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The Battle of Höchstädt was fought on 19 June 1800 on the north bank of the Danube near Höchstädt, and resulted in a French victory under General Jean Victor Marie Moreau against the Austrians under Baron Pál Kray. The Austrians were subsequently forced back into the fortress town of Ulm. Instead of attacking the heavily fortified, walled city, which would result in massive losses of personnel and time, Moreau dislodged Kray's supporting forces defending the Danube passage further east. As a line of retreat eastward disappeared, Kray quickly abandoned Ulm, and withdrew into Bavaria. This opened the Danube pathway toward Vienna. The Danube passage connecting Ulm, Donauwörth, Ingolstadt and Regensburg had strategic importance in the ongoing competition for European hegemony between France and the Holy Roman Empire; the army that commanded the Danube, especially its passage through Württemberg and Bavaria, could command access to the important cities of Munich and the seat of Habsburg authority: Vienna. The end result of the battle was the opposite of what had occurred on those same fields almost 100 years earlier, when the armies of the Grand Alliance had faced the armies of France during the War of the Spanish Succession. At the Second Battle of Höchstädt in 1704, called the Battle of Blenheim by the English, the overwhelming Allied victory ensured the safety of Vienna from the Franco-Bavarian army, thus preventing the collapse of the Grand Alliance. France's loss during that engagement opened the pathway into France for the allied English and Austrian forces. ==Background== (詳細はFirst Coalition forces achieved several initial victories at Verdun, Kaiserslautern, Neerwinden, Mainz, Amberg and Würzburg, the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces back and resulted in the negotiation of the Peace of Leoben (17 April 1797) and the subsequent Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797).〔Timothy Blanning, ''The French Revolutionary Wars'', New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 41–59.〕 This treaty proved difficult to administer. Austria was slow to give up some of the Venetian territories. A Congress convened at Rastatt for the purposes of deciding which southwestern German states would be mediatised to compensate the dynastic houses for territorial losses, but was unable to make any progress. Supported by French republican forces, Swiss insurgents staged several uprisings, ultimately causing the overthrow of the Swiss Confederation after 18 months of civil war.〔Blanning, pp. 200–280.〕 By early 1799, the French Directory had become impatient with stalling tactics employed by Austria. An uprising in Naples raised further alarms, and recent gains in Switzerland suggested the timing was fortuitous for the French to venture on another campaign in northern Italy and southwestern Germany.〔Blanning, p. 200.〕 At the beginning of 1800, the armies of France and Austria faced each other across the Rhine. Feldzeugmeister Pál Kray led approximately 120,000 troops. In addition to his Austrian regulars, his force included 12,000 men from the Electorate of Bavaria, 6,000 troops from the Duchy of Württemberg, 5,000 soldiers of low quality from the Archbishopric of Mainz, and 7,000 militiamen from the County of Tyrol. Of these, 25,000 men were deployed east of Lake Constance (Bodensee) to protect the Vorarlberg. Kray posted his main body of 95,000 soldiers in the L-shaped angle where the Rhine changes direction from a westward flow along the northern border of Switzerland to a northward flow along the eastern border of France. Unwisely, Kray set up his main magazine at Stockach, near the northwestern end of Lake Constance, only a day's march from French-held Switzerland.〔James R. Arnold, ''Marengo and Hohenlinden: Napoleon's Rise to Power'', Pen & Sword Military, 2005, pp. 197–199.〕 General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau commanded a modestly-equipped army of 137,000 French troops. Of these, 108,000 troops were available for field operations while the other 29,000 watched the Swiss border and held the Rhine fortresses. Napoleon Bonaparte offered a plan of operations based on outflanking the Austrians by a push from Switzerland, but Moreau declined to follow it. Rather, Moreau planned to cross the Rhine near Basel where the river swung to the north. A French column would distract Kray from Moreau's true intentions by crossing the Rhine from the west. Bonaparte wanted Claude Lecourbe's corps to be detached to Italy after the initial battles, but Moreau had other plans.〔Arnold, 199–201〕 Through a series of complicated maneuvers in which he flanked, double flanked, and reflanked Kray's army, Moreau's forces lay on the eastern slope of the Black Forest, while portions of Kray's army was still guarding the passes on the other side.〔W.M. Sloane, ''Life of Napoleon.'' France, 1896, p. 109.〕 Battles at Engen and Stockach were fought on 3 May 1800 between the Moreau's and Kray's armies. The fighting near Engen resulted in a stalemate with heavy losses on both sides. However, while the two main armies were engaged at Engen, Claude Lecourbe captured Stockach from its Austrian defenders under the Joseph, Prince of Lorraine-Vaudemont. The loss of this main supply base at Stockach compelled Kray to retreat north to Messkirch, where his army enjoyed a more favorable defensive position. It also meant, however, that any retreat by Kray into Austria via Switzerland and the Vorarlberg was cut off.〔Sloane, 109〕 On 4 and 5 May, the French launched repeated and fruitless assaults on the Messkirch. At nearby Krumbach, where the Austrians also had the superiority of position and force, the 1st Demi-Brigade took the village and the heights around it, which gave them a commanding aspect over Messkirch. Subsequently, Kray withdrew his forces to Sigmaringen, followed closely by the French. Fighting at nearby Biberach an der Ris ensued on 9 May; action principally consisted of the 25,000 man-strong French "Center", commanded by Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr against a Habsburg force of similar size.〔Sloane, pp. 109–110.〕 Again, on 10 May, the Austrians withdrew with heavy losses, this time to Ulm.〔Digby Smith, ''Napoleonic Wars Databook.'' London: Greenhill Press, 1998, p. 178.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Höchstädt (1800)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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