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In May 1809, the Austrians had defeated Napoleon’s army in the bloody Battle of Aspern.
His enemies took heart.
After years of French military dominance, it seemed the tide was turning at last.
Three weeks later, Pope Pius the Seventh excommunicated Napoleon for annexing papal land, another
propaganda coup for his enemies...
But in the wake of its victory, Austria hesitated… not sure whether to seek peace or continue
the war…
While Napoleon responded with a hurricane of activity.
He summoned reinforcements to join him near Vienna:
The Army of Italy, under his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais, and Eleventh Corps under Marshal
Marmont, who’d together driven Archduke John’s Austrian army out of north Italy;
as well as Marshal Bernadotte’s Saxon Ninth Corps.
Napoleon’s army grew from 90,000 to a massive 164,000 men and 544 guns, to take on Charles’s
army of 128,000 and 414 guns.
Six weeks after his first attempt had ended in defeat, Napoleon ordered his army to cross
the river once more.
This time his engineers had built solid bridges across the Danube – to ensure there was
no repeat of the disasters of Aspern.
‘For the French army,’ Napoleon declared, ‘the Danube no longer exists.’
The stage was set for the largest battle yet seen in European history.
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On the evening of 4th July, in heavy rain, the French began crossing from the island
of Lobau - not towards the devastated villages of Aspern and Essling - but east towards Gross-Enzersdorf,
which was soon ablaze from French shells.
Archduke Charles had left only a small advance guard to delay the French.
By dawn General Masséna’s Fourth Corps and Oudinot’s Second Corps were driving
those troops back, winning space for the French army to deploy.
At 1pm, Napoleon was ready to begin his advance across 6 miles of flat cornfields towards
the main Austrian position:
an escarpment known as the Wagram, 100 metres behind the Russbach stream.
As General Lasalle’s light cavalry and Masséna’s Fourth Corps swung left to guard the flank,
Oudinot’s Second Corps and Davout’s Third Corps advanced towards the Wagram.
Bernadotte’s Saxon corps and Eugene’s Army of Italy filled the centre.
At 6pm, unsure of the enemy’s strength, Napoleon ordered a full-scale assault against
the Wagram plateau.
But his troops met determined Austrian resistance along the line.
By dusk the Saxon Ninth Corps had pushed into the village of Deutsch-Wagram.
The Saxon infantry wore white uniforms, like the Austrians, and as darkness fell, they
were mistaken for the enemy and fired on by friendly units.
The Saxons panicked, and fled with heavy losses.
Napoleon’s attempt at a quick breakthrough had failed.
That night both armies slept in the open, while Charles and Napoleon planned their next
moves.
On the second day, Napoleon planned for Davout’s Third Corps to lead the attack, rolling up
the Austrian flank, while his other corps pinned down the enemy with local attacks.
But to the Emperor’s fury, he learned that overnight, without orders, Marshal Bernadotte
had withdrawn his battered Saxons from Aderklaa… which the Austrians now occupied.
Aderklaa was a crucial strongpoint in the centre of the battlefield.
Napoleon gave orders for its immediate recapture, but the French and Saxon attack failed, with
heavy losses.
The Austrians had their own problems.
Archduke Charles, knowing he faced a superior enemy, had decided his only chance of victory
lay in an all-out, dawn attack.
He was relying on his brother Archduke John reaching him with 13,000 reinforcements, in
time to support the attack on the left.
But by dawn there was still no sign of him.
What’s more, as Fourth Korps began its assault on Grosshofen – on time - Third Korps, which
had received its orders late, was still getting into position, holding up the entire Austrian
right wing.
Charles had to tell Fourth Korps to abort its unsupported attack, until the other korps
were ready.
With the Austrians paralysed by delays, at 10 am, Davout began his attack.
A fierce infantry battle erupted in the village of Markgrafneusiedl… while in the fields,
dragoons and hussars fought a giant, whirling cavalry battle, as each side tried to outflank
the other.
Davout’s corps took the village, though they couldn’t stop the Austrians withdrawing
to a strong new position on the Wagram escarpment.
Meanwhile a serious threat had developed to Napoleon’s left flank and rear.
Klenau’s Sixth Korps had driven back the outnumbered French, with some units advancing
as far as Essling - dangerously close to Napoleon’s vital river crossings.
Napoleon urgently needed to reinforce his left flank.
But he was also determined to hold back his reserves for a decisive attack.
So he ordered Masséna’s Fourth Corps to march across the battlefield and reinforce
the left.
A huge redeployment like this, right in front of the enemy, was high-risk.
So Marshal Bessières was ordered to lead a cavalry attack straight against the enemy
centre.
Casualties were high.
Even Marshal Bessières had his horse killed under him, to the alarm of his men.
But the enemy was kept busy, while Fourth Corps completed its redeployment – and forced
Klenau’s corps to fall back.
Napoleon now assembled a grand battery of more than 80 cannon, in the centre of the
battlefield.
This was one of Napoleon’s trademark tactics – a concentration of artillery to blast
the enemy line, and pave the way for a decisive French attack.
The Grand Battery fired an estimated 15,000 rounds, setting light to the cornfields.
Around 1pm, Napoleon ordered a general attack.
As Davout continued to batter at the enemy flank…
Fourth Corps would advance on the left…
Second Corps on the right…
While in the centre, General Macdonald would lead forward 8,000 men of the Army of Italy,
formed up in a giant three-sided square, to secure his flanks.
But despite the terrible French cannonade, Austrian Third Korps and Grenadiers of the
Reserve met the French advance with torrential fire.
Macdonald’s giant square was cut to pieces, its men mown down en masse by cannon fire,
and the attack stalled.
But the Austrian army, battered by relentless French attacks, was near breaking point.
Every part of the line was under pressure from the French.
Archduke Charles, determined above all to keep his army intact, ordered a retreat.
The Austrian withdrawal was disciplined and well-executed.
Napoleon had his victory.
But his army was also so shattered by fatigue and heavy losses, it was unable to launch
any effective pursuit.
The Battle of Wagram was a brutal slugging-match, the biggest and bloodiest battle yet seen
in European history.
French victory came at unprecedented cost:
An estimated 37,500 casualties, against 41,500 Austrian.
Four days later, French troops caught up with the retreating Austrians at Znaim.
As the fighting escalated, Charles knew he could not withstand the French a second time,
and asked for a ceasefire.
But he had not consulted his older brother Emperor Francis, who was furious when he heard
the news.
Not least because long-awaited British support was finally on the way…
Three weeks after the Battle of Znaim, the largest amphibious force Britain had ever
assembled – 35 ships of the line and 39,000 troops – landed at Walcheren Island, on
the Scheldt Estuary.
Its aim was to destroy French shipping and naval stores.
But following the successful bombardment and capture of Vlissingen, British commanders
let the initiative slip from their grasp.
Their force was bottled up by French troops on the marshy Dutch coast, where it was decimated
by fever and dysentery.
About 4,000 died.
Many more became permanent invalids.
The survivors were evacuated back to England in December.
Emperor Francis, informed of the British debacle, and persuaded by his generals that Austria
couldn’t fight on, made peace with Napoleon.
In October, Austria signed the Treaty of Schönbrunn, giving up territory to the French Empire,
Bavaria, Saxony, the Duchy of Warsaw and Russia.
In total, the Austrian Empire was stripped of three and a half million subjects, forced
to pay an indemnity, limit its army to 150,000 men, and join Napoleon’s Continental System,
which meant ending all trade with British ships and merchants.
Archduke Charles, meanwhile – one of Napoleon’s more skilled opponents – had fallen out
so bitterly with his brother, Emperor Francis, that he never held active command again.
Napoleon had won another crushing victory.
But there were worrying signs for the French Emperor.
His enemies were learning, while he would increasingly have to rely on young conscripts
to fill the gaps left by veterans killed or wounded on campaign.
Few could have guessed in 1809, but Napoleon had just fought his last victorious campaign.
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