Battle of Friedlingen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Friedlingen (1702)
Plan of the Battle of Friedlingen (France: yellow; Imperial Army: red); the sketch does not face north; North is right
Plan of the Battle of Friedlingen (France: yellow; Imperial Army: red); the sketch does not face north; North is right
date October 14, 1702
place Friedlingen (today part of Weil am Rhein)
output draw
consequences The unification of the French and Bavarian troops is prevented by the Imperial Army.
Parties to the conflict

Holy Roman Empire 1400Holy Roman Empire Holy Roman Empire

France Kingdom 1792France France

Commander

Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden-Baden

Claude de Villars

Troop strength
approx. 14,000 men approx. 17,000 - 20,000 men
losses

3000 dead, 742 wounded

1703 dead; 2601 wounded

The information on troop strength and losses differ significantly in the literature - especially between German and French sources
Battles of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714)

The battle of Friedlingen was a battle of the Spanish War of Succession. It took place on October 14, 1702 in the border triangle at the gates of Basel and about 60 km south of Freiburg im Breisgau . The battlefield extended to Friedlingen, Weil, Haltingen (today all districts of Weil am Rhein ) and Tüllingen (today a district of Lörrach ). The battle took place partly in a forest, the so-called beetle wood, which is why local history also speaks of the battle of the beetle wood . The term battle near Hüningen is also occasionally used . In historical literature, however, the term battle near Friedlingen has established itself internationally.

prehistory

After the death of the last Spanish Habsburg, Charles II, around 1700, his brothers-in-law , the Habsburg Roman-German emperor and the French king raised claims to the Spanish throne. On July 9, 1701, Emperor Leopold I opened the war against the French King Louis XIV in Italy with the battle near Carpi - the War of the Spanish Succession .

The Holy Roman Empire entered the war with the Imperial Army on September 30, 1702 on the side of the Emperor. Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria (see Bavarian Diversion in the War of the Spanish Succession ) and the Archbishop of Cologne , a brother of the Bavarian Elector, supported the French king. Already on September 9th, the Imperial Army under Reich Field Marshal Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden (Türkenlouis) conquered the previously French fortress of Landau . After that, Ludwig Wilhelm turned south to prevent the French army from uniting with the Bavarian troops .

Preliminary skirmishes

The Friedlinger bridgehead

After the French fortress of Landau was besieged in the summer of 1702 by an imperial army under Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm and the French Marshal Catinat did not make progress with his relief troops, Louis XIV decided to open another front on the Upper Rhine to relieve Landau. Maréchal de camp Villars was sent with the order to cross the Rhine at Hüningen, on the one hand to withdraw imperial troops from Landau and on the other hand to bring about a union with the Bavarian allies. Villars and his army did not reach Hüningen until 28/30. September 1702, when Landau had already fallen. A few weeks earlier, France had already started to rebuild the Hüningen Fortress , which had been razed (poorly) after the Peace of Rijswijk . Villars immediately laid 2,000 men in the ruins and had a ship bridge laid across the Rhine to Schusterinsel, where he also stationed artillery. As early as the night of October 1 to October 2, a first attempt was made to build another ship bridge from the island to the German shore (20 meters) under the protection of these cannons and that of the fortress on the French bank. While this first attempt could be repulsed by the imperial troops under Count Karl Egon von Fürstenberg , the bridge was built on October 2nd, as the imperial troops could not hold their positions due to the strong French gunfire; Villars was also able to secure a bridgehead on the German bank. Count Fürstenberg and his troops arrived at Friedlingen on September 30th, Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm followed on October 4th - too late to prevent the building of a bridge. Until October 12, the armies lying close together fought fruitless artillery duels.

The loss of Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel from Merian's Topographia Alsatiae (1663)

On the night of October 12th to 13th, 1702, French troops under Maréchal de camp de Laubanie crossed the Rhine near Neuchâtel in Weidlingen and took the imperial troops in the city by surprise . Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm attributed the capture of Neuchâtel to the poor preparation of the defense by Count Johann Philipp von Arco . Villars reinforced his troops in Neuchâtel, sent pontoons downstream from Hüningen to build a bridge near Neuchâtel and directed the reinforcements that had already been requested, which Marshal Catinat under Maréchal de camp de Guiscard sent to the Upper Rhine, to Neuchâtel. Villars thus had two bridgeheads over a distance of 30 kilometers on the Upper Rhine and, upon arrival of his reinforcements, could have attacked the Imperial Army in this section from the north and south, while the Bavarian allies were expected from the east at best. Villars and Ludwig Wilhelm assessed the situation in this regard and the margrave therefore withdrew his troops from the Hochgestade near Friedlingen to the north.

Course of the battle

Villars had already planned the advance across the Rhine for the night of October 13th to Saturday, October 14th and had already deployed large parts of his troops on the Schusterinsel (in the Rhine between Hüningen and Friedlingen), also using Swiss territory. When the French noticed the withdrawal of the Reich troops early in the morning of October 14th, Villars immediately gave the order to advance to the right bank of the Rhine. In order not to lose time with the storming of the fortified Friedlingen Castle and the nearby Sternschanze, his troops bypassed these fortifications and advanced through a forest (nun wood) towards the village of Weil in order to gain the Tüllinger Höhe from there. The rear guard (arrest guard) of the Imperial Army under Colonel Count Mercy reported to the margrave at eight o'clock that the French troops were swarming en masse on the German bank of the Rhine. The Imperial Army had first reached the Kander on its march north and partially crossed it. The margrave did not want to be attacked by the following French troops on the march and immediately ordered a turn back to the south. The cavalry was marched in the direction of Haltingen, while the bulk of the infantry climbed the Tüllinger Berg via Ötlingen and advanced through the Käferholz to the south, as Villars also concentrated his cavalry on the plain in front of Haltingen and the bulk of his infantry on the Weil and Tüllingen Tüllinger Berg moved into the Käferholz in front of and from the south. By 10 o'clock the positions were taken and there was a break of almost an hour during which both sides prepared for the battle at a distance of about 1,500 paces without firing a shot.

Battle of Friedlingen here Tüllinger Höhe (Käferholz)

At around 11 o'clock the margrave began the fighting with cannon fire - it was a sunny autumn day. The battle began in Käferholz, where Villars initially led the attack himself. The imperial troops were pushed north out of the forest. When French units who were in pursuit were repulsed by German reserve troops, they spread panic in their own ranks and Villars was only able to gather the troops again at the southern end of the forest. Meanwhile, the numerically superior cavalry of the Imperial Army attacked the French cavalry under Maréchal de camp Magnac in the plain with carbine fire, whereby they hindered themselves through the narrow formation. The French galloped with drawn sabers into the German ranks, which got further into disarray and hampered their own second meeting . After the French artillery managed to fire into the chaos of the German cavalry, their ranks disbanded and the escape went over the Kander towards Efringen-Kirchen . The French pursuers were stopped by the bombardment of the infantry reserve lying in the vineyards. Villars now left his infantry and returned to the plains to the cavalry.

The Reich troops attacked again on the Tüllinger Berg. The mass of infantry came back through the beetle wood and attacked head-on, while more infantry attacked the French on the left flank through the vineyards and smaller cavalry divisions under Count Prosper von Fürstenberg attacked the right flank. As a result, the entire - already demoralized and largely leaderless - French infantry on the Tüllinger Berg panicked and fled with high losses down the steep vineyards to Weil and into the plains, where the remains were sheltered by the cavalry and the reserves on the Schusterinsel withdrawn - parts of the troops also threw away their weapons and fled to Switzerland.

The Reichsarmee held the Tüllinger Berg for another five hours and then continued the shift to the north, which began in the night of October 13th to 14th - to the Staufen im Breisgau area .

consequences

Friedlingen Castle

At the end of the battle there was no clear winner. A union of the French troops with the Bavarians could, however, be prevented for the first year of the war. But the margrave also suffered heavy losses, the Habsburg side counted 335 dead and 742 wounded in their ranks, the French suffered 1703 dead and 2601 wounded.

After the withdrawal of the Imperial Army, Villars took Friedlingen Castle and the Sternschanze on October 15 and destroyed both. The Markgräflerland was surrendered to looting. There was a lot of suffering among the civilian population, in Weil am Rhein there was great damage amounting to 447,662 guilders , but many neighboring villages also suffered great damage.

Interpretations

Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm (Türkenlouis)

Ludwig Wilhelm claimed victory for himself because he had completely defeated the enemy infantry, held the positions on the battlefield for five hours and only retreated after the enemy cavalry had also retreated towards the French bridgehead. Contrary to the official enthusiasm for victory in Vienna and the memory of the victor over the Welsh hereditary enemy, which was later cultivated during the Empire , the rumor arose among the disappointed Margravians - and in neighboring Basel - that the Catholic Margrave of Baden-Baden deliberately had the unloved Protestant areas of Baden -Durlach abandoned to protect his own country or he even let Villars buy him.

Marshal Villars (here 1714)

Villars claimed victory for himself, as he had captured a number of the flags of the Imperial Army and had not lost any himself. While French legends tell of the fact that his army proclaimed Villars Marshal of France on the battlefield, this is limited to a few calls even in Villar's own account. Saint Simon reports significant differences between Villars and the cavalry commander, Maréchal de camp Magnac, and attributes the appointment of Villars Marshal of France by King Louis XIV two weeks after the battle to Villar's relations at court.

For the personal career and fame in official historiography, the battle proved successful for the generals, for everyone else involved it only brought hardship and death.

Parallel story - Max Emanuel of Bavaria

Maximilian II Emanuel

After the Elector of Bavaria took the imperial city of Ulm on September 9 , he strove to unite with the French allies. On September 15, 1702 Field Marshal General Johann Baptist von Arco set out with a corps to the west, while his main power remained near Ulm. Since his messengers to Marshal Catinat were intercepted, there was no communication between the allies. Around September 17th, equestrian departments reached Tuttlingen . After no connection with the French was established, Max Emanuel pulled the Corps Arco back to him and besieged Memmingen . On October 16, he turned north towards Günzburg . After hearing of Villars crossing the Rhine near Friedlingen, he marched up the Danube again, where he reached Ehingen on October 25th . From there he sent an equestrian division (approx. 1500 men) to Waldshut in order to make contact with Villars. Towards the end of October Villars still had his bridgehead near Friedlingen, the margrave had taken up positions to the north near Staufen (approx. 40 km as the crow flies to Friedlingen), and the Bavarians had only approx. 50 km as the crow flies from Waldshut to Friedlingen - between them and Villars there were no Reich troops worth mentioning.

Since Max Emanuel was also doing secret diplomacy with the emperor at this time, the association was not really sought, it "failed because of the unfavorable conditions, mutual misunderstandings, and the diplomatic duplicity of the elector." The dynastic intrigue of the House of Wittelsbach suffered a lot brought over the Baden Oberland , without this the war would probably have concentrated on the Netherlands and Italy.

The parties

The troops

The German military

The German troop contingent consisted of a few regiments of the imperial army , troops of the imperial army - especially the Swabian and Frankish Empire circle - and contingents of Baden-durlachischen Landwehr . The information on the troop strength varies, although there are factual differences - between the number of troops standing in the deployment room and those that were actually deployed in the battle. Ludwig Wilhelm reported that he could only deploy 8,000 men. French sources assume 22,000 - 25,000 men on the part of the margrave, the neutral Wieland reports about 17,000.

The French military

The French troops consisted of regiments z. B. ( Régiment de Champagne ; Régiment de Bourbonnais ; Régiment de Poitou ; Régiment de Vermandois etc.), the strength of which is given in French sources as 15,000 and in German sources as 20,000.

The civilian population

In Baden-Durlach

The population in the Markgräflerland belonging to the margraviate of Baden-Durlach - as well as partly the population in the Breisgau areas other imperial estates - were enormously burdened by the events in connection with the battle of Friedlingen. First of all, the entrenchments at Friedlingen and in the Black Forest had to be built in advance of the battle. From September 30th the approx. 17,000 strong Reichsarmee had to be fed for 14 days. In addition to billeting, there was also considerable damage to the vineyards, where the vines were used on a large scale for the campfires. Only a small part of the harvest could be brought in. During the battle, the villages of Friedlingen and Weil were badly damaged and some of them burned. After the Reichsarmee withdrew to Staufen on October 15, the French army not only destroyed Friedlingen Castle, but also plundered the Markgräflerland until they withdrew to winter quarters in France. This hit a population that had already suffered greatly from the French incursions in the years 1672–1691 - they were repeatedly drawn into the clashes between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons .

In Basel

When Villars approached, the government and people of Basel were very concerned about whether he would respect the neutrality of the Swiss Confederation. Before that, both parties had courted the Confederates and the Catholic cantons tended to support France - in the end, however, neutrality was preserved. Basel called the federal estates and asked for newcomers (auxiliary troops) to secure the border. The citizens were armed and a "voluntary" war tax was levied. At the beginning of October around 1000 men came to the aid of the Basel population, although some Catholic cantons did not meet their obligations. As always in times of war, the people of Baden brought their valuables to Basel and after the withdrawal of the Reich troops became known on October 13th, many Markgräflers also fled to Basel. Despite the fears of the Basel people, they followed their curiosity and visited the military camps before the battle and followed the preparations actively. After the battle on October 14th, a number of citizens took the opportunity to get souvenirs from the estate of the defeated French infantry, especially as some of the fleeing soldiers crossed the meadow river into Switzerland and threw away their weapons.

In the Sundgau (Alsace)

In Alsace , too , the population suffered from billeting and digging work. Protecting the French troops, however, the Sundgau neighbors also took part in the looting of the Markgräflerland.

Commemoration

Memorial on the Tüllinger Berg to the battle of the Käferholz
Memorial at the cemetery of Weil am Rhein: "Here, on October 14th, 1702, Field Marshal Lieutenant Franz Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen died the heroic death in the battle against the French - his ancestor was erected by Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern - 1902"

On the occasion of the 200-year commemoration ceremony, the officer corps of the “Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm” regiment erected a memorial stone on the Käferholz, which was inaugurated on October 11, 1903 in the presence of the Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden . At the Weil am Rhein cemetery there is a memorial plaque for Field Marshal Lieutenant Franz Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , who died in the battle , and was erected on April 11, 1904. Both monuments must be seen against the background of the politics of the empire around 1900.

Friedrich Christoph von Gemmingen , the chief stable master of the Baden margrave who was killed in battle , was given a magnificent epitaph in the castle chapel in Guttenberg , showing him with war trophies.

literature

Historical novel

  • Hermann Albrecht : Des Margrave Leibmedicus - Tale from the days of the Turk-Louis , new edition of the first edition from 1882, Verlag Friedrich Resin, Weil am Rhein 1984

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ the dates are based on Wieland's presentation, other sources show a one-day difference
  2. ↑ There were 300–400 men in a mercenary regiment recruited in Switzerland; for recruiting s. Wieland p. 101 f.
  3. ↑ Report to King Joseph of October 24, 1702; sv Diersburg p. 104; After Arco handed over the Breisach fortress to the French in 1703 , he was sentenced to death by a court martial in 1704. The suspicion of bribery could not be proven, but it also raises questions about the defense preparations in Neuchâtel.
  4. ↑ Count Karl Egon von Fürstenberg, who was in command on the German side, fell here at the beginning of the fighting
  5. ↑ Franz Anton von Hohenzollern was also killed here
  6. ↑ Saint Simon spread the account of Magnac, according to which Villars was completely unnerved and believed the whole battle was lost. Villars himself claimed he wanted to organize the pursuit of the German cavalry
  7. ^ The Hereditary Prince of Baden-Durlach, Karl Wilhelm, also fought here
  8. ↑ Villars had left and Maréchal de camp Desbordes and a number of other senior officers were killed or wounded
  9. ↑ Lavallée p. 329: En définitive, la guerre s'ouvrait d'une manière défavorable pour la France: les batailles de Luzzara et de Friedlingen n'avaient pas eu de résultat ...
  10. ↑ According to the article in the General German Biography, the Hereditary Prince of Baden-Durlach, Karl Wilhelm, is said to have been among the wounded, in other sources - in particular in Ludwig Wilhelm's report, however, he is not mentioned among the wounded.
  11. ↑ s. Wieland pp. 133/134
  12. ↑ Saint Simon p. 27; Villars is generally represented by him as a favorite of Madame de Maintenon - a mistress of Louis XIV; Lavallée p. 328 characterizes him as vain and boastful
  13. ↑ Junkelmann, p. 119
  14. ↑ Junkelmann, p. 121
  15. ↑ s. Lavallée p. 328; Nicolas de Fer cited in Beck, p. 159
  16. ↑ Nicolas de Fer quoted in Beck, p. 159
  17. ↑ Beck p. 157
  18. ↑ s. to this section Wieland
  19. ↑ s. Wieland p. 134 who determined this as a neutral Swiss from the Basel archives
  20. ↑ The regiment belonged to the 56th Infantry Brigade in Rastatt, which in turn belonged to the 28th Division in the XIV Army Corps. From 1900 to 1903, then Lieutenant General Paul von Hindenburg was the commander of the 28th Division
  21. ↑ Freiburg newspaper of October 13, 1903 (digitized version of the Freiburg University Library)
  22. ↑ s. Oberbadisches Volksblatt of April 11, 1990; v. Hohenzollern commanded the second meeting of the cavalry and was killed by a cannonball
  23. ↑ Adolf von Oechelhäuser [Hrsg.]: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Großherzogthums Baden (Volume 4,4): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Amtsbezirke Mosbach and Eberbach , Tübingen 1906, p. 102/103 and Fig. Plate XII. on-line

Web links

Commons : Battle of Friedlingen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 36 ′ 11 "  N , 7 ° 38 ′ 22"  E