Siege of Kehl ( 1796 ) The 1796 - 1797 Siege of Kehl lasted from October 1796 to 9 January 1797 , during the War of the First Coalition ( part of the French Revolutionary Wars ) . Forces numbering 40 , 000 of the Holy Roman Empire under the command of Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg besieged and captured the French - controlled fortress of Kehl , across the Rhine River from Strasbourg . The French defense under Louis Desaix and Jean Victor Marie Moreau almost upset the siege when they executed a sortie that nearly succeeded in capturing the Austrian artillery park . After the defenses were thoroughly riddled by heavy bombardment from the besiegers , the French defenders capitulated and withdrew in 9 January 1797 . Background . Initially , the rulers of Europe viewed the revolution in France as an event between the French king and his subjects , and not something in which they should interfere . In 1790 , Leopold succeeded his brother Joseph as emperor and by 1791 , the situation surrounding his sister , Marie Antoinette , and her children , alarmed him . In August 1791 , in consultation with French émigré nobles and Frederick William II of Prussia , he issued the Declaration of Pilnitz , in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis and his family . They threatened ambiguous , but quite serious , consequences if anything should happen to the royal family . The French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter - revolution abroad . 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 . The war went well , initially , for the Coalition allies . In 1792 , a mostly Prussian allied army under Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on the Rhine . In July , Brunswick ' s army easily took the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun . Brunswick then issued a proclamation , written by the émigré Prince de Condé , declaring their intent to restore the King to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial - law . This had the effect of motivating the revolutionary army and government to oppose them by any means necessary , and led almost immediately to the overthrow of the King by a crowd which stormed the Tuileries Palace . As the war continued , in the north , the Allies succeeded in pushing the French Republican forces out of the Lowlands , at Valmy on 20 September , they came to a stalemate against Dumouriez and Kellermann in which the highly professional French artillery distinguished itself . Although the battle was a tactical draw , it gave a great boost to French morale . Further , the Prussians , finding that the campaign had been longer and more costly than predicted , decided that the cost and risk of continued fighting was too great , and they decided to retreat from France to preserve their army . Although the campaigns in the north went , overall , in favor of the Allies , the French had been successful on several other fronts , occupying Savoy and Nice in Italy , while General Custine invaded Germany , several German towns along the southern Rhine , and reaching as far as Frankfurt . Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again , winning a great victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November , and occupying the entire country by the beginning of winter . A key to the French success was the army ' s ability to cross the Rhine at will . The crossings at Hüningen , near the Swiss city of Basle , and the crossing at Kehl , near the Alsatian city of Strasbourg , gave them ready - access to most of southwestern Germany ; from there , French armies could sweep north , south , or march east , depending on their military goal . The imperial army had laid siege to Kehl , but the garrison there had successfully defended themselves . Sieges at Hüningen and Kehl . In 1796 , Jean Baptiste Jourdan initiated a plan against the Archduke Charles main imperial army , near Kehl . Jourdan ' s idea was to crush Charles north of Kehl ; if he could not do that , he would at least push Charles back into Bavaria , and from there to Austria , forcing a culminating battle somewhere along the Danube between Passau and Vienna . In this way , he could pressure the House of Habsburg into submission . After Jean Victor Moreau led his army across the Rhine at Hüningen to support Jourdan ' s plan . After crossing , he swung north , and proceeded down the Rhine , on the east side , toward Kehl . When Baillet de Latour engaged the main Austrian force northeast Kehl , Archduke Charles entrusted to Lieutenant Field Marshal Fürstenberg the command of the siege force at Hüningen , which included two divisions with 20 battalions of infantry and 40 squadrons of cavalry . It speaks highly of Charles ' confidence in the Prince that the Archduke would charge him with the taking of the Hüningen bridgehead . His confidence was well - placed ; on 27 October 1796 , Fürstenberg initiated the siege works before Hüningen . His chief engineer opened the fortifications and drained the water - filled moat . Fürstenberg offered the commander of the bridgehead , the French general of brigade Jean Charles Abbatucci , the opportunity to surrender , which was declined . In the night of 30 November – 1 December , Fürstenberg ' s troops stormed the bridgehead twice , but were twice repulsed . In one of these attacks , the French general was mortally wounded and died on 3 December . Conduct of the siege at Kehl . The French had made several night sorties on the works of the besiegers . In these forays , they would chase the diggers out of the lines , but the Austrian reserves always recovered the works before the French could capture any cannons or destroy the construction . Every day , the Austrians were expanding their works and erecting new batteries . On the 8th they had built some new trenches on the left of the Schutter , by the entrance to the old village of Kehl . By 16 Frumaire , these were connected in a grand parallel , a series of batteries in a semicircle around the new village . On the morning of 16 Frimaire , the Austrians opened fire simultaneously with their batteries , and kept up a salvo the entire day . At four in the afternoon , they attacked a French position , which was defended by 300 men . They succeeded in taking it , but the French counter - attacked , and recovered it , taking also some prisoners . At the same time , they attacked the other works , called the " Bonnet de Pretre " , where only 20 men were posted , and succeeded in taking it , and afterward connected it to their other battle works . Siege and Capitulation at Hüningen . After the capitulation of the French at Kehl on 10 January 1797 , Fürstenberg finally received the additional forces with which he could end the siege at Hüningen . He ordered the reinforcement of the ring of soldiers surrounding Hüningen and , on 2 February 1797 , the Austrians prepared to storm the bridgehead when General of Division Dufour , the new French commander , pre - empted what would have been a costly attack , offering to surrender the bridge . On 5 February , Fürstenberg finally took possession of the bridgehead . Francis II , the Holy Roman Emperor , appointed him as Colonel and Proprietor of the 36th Infantry Regiment , which bore his name until his death in battle in 1799 . French Order of Battle . 1st Division . General of Division Ambert 2nd Division . General of Division Duhesme 3rd Division . General of Division St . Suzanne Total : 40 Battalions . Of these , Moreau notes , fifteen battalions were in daily service on the right bank , about six battalions in the fortification of Kehl itself , and three in the entrenchments . Three battalions occupied the islands on the rhine ( Ehrlerhin , and Kintzig ) . A reserve of six battalions encamped on the left bank of the Rhine . Austrian Order of Battle . Cavalry . An emigre named Klinglen , from Strasbourg , was a major general in the service of the Emperor , and he gave useful information to the enemy of the locality . Several engineers . The Imperial troops employed to guard the Rhine are not included .