In April 1792, Hotze and his regiment joined the autonomous Austrian Corps under Paul Anton II, Count von Esterházy in the Breisgau although they took no part in any military clashes. Early in 1793, Hotze and his regiment were assigned to the Upper Rhine Army, commanded by General of Cavalry Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, at which time Hotze was promoted to major general. As commander of the third column, he played an essential role the storming of the line at Wissembourg and Lauterburg, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa. In the following year, 1794, he was assigned to the Army Corps of the Prince von Hohenlohe-Kirchberg, on the left bank of the Rhine, and later, from May–September at Heiligenstein on the Rhine, Schweigenheim, Westheim, and Landau in der Pfalz, against the French army commanded by the general of division Louis Desaix.