Siege of Kaiserswerth (1702)
Siege of Kaiserswerth (plan facing west)
| date | April 18 to June 15, 1702 |
|---|---|
| place | Kaiserswerth |
| output | allied victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 44 infantry battalions, 52 cavalry squadrons, 120 guns, a total of 38,000 men | 5,000 men |
| losses | |
|
about 9,000 men, including about 2,800 men on June 9th |
about 350 men |
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Carpi - Chiari - Cremona - Kaiserswerth - Luzzara - Cádiz - Friedlingen - Vigo - Schmidmühlen - Ekeren - Höchstädt (1703) - Gibraltar - Speyerbach - Schellenberg - Bonn - Höchstädt (1704) - Vélez-Málaga - Cassano - Barcelona (1705) - Sendlinger Murder Christmas - Calcinato - Ramillies - Turin - Castiglione - Almansa - Toulon - Lille - Oudenaarde - Malplaquet - Almenara - Saragossa - Brihuega - Villaviciosa - Denain - Rio de Janeiro - Barcelona
The siege of Kaiserswerth was part of the execution of the Holy Roman Empire against the Elector Joseph Clemens von Kurköln, who was allied with France, at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession . It was one of the first major acts of war in the northern theater of war and lasted from April 18 to June 15, 1702. The allies from the republican Dutch and various imperial territories stood on one side and the French garrison troops, on the other side of the Rhine by Marshal Camille d'Hostun de la Baume, supported by duc de Tallard , opposite. The siege ended with the complete destruction and surrender of the city and fortress.
prehistory
The Elector Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, who was allied with France, handed over Zons and Neuss as well as the city and fortress of Kaiserswerth to the French, who had an occupying force in the city under the Marquis de Blainville .
The Holy Roman Empire took action against this in the form of an execution. In addition to the Duke of Jülich-Berg and Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II , units from the United Netherlands , Electorate Hanover and Prussia took part in the siege. The commander-in-chief was the imperial lieutenant general Walrad Prince of Nassau .
course
Since the Dutch "siege" expert Menno van Coehoorn was not present at the front, the siege was very time-consuming, poorly managed and there were many victims among the Allies. The German troops did not have enough powder and ammunition and, unlike the French, did not have enough artillery. The trenches were opened on the night of April 18-19. However, the French stubbornly defended the city. At the beginning of the siege, 15,000 allies attacked the city, but were stopped in particular by the French guns. The French received supplies via the Rhine with the help of barges. The attempt of the French to bring relief to their trapped troops failed because it was not possible to build a pontoon bridge over the Rhine. The French Marshal Tallard , who stood on the left bank of the Rhine, had the besiegers shot at since May 9, but had to withdraw on June 9.
The besiegers fired 10,000 bombs and 120,000 cannon balls and at times considered lifting the siege due to a lack of ammunition. The attacks were continued through the personal intervention of the Prussian King Friedrich I , who was currently in Kleve.
On June 9, the Allies tried three times in vain to take the city by storm.
When the walls had collapsed in various places by shelling and the city was almost completely destroyed, the residents asked the occupation to give up the fight. Only five houses are said to have survived the siege.
The French garrison was granted free retreat. The prisoners were exchanged, the fortifications razed and the part of the imperial palace that was built of bricks was blown up and almost completely destroyed.
consequences
After the Allied victory and the clear commitment to his French ally, the Cologne Elector had to flee into exile in France after further defeats. The city of Kaiserswerth was handed over to the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm . This granted the citizens their previous rights and the free exercise of the Catholic religion. In 1714 Kaiserswerth fell back to Kurköln through the Peace of Rastatt .
Anne , Queen of England and Scotland, raised the commander in chief of her troops in the War of the Spanish Succession, John Churchill , as the first Duke of Marlborough in thanks for his military achievements in the conquest of Kaiserswerth in 1702 .
literature
- Gaston Bodart: Military-historical war lexicon (1618-1905). Vienna 1908, p. 125.
- L. Ennen: France and the Lower Rhine or the history of the city and electoral state of Cologne from the Thirty Years' War to the French occupation. Cologne 1856, p. 62 ff.
- J. Ostwald: Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession. Brill 2006. ISBN 978-90-04-15489-6 . Pp. 141, 187, 243
Web links
- Siege of Kaiserswerth 1702 (English)
- Historical map from 1702: Keiserswaart, aan den Rhijn, tusschen Duisburg en Dusseldorp: de Franschen ontweldigd, June 16, 1702 . Amsterdam 1712 ( digitized version )
- Eyewitness report: No stone was left unturned - The destruction of Kaiserswerth in 1702 ( Memento from May 31, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dépôt de la guerre (1836): List of troop strengths (French)
- ↑ Mémoires militaires relatifs à la succession d'Espange sous Louis XIV , p. 11