Battle of Jemappes

Battle of Jemappes
Part of the Flanders campaign in the War of the First Coalition
The Battle of Jemappes by Horace Vernet
Date 6 November 1792 Location Near Jemappes, Austrian Netherlands 50°27′21″N 3°53′19″E / 50.4559°N 3.8886°E / 50.4559; 3.8886 Result French victory[1] Start of the Flanders campaign
Belligerents
France	Holy Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Charles Dumouriez	Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt
Strength
40,000–45,000[1] 100 guns[1]	13,200[1]-13,796 54[1]-56 guns
Casualties and losses
2,000[1]	1,241-1,500[1] 5 guns
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

The Battle of Jemappes (6 November 1792) took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium), near Mons during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. One of the first major offensive battles of the war, it was a victory for the armies of the infant French Republic, and saw the French Armée du Nord, which included many inexperienced volunteers, defeat a substantially smaller regular Austrian army.

General Charles François Dumouriez, in command of an army of French Revolutionary volunteers, faced the Imperial army of Field Marshal Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and his second-in-command François de Croix, Count of Clerfayt. The French, who outnumbered their opponents by about three-to-one, launched a series of enthusiastic but uncoordinated attacks against the Austrian position on a ridge. At length, the French seized a portion of the ridge and the Austrians were unable to drive them away. Saxe-Teschen conceded defeat by ordering a withdrawal.

Jemappes was won by costly but effective charges against the Austrians' prepared position. Dumouriez overran the Austrian Netherlands within a month, but lost it at the Battle of Neerwinden in March. The French would not reconquer the Austrian Netherlands until the summer of 1794.