Aspern

Add a subpage to this text

Read the help page for usage.

 

Aspern and Essling, a town and village on the north side of the Danube, the former about half a league, the latter about 2 leagues below Vienna, situated on the great meadowy plain of the Marchfield, extending from the river to the wooded mountain heights of the Bisamberg, celebrated for the 2 days’ terrible fighting between the French and Austrians, on May 21 and 22, 1809, and the first defeat of the emperor Napoleon, who was here beaten and forced to retreat by the archduke Charles.

In the early part of the campaign, Napoleon, with the grand army, had made his way through the Tyrol, up the rivers Inn and Isar; had defeated the archduke at Eckmühl; forced him across the Danube, into the mountains of Bohemia, at Ratisbon, which he took by assault, thus interposing between the Austrian army and capital and then, detaching Davout with 40,000 men to amuse the imperial general, had descended the Danube, and made himself master of Vienna; while from the Italian side his lieutenants, Eugène Beauharnais, and Macdonald, were advancing victoriously through Dalmatia, Carniola, and up the valley of the Muhr, in which Jellachich was severely defeated, to join their commander. In the mean time, the archduke Charles, who since his defeat at Eckmühl had been moving slowly down the river, on the northern side, hoping for an opportunity to fight at advantage and rescue the empire under the walls of the capital itself, took post with his army on the Bisamberg, over against the island of Lobau, and another smaller islet, which here divide the Danube into 4 channels.

The archduke was at the head of 100,000 men, and was in hourly expectation of being joined by his brother, the archduke John, with 40,000 more, which would have been raised to 60,000, had that prince effected his junction, as he was explicitly ordered to do, with Kolowrat at Lintz, and which would have occupied a most commanding position in the rear of Napoleon, and on the principal line of his communications.

It was Napoleon’s object, who had concentrated under his own orders 80,000 admirable soldiers ready to take the field, including the imperial guard and the reserve cavalry of Bessières, to cross the Danube and give battle to the archduke, in the hope of crushing him before the arrival of his reinforcements. To this intent, he bridged the river from the right bank to the island of Lobau, with a structure of most solid materials, supported on 68 large boats and 9 huge rafts, and from Lobau to the Marchfield, midway between the villages of Aspçrn and Essling, with a slighter fabric of pontoons; and on the morning of the 21st began to pass his troops across, with the utmost alacrity and diligence. The Austrian commander, from his mountain position, perceived the rashness of the manoeuvre, by which the emperor was pushing his vast host across a wide and rapid river, by means of a single bridge, which could only admit of a slow and gradual defiling of the men of all arms, over its long and narrow causeway, difficult to cavalry, yet more difficult to artillery; and which, in case of his being forced to retreat, scarcely offered a possibility of saving the army; and perceiving it, resolved at once to avail himself of the opportunity of crushing half the French host on the northern bank, while the rest of the army was either in the act of passing, or on the southern side. Sending orders to Kolowrat, Nordmann, and the other officers in command up the river, to prepare boats laden with heavy materials and combustibles for the destruction of the bridges, when the time should arrive, the archduke kept his great army out of sight, ordering his cavalry and outposts only to make a nominal resistance, and then to fall back before the advance of the French, which was led by Masséna; until at 12 o’clock the movement of the enemy was sufficiently developed, above 40,000 French being already on the northern shore—to justify his assuming the initiative.

At that hour, descending from the wooded heights of the Bisamberg, with 80,000 men, of whom 14,000 were splendid cavalry, and 288 cannons, he precipitated himself upon the enemy, making the 2 villages of Aspern and Essling, on Napoleon’s flanks, the principal points of his attack; the central space between these 2 strong places, which were built of stone, with garden walls and many enclosures, was occupied by the tremendous Austrian batteries, guarded chiefly by cavalry, with Hohenzollern’s infantry in reserve in the rear. The fighting on both the flank attacks was terrific, and the fury of the assaults and obstinacy of the defence almost unparalleled in the history of war. Both villages were taken and retaken several times, and so terribly did the Austrian artillery devastate the French lines, that Napoleon ordered a grand charge of cavalry to take the batteries, if possible. The superb French cuirassiers of the guard charged with their usual impetuous valor, routed the Austrian horse, and would have carried the guns, but that they were hastily withdrawn, and the infantry formed in squares, which, as at Waterloo afterward, defied all attempts to break their impenetrable formation, and at last defeated the horse, and compelled them to retire, shattered and decimated, into their own lines. In the mean time, Aspern was taken by the imperialists, their centre was gradually but irresistibly gaining ground, in spite of the gallant devotion of the cuirassiers, who charged again and again with constantly diminishing numbers, and who alone prevented the French lines from being broken through.

Night brought a brief cessation of the strife; but the French had suffered a decided defeat in a pitched battle; their left flank was turned, their centre forced back almost to the bridges; and although Essling, on their right, had been defended by the gallantry of Lannes, it was surrounded by the Austrians, who slept on their arms among the French dead, waiting only the return of light to renew their offensive operations.

During the whole night, however, fresh forces were defiling across the bridges, and debouching upon the Marchfield, and at daybreak, after all the losses of the preceding day, Napoleon had full 70,000 men in line, while Davout was beginning to cross over at the head of 30,000 more. The battle began by renewed attacks on the two disputed villages; Essling was carried by the imperialists, and Aspern retaken by the French. Both villages were the scene of desperate fighting all day long, and both were taken and retaken several times with the bayonet, but at last remained in the hands of the Austrians, who, in the evening, advanced their artillery beyond both places, and actually crossed their fire upon the rear of the French. But during these bloody conflicts, Napoleon, who was relieved by his vast accession of forces from the necessity of acting on the defensive, had recourse to his favorite manoeuvre of an overwhelming attack on the centre. At the head of a huge column of above 20,000 infantry, with 200 cannon preceding them, and a tremendous cavalry force in their rear, he launched Lannes and Oudinot directly on the Austrian centre, where the lines appeared the weakest, between the left of Hohenzollern and the right of Rosenberg. At first, this tremendous attack seemed to be perfectly successful; the Austrian lines were forced; a huge gap made between Rosenberg and Hohenzollern, into which the cavalry burst with appalling fury, and cut their way clear through to the reserves of the prince of Reuss, far in the rear; and already the cry went abroad, that the battle was lost; but the archduke Charles was equal to the emergency; the reserve grenadiers were brought up at double quick time, and formed in a checker of squares; the numerous dragoons of Prince Liechtenstein came galloping up behind them, and, with the colors of Zach’s corps in his own hand, the gallant prince restored the battle.

The terrific column of Lannes could advance no further, but halting, began to exchange volleys with the squares, and, unable to deploy, was crushed by the concentrated fire of the batteries, playing on it at half musket shot. In vain the cavalry charged home on the bayonets of the squares, for not a square wavered or was broken; and, at length, the Austrian dragoons of the reserve, coming up with loud shouts, charged the cuirassiers in their turn, routed them, and drove them in confusion back upon their infantry, and completed the disorder. Immediately after this repulse, Hohenzollern broke through the French lines on the right of the centre with 6 Hungarian regiments of grenadiers, and carried all before him, even to the rear of Essling, which, with Aspern, were both carried finally by the imperialists. From these villages, as the Austrian centre was now driving all before it, in spite of the unparalleled exertions of the French army, which was now in full retreat to the island of Lobau, the Austrian batteries crossed their fire, with fatal effect, on the bridges, every shot telling on the crowded masses of men and horses.

Meanwhile, to augment the perils of the French, the bridge connecting the island with the southern shore was broken by the Austrian fireboats and rafts, and all escape from the island was rendered, for the moment, impossible. Still, with unexampled firmness the rear-guard of the French held the Austrians in check, until, at midnight, the last of the enemy having withdrawn from the field of battle into the island, the thunder of the Austrian batteries ceased, and the exhausted artillerists fell asleep beside their guns, worn out by the fatigues of that unparalleled and glorious day.

Seven thousand French were buried on the field of battle by the victors; 29,793 were carried, wounded and prisoners, into Vienna. Lannes and St. Hilaire were mortally wounded, and died a few days afterward. On the side of the imperialists, 87 superior officers, and 4,200 privates, were killed; beside 16,300 wounded. But the victory, gained under the very walls, and almost within sight of the capital, was complete; the enemy, broken, defeated, and dispirited, were cooped up in the narrow limits of the island of Lobau, and, had the archduke John, in obedience to his orders, made his appearance m the rear of the French with 60,000 fresh men, on the morning following the defeat of Aspern, it were difficult to say what might not have been the result.

But Napoleon’s time had not yet arrived, and the nations were yet doomed to suffer 4 years longer, before the final downfall of the military colossus should restore them to their lost freedom, by the fields of Leipsic and Waterloo.