Battle of Luzzara
- This article is about the 1702 Battle of Luzzara. For the Battle of 1734 see the Battle of Guastalla.
| Battle of Luzzara | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Spanish Succession | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Habsburg Monarchy |
 Kingdom of France[1] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Eugene of Savoy | Duc de Vendôme | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
25,000 91 Cavalry Squadrons, 35 Infantry and "some" guns[2] | 30,000 - 36,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2,000 | 4,000 | ||||||
The Battle of Luzzara was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession, fought on 15 August 1702 near Luzzara, Italy between forces of France under Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme, and forces of Austria under Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Prelude
In the summer of 1702, the French army took Guastalla, then turned north, intending to besiege Borgoforte. Vendôme set up camp near Luzzara on the right bank of the Po River.
When Eugene heard of this, he was besieging Mantua. He decided to give up the siege and assemble all available forces to intercept Vendôme.
Arriving near Luzzara, Eugene set up his headquarters a few kilometers north near the village of Riva.
The battle
Vendôme was in a favorable position, having prepared his defenses and with the Po River on his left side and the right side of the Austrians. The rest of the terrain was an open field, full of ditches, channels, fences, and high bushes.
The Austrians had more experienced troops, and commanders like Daun, Vaudemont, Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Guido Starhemberg.
On the morning of 15 August, Eugene did not attack, because many of his troops were not in position, though called for urgently. Eugene's army, according to Nafziger records, was deployed in three wings, each with two lines of troops[3] He waited until all of his troops had reached the battle line.
Then around 5 PM he attacked. His plan was to push the French away from the river and surround them. He attacked several times but with no practical result, against strong French resistance.
The battle raged until darkness.
After this battle, the two armies lay facing each other until the French decamped first on 4 November, ending the 1702 campaign.
Notes
- ↑
- "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis..." (Ripley & Dana 1879, p. 250).
- On the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)" (Vinkhuijzen collection 2011).
- "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour"(Chisholm 1911, p. 460).
- ↑ http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/702HDC.pdf
- ↑ Nafziger, George. "Nafziger" (PDF).
References
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Flag". Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 454–463.- Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Flag". The American Cyclopædia. 8. p. 250.
- "The Vinkhuijzen collection of military uniforms: France, 1750-1757". New York Public Library. 25 March 2011 [2004]. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013.