page_title: Battle of Feldkirch
section_title: Outbreak of war
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Feldkirch / Background / Outbreak of war
context_page_description: The Battle of Feldkirch saw a Republican French corps led by André Masséna attack a weaker Habsburg Austrian force under Franz Jellacic. Defending fortified positions, the Austrians repulsed all of the French columns, though the struggle lasted until nightfall. This and other French setbacks in southern Germany soon caused Masséna to go on the defensive. The War of the Second Coalition combat occurred at the Austrian town of Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, located 158 kilometres west of Innsbruck.
  On a flimsy pretext, a Republican French army invaded Switzerland in January 1798 and forced the country into an uneasy alliance marked by occasional revolts. By the start of hostilities with Austria in early 1799, Masséna was in command of the Army of Helvetia. Going on the offensive, the French inflicted defeats on the Austrians at Maienfeld, Chur and Feldkirch on 6 and 7 March. Ordered to attack Feldkirch in late March by his superior Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, Masséna attacked with troops under Nicolas Oudinot. Jourdan's defeats at Ostrach and Stockach soon forced the French to recoil.
context_section_description: French aggression in Switzerland, Ottoman Egypt, Holland, Malta, the Kingdom of Piedmont and the Papal States caused the formation of the Second Coalition against her. The United Kingdom soon brought Habsburg Austria, the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Portugal and Ottoman Turkey into the Coalition. Attacking early, King Ferdinand IV of Naples briefly drove the French from Rome in November 1798. However, a French army under Jean Étienne Championnet soon routed the hapless Neapolitan army and by 23 January 1799 had conquered Naples, forcing Ferdinand to flee to Sicily.
  By this time it was obvious to the French Directory that war was imminent and 200,000 conscripts were called up. Aside from Bonaparte's forces in Egypt, the French were divided into five poorly-equipped armies. Masséna was in Switzerland with 30,000 men, Brune defended Holland with over 20,000 soldiers, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan held Alsace with 37,000 troops, Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer had 58,000 men in northern Italy and Jacques MacDonald (who succeeded Championnet) counted 30,000 soldiers in central and southern Italy. In addition, there was a reserve force commanded by Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte threatening Mannheim and Philippsburg. The Directory ordered Masséna to seize the Vorarlberg and Graubünden (Grisons, Rhätien) and advance on the County of Tyrol. Jourdan was instructed to cross the Rhine River, transit the Black Forest and link its right wing with Masséna's left. Schérer was directed to link with Masséna's right while resisting the Austrians near Verona. The Austrians had 75,000 men in northern Italy under Paul Kray, 18,000 troops in the Tyrol led by Count Heinrich von Bellegarde, 26,000 soldiers in the Vorarlberg and Graubünden under Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze and 80,000 men led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen on the Lech River in southern Germany.
caption: André Masséna
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