division, drove Rosenberg
out. In Aspern, Masséna was driven out by a counter-attack of Hiller and
Bellegarde. |
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Meanwhile Napoleon had launched a great attack on the Austrian
center. The whole of the French center, with Lannes on the left and
the cavalry in reserve, moved forward. The Austrian line was broken
through, between Rosenberg's right and Hohenzollern's left. Victory
was almost won when the Archduke brought up his |
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last reserve, leading his soldiers with
a colour in his hand. Lannes was checked, and with his repulse the
impetus of the attack died out all along the line. Aspern had been lost,
and the news reached Napoleon at the critical moment. The Danube
bridges, which had broken down once already, had been cut by heavy
barges, which had been sent drifting down stream by the Austrians.
Napoleon at once suspended the attack. Essling now fell to another
assault of Rosenberg, and the French drove him out again. Rosenberg then
directed his efforts on the flank of the French center, slowly retiring
on the edges. The retirement was terribly costly, but Lannes stopped the
French from being driven into the Danube. Complete exhaustion of both
sides ended the fighting. |
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| Results |
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The French lost over 20,000 men including
one of Napoleon's ablest field commanders and close friend, Marshal Jean
Lannes, who died after being mortally wounded by an Austrian cannon
ball. The Austrians had also suffered similar casualties but had secured
the first major victory against the French for over a decade. The
victory demonstrated how far the Austrian army had progressed since the
string of catastrophic defeats in 1800 and 1805.
The French forces were withdrawn to the island, and on the night of the
22nd the last bridge was repaired, and the army awaited the arrival of
reinforcements in Lobau. The Austrians failed to capitalise on the
situation allowing the French to regroup. One month later, the French
made a second attempt to cross the Danube and the two armies would meet
again at Wagram. |
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Text source in extracts: |
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| WIKIPEDIA - the free
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