page_title: Battle of Neerwinden (1793)
section_title: Results
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Neerwinden (1793) / Results
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karl Mack English: Karl Mack von Leiberich
context_page_description: The Battle of Neerwinden saw a Republican French army led by Charles François Dumouriez attack a Coalition army commanded by Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The Coalition army of the Habsburg Monarchy together with a small contingent of allied Dutch Republic troops repulsed all French assaults after bitter fighting and Dumouriez conceded defeat, withdrawing from the field. The French position in the Austrian Netherlands swiftly collapsed, ending the threat to the Dutch Republic and allowing Austria to regain control of her lost province. The War of the First Coalition engagement was fought at Neerwinden, located 57 kilometres east of Brussels in present-day Belgium.
  After Dumouriez's victory at Jemappes in November 1792, the French armies rapidly overran most of the Austrian Netherlands. Rather than driving the Austrians to the west bank of the Rhine River, Dumouriez and the French government became preoccupied with a war with the Dutch Republic. During the breathing space offered by her enemy, Austria assembled an army under the Prince of Coburg and struck back.
context_section_description: On the Coalition side, Mack was given much of the credit for Coburg's triumph. Blamed for the defeat, Miranda traveled to Paris to intrigue against Dumouriez. The Austro-Dutch reported losses of 97 officers, 2,762 rank and file and 779 horses. The French lost 4,000 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 men and 30 artillery pieces captured. General of Brigade Georges Guiscard de Bar was killed and four generals were wounded. Another source estimated Austrian losses as 2,600 killed and wounded and 400 missing while French casualties were 3,000 killed and wounded plus 1,000 missing or prisoners. Immediately after the battle, about 6,000 French volunteers deserted the colors and went home. Three days later, Dumouriez's army only numbered about 20,000 troops as the men deserted in hundreds. On 23 March there was a clash at Pellenberg where Coburg with 38,000 soldiers defeated Dumouriez with 22,000. The Austrians sustained 900 casualties while inflicting 2,000 on the French.
  On 24 March the French army retreated through Brussels. Dumouriez began calling in his detachments such as Harville's corps. At this point Dumouriez opened negotiations with the Austrians. He offered to evacuate Belgium if his armies were allowed an unmolested retreat. The terms were accepted and the French armies withdrew to camps behind the border. The Army of Holland was allowed to march through enemy lines and took position near Lille. The Army of the Ardennes was posted at Maulde, the Army of the North at Bruille-Saint-Amand, and the Army of Belgium at Condé-sur-l'Escaut and Valenciennes. Geertruidenberg was evacuated on 2 April and Breda on 3 April.
  Dumouriez was a monarchist at heart and he despaired when King Louis XVI went to the guillotine on 21 January 1793. He found the political situation in Paris to be chaotic. He was appalled at the tendency of radicals to interfere with army commanders. Having already negotiated with the enemy, Dumouriez offered to treat and the Austrians sent Mack on 25 March. The French commander proposed to take the army and march on Paris. He would overthrow the National Convention, crush the Jacobins and restore the Constitution of 1791. For their part, the Austrians pledged to halt their advance while he carried out his coup. But Dumouriez moved too slowly. On 1 April, four commissioners and the War Minister Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville arrived at his headquarters to demand that the commander explain himself in Paris. They were seized and handed over to the Austrians.
  Dumouriez tried to put the frontier fortresses in the hands of his adherents but failed. Miaczinski botched the attempted seizure of Lille and was later executed.  Dumouriez believed that he could control the regular infantry and cavalry regiments. On the other hand, the volunteers and the artillery remained devoted to the National Convention. In one incident, Dumouriez was fired on and nearly arrested by Louis-Nicolas Davout's volunteer battalion. He then made the mistake of being seen with an Austrian escort and the gunners took the lead in refusing to obey him. Seeing that his plot had fallen apart, Dumouriez defected to the Austrians on 5 April 1793. He was accompanied by the Duke of Chartres, Valence, several more generals and some cavalry. No longer bound by the previous agreement, Coburg prepared to invade France.
  Hitherto the armies had been ruled and directed by officers. Now begins the Revolutionary nightmare.
  Ironically, the treason and defection of Dumouriez gave the Jacobins full scope to take control of the armies. Before Neerwinden, the army obeyed its commanders. Afterward, the representatives on mission were given extraordinary powers over army commanders. The generals might pay with their lives for defeat, but the real authority lay with the political operatives. Meanwhile, the new War Minister sent his agents to spy on the generals. These men were quick to report any complaint against officers, which could result in disgrace or execution. Elements of this system stayed in force even after Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and g
caption: Karl Mack
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