Battle of Schliengen At the Battle of Schliengen ( 26 October 1796 ) , both the French Republican Army commanded by Jean - Victor Moreau and the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles of Austria claimed victories . The village of Schliengen lies close to the border of present - day Baden - Württemberg and Switzerland , in the Kreis Lörrach . In the French Revolutionary Wars , Schliengen was a strategically important location for both armies . Control of the area gave either combatant access to southwestern German states and important Rhine river crossings . After retreating from Freiburg im Breisgau , Moreau established his army along a ridge of hills , in a seven mile line on heights that commanded the terrain below . Given the severity of the roads at the end of October , Archduke Charles could not flank the right French wing . The French left wing lay too close to the Rhine . Instead , he attacked the French flanks in force , which increased casualties for both sides . Although the French and the Austrians claimed victory at the time , military historians generally agree that the Austrians achieved a strategic advantage . The French withdrew from the battlefield in good order and several days later crossed the Rhine River at Hüningen . The battle is commemorated on a monument in Vienna and on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris . Background . Initially , the rulers of Europe viewed the French Revolution as a dispute between the French king and his subjects , and not something in which they should interfere . As revolutionary rhetoric grew more strident , they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis and his family ; this Declaration of Pilnitz threatened ambiguous , but quite serious , consequences if anything should happen to the royal family . The French position became increasingly difficult . Compounding problems in international relations , French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter - revolution . On 20 April 1792 , the French National Convention declared war on Austria . In this War of the First Coalition ( 1792 – 1798 ) , France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her , plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire . Initially the Coalition forces achieved several victories at Verdun , Kaiserslautern , Neerwinden , Mainz , Amberg and Würzburg , but in 1795 , a series of defeats at the hands of Jean Baptiste Jourdan pushed the Austrian force further east into Germany . Supporting Jourdan ' s right flank , Jean Victor Moreau even made a daring raid on the Bavarian capital of Munich . By late 1796 , however , the theater of war had moved to the Rhineland , and Austria and France struggled for control of the river and its crossings . Terrain . The Rhine River flows west along the border between the German states and the Swiss Cantons . The stretch between Rheinfall , by Schaffhausen and Basel , the High Rhine ( " Hochrhein " ) cuts through steep hillsides over a gravel bed ; in such paces as the former rapids at Laufenburg , it moves in torrents . A few miles north and east of Basel , the terrain flattens . The Rhine makes a wide , northerly turn , in what is called the Rhine knee , and enters the so - called Rhine ditch ( " Rheingraben " ) , part of a rift valley bordered by the Black Forest on the east and Vosges Mountains on the west . In 1796 , the plain on both sides of the river , some wide , was dotted with villages and farms . At both far edges of the flood plain , especially on the eastern side , the old mountains created dark shadows on the horizon . Tributaries cut through the hilly terrain of the Black Forest , creating deep defiles in the mountains . The tributaries then wind in rivulets through the flood plain to the river . The landscape was impressive , but rugged . A nineteenth - century traveler described it , " The mountains in the vicinity [ of Müllheim ] are bold ; the dark ravines contrasting with its sunny fronts offer some exquisite scenes . The Rhine . . . lay revealed before us for many a league , twisting and twining like a serpent of silver . . . dotted with innumerable islands , and flowing through a most extensive plain , perfectly flat . Our elevation was considerable and the eye ranged over a great extent of country : Elsace , in France , and the level country as far as Bingen , would have been seen to their furthest limits had not the distance melted the extreme verges into ' thin air ' . Many were the villages , and hamlets , and woods sprinkled over the landscape . . . " The traveler described additional walks , in which the forest of dark pine bordered directly on the road , " checquered by glades in which browsed sheep and goats . " The Rhine River itself looked different in the 1790s than it does today ; the passage from Basel to Iffezheim was " corrected " ( straightened ) between 1817 and 1875 . Between 1927 and 1975 , a canal was constructed to control the water level . In 1790 , though , the river was wild and unpredictable , in some places more than four or more times wider than the twenty - first century , even under regular conditions . Its channels wound through marsh and meadow , and created islands of trees and vegetation that were periodically submerged by floods . It was crossable at Kehl , by Strasbourg , and Hüningen , by Basel , where systems of bridges and raised roads made access reliable . Battle . Preliminaries . On 20 October 1796 , Jean - Victor Moreau ' s army of 20 , 000 united south of Freiburg im Breisgau with the troops of Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino , to defend the southwestern corner of the German states against the approaching Archduke Charles . Ferino ' s force was smaller than Moreau had hoped , bringing the total of the combined French force to about 32 , 000 . His army was isolated from the flanking army of Jourdan , which had retreated toward Mainz , further to the north , so Moreau chose to organize a careful retreat toward Basel , planning to cross the river at Hüningen . A rear guard protected the retreat out of Freiburg im Breisgau , and the French retreated through the Rhine valley , with the river on one side , and the Black Forest on the other . The Archduke entered the Breisgau on 21 September , where he was joined by both the Army of Condé of Louis Joseph , Prince of Conde and the corps of General Michael von Fröhlich . His combined forces of 24 , 000 followed Moreau ' s rear guard from the Freiburg , southwest , to a line of hills stretching between Kandern and the river . Dispositions . After a retreat of approximately , Moreau halted at Schliengen and distributed his army in a semicircle along a ridge that commanded the approaches from Freiburg . He placed his right wing , commanded by Ferino , at the neighboring heights of Kandern ( altitude ) and Sitzenkirch , and his left wing at Steinstadt . His center occupied the village of Schliengen ( altitude ) , and his entire force guarded a front protected by a small stream , the - long Kander that flowed out of the mountains west of Kandern and plunged into the Rhine when it passed Steinstadt . For extra protection , Moreau also posted a body of infantry in front of his center , giving it added depth . The Austrian army , augmented by the Army of Condé under the prince ' s command , approached from Freiburg . One strategy would be to turn the French right flank , at Kandern . In the summer , with dry roads and long days , this might have been feasible , but in late October , after the autumn rains , the roads would have been muddy and rutted , and nightfall came early . Rather than see his enemy slip from his grasp , Charles divided his army into four columns : the Condé ' s Emigré Corps formed the far right column , and the Condé ' s grandson , Louis Antoine , Duke of Enghien , commanded its vanguard ; the second column , commanded by the young but reliable Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg , included nine battalions and 26 squadrons ; the third column , commanded by the experienced Maximilian Anton Karl , Count Baillet de Latour , included 11 battalions and two regiments of cavalry . The fourth , commanded by the dependable Friedrich Joseph , Count of Nauendorf , included the entire vanguard of Charles ' corps . Charles ordered the first two columns , under the Prince Condé and Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg , to keep the left wing of the French army in check , preventing it from swinging around his army ' s rear in a flanking maneuver . The two larger columns , under Latour and Nauendorf , were to attack the French right wing in force , and to turn it so that the French army ' s back was to the Rhine . Despite specific orders to the contrary , the Conde ' s Corps formed down the river at Neuburg and made a spirited attack on Steinstadt ; they took the village with a bayonet charge and remained there under severe artillery and musket fire for the rest of the daylight hours . The second column , under command of Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg , formed at Müllheim , and took the hill opposite Schliengen , which also was heavily defended by General of Division Gouvion Saint - Cyr . Saint - Cyr tried several times to retake the position , but Fürstenberg ' s column clung to its prize throughout the day . Latour ' s column , divided into two smaller columns , took two well - defended vineyards between Schliengen and Feldberg , about to the northeast , dislodging the French after obstinate resistance ; the second portion of Latour ' s column approached Eckenheim from the reverse angle , and forced a French contingent from the village . On the far Austrian left , Nauendorf had the most difficult march . He divided his column into several smaller groups , and approached Kandern from several sides , up the steep slopes by coordinating contact between his column and Latour ' s , using Maximilian , Count of Merveldt ' s regiment . Grueling combat followed the steep , uphill advance . He finished pushing the French from Kandern , and two hamlets beside it , and he sent a note to this effect to Latour . As the battle finished , a ferocious storm unleashed hail and wind . So ended the first day of the Battle of Schliengen , during which Charles ' army had successfully taken both French flanks . Charles drew up his plans to attack the French center on the following morning . Withdrawal . Moreau appreciated his untenable position . If he remained on the ridge , Charles could turn his back to the Rhine and trap him . With luck , his troops might hold the Austrians off another day . There were hazards in trying to hold Charles off , though : in the meantime , the Austrians could swing behind him and cut him off from the bridge at Hüningen . With a strong rear guard provided by Generals Jean Charles Abbatucci and Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière , night he abandoned his position in the night and retreated part of the toward Hüningen . By 3 November he had reached Raltingen , and evacuated his troops the next day . Aftermath . After Moreau withdrew into France , Charles laid out plans to besiege Kehl and Hüningen , the two major bridgeheads across the river . Moreau offered an armistice to Charles , which Charles was inclined to accept . An armistice would free him to send a portion of his army into Italy , to relieve Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser at besieged Mantua . The Aulic Council in Vienna refused the armistice , so Charles ordered simultaneous sieges at Kehl and Hüningen , moving north with the bulk of his force to conduct the Siege of Kehl , and leaving Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg to conduct the siege in the south by Basel . While the Austrians were besieging these Rhine crossings , Moreau sent 14 Demi - brigade s into Italy to assist in at Mantua . Charles captured Kehl on 9 January 1797 , after a two - month siege , and Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg took Hüningen on 1 February . In Mantua , Wurmser surrendered on 2 February 1797 , after 16 , 300 men were killed or died of sickness .