On the 5 and 6 July 1809, north of Vienna, took place one of the most important confrontations in human history until then, the Battle of Wagram. It opposed an Austrian army led by generalissimus Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen to a Franco-Italo-German army under the command of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.
Contents
- Abbreviations of military ranks and dignities
- Opposing armies
- Kaiserlich-königliche Armee
- Grande Armée
- Franco-Allied Forces
- Grand Army of Germany
- Army of Italy (Eugène)
- Austrian army
- Vanguard (von Nordmann)
- I Corps (von Bellegarde)
- II Corps (von Hohenzollern)
- III Corps (Kollowrat)
- IV Corps (von Rosenberg)
- VI Corps (Klenau)
- Reservekorps (Liechtenstein)
- References
Below are presented the military units which participated at this battle. On this page are listed only the troops who were close enough to the hostilities to be able to intervene. The Austrian V Corps, left behind as a strategic reserve, and the "Army of Inner Austria", whose elements from the vanguard arrived close to the battlefield only in the afternoon of the 6th, too late to intervene, have been omitted from the article. Similarly, the French VIII Corps left outside the theater of hostilities; the Franco-Allied garrison and the batteries on the island of Lobau; the squadrons and the French regiments left on the right bank of the Danube to protect the lines of communication, and most part of the Center Corps belonging to the Franco-Italian army, located in Pressburg, have also been omitted from this article because they played no part in the battle.
The Austrian army was not reinforced during the second day. Archduke Charles commanded about 140,000-150,000 men, including 15,000 cavalrymen and over 400 artillery pieces.
During the first day of the fighting, Napoleon's army numbered about 155,000-160,000 men and around the noon of the second day it was reinforced up to 165,000-180,000 men, out of whom 27,000 were cavalrymen, and more than 400 cannons. This figure remains approximate, as it does not take into consideration the losses suffered during the first day of the battle, which are difficult to estimate. The losses of the army are only a global estimation, including the hostilities on both the 5th and the 6th of July. In addition, on the 6th, Napoleon basically could not rely on the Saxon infantry from the Saxon IX Corps, which was completely disorganised and unfit for combat following the hard fighting during the first day. The French and Allied forces included two armies: the "Grand Army of Germany", which had taken part in the previous campaign in Southern Germany and Austria (the main theater of the War of the Fifth Coalition), and the "Army of Italy", of smaller dimensions, which arrived on the battlefield in stages and only with a part of its effectives, during the two days. The order of battle of the French Army was profoundly reorganised during June, and it was modified even during the battle, with some units being attached to different commanders, according to circumstances.
