Battle of Guastalla
Battle plan
| date | September 19, 1734 |
|---|---|
| place | Guastalla |
| output | French / Piedmontese victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
• Charles Emanuel III. of Savoy |
• Dominik von Königsegg-Rothenfels |
| Troop strength | |
| 49,000 | 40,000 |
| losses | |
|
5000 killed or wounded |
7,000 killed or wounded |
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The Battle of Guastalla was fought during the War of the Polish Succession on September 19, 1734 between the Piedmontese and French on one side and Austrians on the other. Guastalla is located in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna , near the River Po .
background
King Charles Emanuel III. von Savoyen agreed on September 26, 1733 in Turin with the French and Spaniards a joint approach in this renewed European war over dynastic power interests. France pledged to provide 40,000 soldiers to fight against Austria , which had ruled southern Italy and the Duchy of Milan since the end of the War of the Spanish Succession . The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont , which wanted to incorporate this duchy, provided 24,000 soldiers. The Bourbon Spain (also in France the Bourbons ruled) should receive the duchies of Tuscany , Mantua , Parma and Piacenza and also southern Italy again for its entry into the war . The supreme command of the armed forces in Italy should Karl Emanuel III. to lead.
The Austrian governor of Milan , General Daun , had only 12,000 soldiers, which is why he held only a few garrisons in Lombardy , but those in crucial places, and withdrew with the majority of his troops to Mantua. On December 11, 1733, Charles Emanuel III moved. entered Milan with his guards and besieged the city's castle, where the Austrian occupation refused to surrender. The castle was then captured on December 29th.
Now the Austrians sent 60,000 additional soldiers to Italy who were embroiled in a first bloody conflict in the Battle of Parma on June 29, 1734 and lost 6,000 men in the process. At the beginning of September the Austrians under Count Königsegg had a minor success at Gardella , then they planned a decisive attack on the opposing positions at Guastalla.
Since the troops were in a deplorable condition and no more provisions could be found in the entire area around the camp, Königsegg decided on September 15th to vacate the camp and march towards Quistello . The next morning the imperial soldiers managed to use a surprise attack to rout the French-Sardinian army between Quistello and Bondanello and to conquer the entire camp. During this operation, Friedrich Ludwig led a corps of 10,000 men against the town of San Benedetto , where King Karl Emanuel had his headquarters. Karl Emanuel had to flee in his nightgown and slippers. The Franco-Sardinian army withdrew to the Guastalla area.
Course of the battle
On the basis of information from the scouts that the French were withdrawing, Königsegg had the enemy attacked on the morning of September 19, 1734 around 10 a.m. However, Karl Emanuel had stood in the way of several deserting units and was able to defend his positions against the Austrians with additional, freshly mobilized reserves. While these imperial regiments attacked in ever new waves until noon, the now 49,000 Piedmontese and French soldiers fought back, so that the imperial ones could achieve high losses and no success.
By the time the battle ended, the Piedmontese and French had lost 5,000 men.
The Austrians lost 7,000 men, including the Saxon-Polish cavalry general and Imperial General Feldzeugmeister Prince Friedrich Ludwig von Württemberg-Winnental , until a few weeks earlier they were in command of the imperial troops in Italy since 1731, who was hit by several bullets around 1 p.m.
After the French-Piedmontese army did not take advantage of their victory, the Austrian units at Luzzara were able to stabilize their situation and prevent a further advance on Mantua (Karl Emanuel was no longer interested in conquering Mantua because it would be ceded to the Spanish in the event of a victory should become, which was in principle against Piedmontese interests).
Further course
During the fighting in northern Italy, Spain had sent an invasion fleet to central and southern Italy, where the outnumbered Austrians had to gradually withdraw. By August 1734, the Spaniards had brought Tuscany and the Kingdom of Naples under their control. Austria remained in Italy only Mantua. Despite some efforts to reach an armistice in this critical situation, the war continued until October 1735. On October 3, 1735, Louis XV. and Emperor Charles VI. (without notifying the allies) a ceasefire. Through the subsequent peace treaty, the Spanish Bourbons received Naples and Sicily (the Bourbons there then became independent), Piedmont got Tortona , Novara , Vigevano and other smaller regions, Charles VI. was allowed to keep Milan and Mantua and also received Parma and Piacenza . The Duke of Lorraine received Tuscany , which then came to the Austrian branch Lothringen-Habsburg (or Habsburg-Lothringen) through his marriage to Maria Theresa . Louis XV recognized the Pragmatic Sanction . The peace was only sealed in this form by all parties involved in Vienna in 1738. Emperor Charles VI died just two years later. without male heir to the throne. This led to another European war shaped by dynastic power interests, the War of the Austrian Succession .