Battle of Friedlingen

Part of the War of the Spanish Succession

Map of the Battle of Friedlingen; French = yellow; Imperial Army = red; North is on the right side

Date	14 October 1702
Location	near Freiburg, present-day Germany 47°35′N 7°36′E / 47.583°N 7.600°E / 47.583; 7.600
Result	French victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of France^[1]

Holy Roman Empire (Imperial Army)

Commanders and leaders

Claude Louis Hector de Villars

Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden

Strength

17,000 men,^[2] 33 cannons

14,000 men^[2]

Casualties and losses

1703 killed, 2601 wounded

3000 killed, 742 wounded

War of the Spanish
Succession:
Europe

Flemish and Rhine campaigns

Italian campaigns

Spanish and Portuguese campaigns

The Battle of Friedlingen was fought in 1702 between France and the Holy Roman Empire. The Imperial forces were led by Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, while the French were led by Claude Louis Hector de Villars. The French were victorious.

Prelude

The French were seeking to expand their influence on the eastern bank of the river Rhine. In the autumn of 1702, Villars received orders from Louis XIV to attack Swabia. The French forces needed to join their Bavarian allies and defeat the Imperial troops that stood between them.

Battle

The French crossed the Rhine at Weil am Rhein, just north of Basle on 14 October 1702. Villars attacked the Imperial army at Friedlingen.^[3] The future field marshal Louis William entrenched his army and managed to hold the French for some time. He then retreated in good order to the North.

Aftermath

It was a Pyrrhic victory for Villars. French losses were high: 1,703 dead and 2,601 wounded, whereas the Imperial forces lost 3,000 dead and 742 wounded. Villars was also prevented from joining the Bavarians.^[4]

The villages on the eastern bank of the Rhine suffered much damage, especially Weil am Rhein.

Notes

↑
- "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis..." (Ripley & Dana 1879, p. 250).
- On the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)" (Vinkhuijzen collection 2011).
- "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour"(Chisholm 1911, p. 460).
1 2 Lynn (1999), p. 276.
↑ nowadays a suburb of Weil am Rhein
↑ The Spanish Succession 1702

References

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Flag". Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 454–463.
Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Flag". The American Cyclopædia. 8. p. 250.
"The Vinkhuijzen collection of military uniforms: France, 1750-1757". New York Public Library. 25 March 2011 [2004]. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013.
Lynn, John A. (1999), The Wars of Louis XIV 1667-1714, Longman, ISBN 978-0-582-05629-9

External links

Villars writes about the battle of Friedlingen

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.