Battle of Amsteg

Battle of Amsteg
Amsteg and the Reuss River (1932)
Date 14–16 August 1799 Location Silenen, Uri, Switzerland 46°47′N 8°40′E / 46.783°N 8.667°E / 46.783; 8.667 Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Claude Lecourbe	Joseph Simbschen
Strength
8,000–12,000	4,400
Casualties and losses
Battle: 500 Campaign: 1,500	Battle: 2,300, 3–12 guns Campaign: 7,500, 12 guns

War of the Second Coalition:
Austria

200km
125miles

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Zurich

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The color black indicates the current battle.

The Battle of Amsteg (14–16 August 1799)^[1] saw a Republican French division under General of Division Claude Lecourbe face a brigade of Habsburg Austrian soldiers led by General-major Joseph Anton von Simbschen. Lecourbe's offensive began on 14 August when six columns of French infantry advanced on the upper Reuss valley from the north and east. By 16 August, Lecourbe's forces had driven Simbschen's Austrians from the valley and seized control of the strategic Gotthard Pass between Italy and Switzerland.

On 4 June, the First Battle of Zurich was fought between André Masséna's French Army of Helvetia and an Austrian army led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. After the battle, Massena relinquished Zürich and retreated to a strong defensive position to the west of the city. At about the same time, the French commander ordered Lecourbe to abandon the Gotthard Pass and pull back to Lucerne. In August, Masséna had second thoughts and wanted Lecourbe to recapture the Gotthard Pass. The French commander feared an Austro-Russian stroke from Italy across the pass, so he ordered an offensive to occupy the area. Louis Marie Turreau's division advanced northeast from the Canton of Valais in support of Lecourbe. Masséna sent the divisions of Jean-de-Dieu Soult and Joseph Chabran to attack other Austrian positions in order to prevent Archduke Charles from interfering with Lecourbe's main operation. At the end of September 1799, Alexander Suvorov's Russian army had to retake the pass in the Battle of Gotthard Pass.