1809 May 21-22 80,000
troops, 14,000 cavalry, and 290 cannon of Austrian
Army (under Archduke Charles, brother of Francis I)
defeated 40,000 troops of French Army (under
Marshall Massena and Marshall Lannes) that crossed
the Danube River at Aspern & Essling, just
north of Vienna (Austria). French Marshall Lannes
was killed in battle.
1809 July 6 French Army regrouped and defeated
Austian Army, Battle of Wagram.
1809 October 14 Austria signs "Peace of Schonbrunn"
treaty, cedes Poland, Carithia, Carniola, and
Croatia.
1810 March 11 Maria Louise (daughter of Francis I)
married Napoleon. 1813 August 12 200,000 Austrian
(under Count Schwarzenburg), Prussian, and Russian
troops defeated 260,000 French troops at Dresden
(Germany). 38,000 Austrian/Prussian/Russian and
10,000 French killed. Maria Louise taken prisoner,
by her father Francis I.
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FALL
OF VIENNA AUSTRIA 1809
Archduke Charles,
brother of Francis I, Count Andrew O'Reilly
,Napoleon
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1809, the Fifth Coalition and War
with Austria
While Napoleon was busy chasing the
British army in Spain, Austria took advantage of his absence
and formed a Fifth Coalition with Britain. Although the
British promised only a small amount of troops, the biggest
support came in the form of their gold. Austria attacked
Bavaria, a key French ally in Germany. The French army was
in trouble, and help arrived in the form of the Emperor
himself. The opponents fought several rather indecisive
battles along the banks of the Rhine, and both sides
suffered severe causalities, Napoleon losing one of his most
valuable marshals, Jean Lannes, without garnering the great
victory that he had intended. Passive Austria pulled back,
and Napoleon, feeling aggressive, advanced his army toward
Vienna. The French captured the city, but Napoleon learned
that Archduke Charles of Austria and Count Andrew O Reilly
was approaching with a force of 115,000 men. In late May
Napoleon retreated to the island of Lobau on the western
side of the Danube; Charles, rather than trying to
annihilate the French army, sat on his heels and let the
French troops depart. He assumed Napoleon would accept a
negotiated peace. He was wrong.
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