Battle of Stockach (1799)

Battle of Stockach (1799)
	Part of War of the Second Coalition
	; Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg leading Austrian infantry during the battle of Stockach, 25 March 1799.
Date	25 March 1799
Location	Stockach, present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany47°51′N 9°0′E / 47.850°N 9.000°E
Result	Austrian victory
Belligerents
French Directory	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan; Advance Guard: François Joseph Lefebvre; First Division: Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino; Second Division: Joseph Souham; Third Division: Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr; Cavalry Reserve: Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul; Detached Flank: Dominique Vandamme	Archduke Charles; Friedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorf; Alexander, Duke of Württemberg; Olivier, Count of Wallis; Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg †; Nikolaus, Count of Colloredo-Mels and Wallsee; Prince Wilhelm von Anhalt-Bernburg †
Strength
26,164 infantry; 7,010 cavalry; 1,649 artillery; 62 guns; Total: 34,823	53,870 infantry; 14,900 cavalry; 3,565 artillery; 114 guns; Total: 72,335
Casualties and losses
4,000 killed, wounded or captured; 1 gun lost	5,800 killed, wounded or captured; 2 guns lost
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Europe

War of the Second Coalition:
Austria

200km
125miles

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The color black indicates the current battle.

The Battle of Stockach occurred on 25 March 1799, when French and Austrian armies fought for control of the geographically strategic Hegau region in present-day Baden-Württemberg.^[a] In the broader military context, this battle constitutes a keystone in the first campaign in southwestern Germany during the Wars of the Second Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.

It was the second battle between the French Army of the Danube, commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, and the Habsburg Army under Archduke Charles; the armies had met a few days earlier, 20–22 March, on the marshy fields southeast of Ostrach and the Pfullendorf heights. The Austrian Army's superior strength, almost three-to-one, forced the French to withdraw.

At Stockach, the French concentrated their forces into shorter lines, creating intense fighting conditions; initially, Charles's line was more extended, but he quickly pulled additional troops from his reserves to strengthen his front. When a small French force commanded by Dominique Vandamme nearly flanked the Austrian Army, Charles's personal intervention was crucial for the Austrians, buying time for reinforcements to arrive. General Jourdan, while trying to rally his men, was nearly trampled to death. Ultimately, the French were driven back upon the Rhine River.

^ Ramsey Weston Phipps, The Armies of the First French Republic, volume 5: The armies of the Rhine in Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Egypt and the coup d'etat of Brumaire, 1797–1799, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1939, pp. 49–50.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Smith maintains the count at considerably lower, closer to 26,000. Smith, Digby (1998). The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards and Artillery, 1792–1815. Greenhill, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. p. 148. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

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[1] Ramsey Weston Phipps, The Armies of the First French Republic, volume 5: The armies of the Rhine in Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Egypt and the coup d'etat of Brumaire, 1797–1799, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1939, pp. 49–50.

[2] Phipps, pp. 49–50; Smith maintains the count at considerably lower, closer to 26,000. Smith, Digby (1998). The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards and Artillery, 1792–1815. Greenhill, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. p. 148. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

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