Battle of Hohenlinden (1800)
The
Battle of Hohenlinden near
Munich was fought on
December 3,
1800, during the
French Revolutionary Wars. It resulted in a
French victory under
General Moreau against the
Austrians and
Bavarians under
Archduke John, forcing him to sign an armistice.
In terms of the number of troops involved it was the largest in the French Revolutionary Wars and quite possibly European history until the
Battle of Wagram in 1809. Moreau's 100,000 strong army engaged some 120,000 Austrians.
The battle hinged on an ambush on a road through a forest. The French had 6,000 dead and wounded while the Austrians suffered 8,000 casualties, lost 12,000 and 200 cannons. This decisive victory, coupled with First Consul
Napoleon Bonaparte's victory at
Marengo, ended the
War of the Second Coalition. The following February (1801), the Austrians signed the
Treaty of Lunéville, accepting French control up to the Rhine and the French puppet republics in Italy and the Netherlands. The subsequent
Treaty of Amiens between France and Britain began the longest break in the wars of the Napoleonic period.
