This Day on the Battlefield: Trenton

OK, so it actually took place on December 25th-26th, but I had other stuff to do. This battle is immensely famous, and rightly so, because it was of monumental strategic importance to American history. While no great tactical success (although the tactics leading up to the battle itself are pretty remarkable), the monumental moral value of this victory must not ever be underestimated, for it may have single-handedly saved the revolutionary fire from sputtering out on the North American continent.

Background:

By the last days of 1776, "the game was pretty near up." According to none other than George Washington himself. While the year had started out highly for the rebels with the taking of Boston in March, the pendulum swung back mercilessly for the redcoats as the year went on- with Washington being repeatedly defeated by General William Howe and forced from New York City. His army had gone from over 10,000 in July to little over 2,000 in December, and would be disintegrating almost entirely in but a scant few days when the one-year enlistments of most of its remaining soldiers expired. Under these conditions, it seemed relatively impossible to raise another army and continue the struggle.

Washington knew that he needed a victory. And in fact, he wrote the phrase "victory or death" on a paper in his office. Of course this presented manifest problems. How would he win a victory with such a dilapidated army, and in such terrible weather conditions as those present at the end of December, 1776?

The Plan:

Washington, camped across the Delaware River, planned to attack a detachment of some 1,500 Hessians encamped in winter quarters at Trenton, New Jersey.

Washington did have somewhat of an advantage with this plan. No one would be expecting an attack in such cold weather. The traditional campaigning season had long since ended. The standard of the time was to camp for the winter in a specific quarters and then march out again during the spring.

Additionally, there was a great feeling of resentment amongst the American colonists at the mere presence of the Hessians on American soil. They viewed this as a conflict between kindred spirits, and the Hessians as a foreign, mercenary interference in that conflict. An attack on the Hessians would thus be an easy motivational tool.

The problem was, of course, that it would be a logistical nightmare for Washington to get his troops across that river. It would be a nighttime crossing of a body of water (always a very difficult maneuver even under the best of circumstances), and what's more, the Delaware River had large chunks of ice in it. And then, after the crossing, Washington would need to march several miles in the snow, and many of his soldiers did not have boots, let alone proper winter clothing.

The March:

Washington did have an ace up his sleeve though- John Glover, the officer who had saved his army in New York in the summer. Glover had been a fisherman before the war, and so had ample experience in seamanship.

Glover ferried Washington's army across the Delaware River, ice and all, with no casualties and in good condition, though it did take longer than Washington would have liked. The march was difficult. Bloody footprints were indeed, left behind in the snow.

The Battle:

Washington wanted to attack the detachment at Trenton before the sun rose, but that was an impossibility at this point. The Continental Army however, did arrive in good order by the early morning, and achieved complete surprise.

Washington occupied the high ground from the north, while John Stark marched into the city from the west. The fog of war was present in earnest when the Hessian commander, Colonel Rall, was told that he was surrounded. Because of this, he attempted to organize a counterattack.

Washington however, was in a very strong position, and easily countered these movements. Colonel Rall himself was mortally wounded in the assault, and the detachment was forced to surrender. It was over in minutes.

After taking the lion's share of the detachment as prisoners, Washington's troops returned to their own quarters.

Aftermath:

The moral value of the victory was immense. It showed that American soldiers could indeed defeat their enemies, and that the revolution was not a hopelessly lost cause. The victory allowed Washington to prevent his army from disintegrating at the end of the year and as the winter broke, more soldiers signed up to the ranks.

Washington had bought his army and his cause time and the good publicity that it desperately needed. The victory was probably singularly responsible for preventing the Continental Army and by extension, the revolution itself, from collapsing. His daring attack against all expectations is indeed a foremost example of the old adage 'fortune favors the bold.'

Washington would go on to win another valuable victory and maintain his momentum in less than two weeks: The Battle of Princeton.

For some famous trivia, the future President James Monroe was present at this battle and was wounded in it.

Refrences:

Mount Vernon's Digital Encyclopedia on the Battle of Trenton.

Battle of Trenton 1776 American Revolution George Washington

This Day on the Battlefield: Austerlitz

Well, it was actually on December 2nd and this entry is a day late, but whatever. This battle was an immensely important part of modern history. Ironically, the outcome of the action wasn't of much long-term importance to France, but rather its greatest rival for the coming century-and-a-half, the rising nation of Germany. It can truly be said that France's greatest general- Napoleon Bonaparte, was the grandfather of its coming principal antagonist. History is not without a strong sense of irony.

Background:

In 1805, Napoleon, Emperor of the French, was facing the Third Coalition- an alliance led by Great Britain, Austria, and Russia. After the disastrous defeat at Trafalgar earlier in the year, Napoleon knew that an invasion of Britain was now impossible, and he made the correct decision to deal with his Continental enemies- the Austrians and Russians.

The Coronation of Napoleon

The Campaign:

In addition to his mastery of battlefield tactics, Napoleon was also a masterful military organizer who revolutionized the way units were put together, moved, and supplied themselves. He was the innovator of the corps system. Each corps would be under the command of one of his senior officers, and each would be responsible for its own line of march and supply. This allowed his armies to march longer, farther, and more efficiently than their opponents. There are many who say that winning a battle is not a matter of tactics, but of organizing for it, and Napoleon was preeminent in this art during his storied career. The Austerlitz Campaign is perhaps the best example.

Napoleon crossed the Rhine on September 25th. This was already very late in the season to begin a campaign, and Napoleon's intention was to crush his enemies before they could concentrate their forces.

His opponent in the initial stages was the Austrian general Karl Mack, who marched his forces into Bavaria without waiting for the Russians to arrive and reinforce him. This is precisely what Napoleon wanted. The Austrian concentrated his forces around the town of Ulm, which Napoleon made his primary objective.

This is where the brilliance of the corps system showed itself. Napoleon directed each one toward Ulm, closing the noose around Mack's neck. Mack was compelled to surrender, taking a sizable force out of commission that could now no longer be utilized against the French when the decisive moment arrived.

Napoleon takes the surrender of Mack

It was at this point that Napoleon needed to consider the possibility of Prussian intervention. He skilfully conducted a non-aggression pact over the tomb of Frederick the Great to nullify this possibility. The adept diplomacy did not stop there. The Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, offered an armistice to Napoleon. The French Emperor had nothing to gain from a cessation of hostilities at this point, and so offered terms that were deliberately punitive: Austria to abandon Tyrol and Venice and the retreat of the Russians to Poland. These terms were, as Napoleon planned, rejected.

Though he only had 35,000 men, the Russian commander, Mikhail Kutuzov, crossed the Danube and drove back a French detachment. Napoleon responded to the defeat in stride and seized Vienna, which had been abandoned.

Napoleon still intended to destroy Kutuzov's force before it could link up with any others, but one of his underlings, Marshal Joachim Murat, negotiated an armistice wherein the Russians would leave Germany. A furious Napoleon ordered his subordinate to attack, but this was indecisive, and the Russo-Austrian forces gathered strength. The two forces would meet near Austerlitz.

The Battle:

Napoleon's position was strong, but that of his Russian and Austrian enemies was not. Their columns were isolated.

Phase I:

A Coalition attack toward the French right was repulsed. The offensive was centered toward the French stationed in the village of Telnitz, and with reinforcements by Marshal Davout, the situation was stabilized.

Phase II:

Napoleon had in fact deliberately kept his right weak, so that he could attack in strength toward his primary objective. When he saw that his enemy's center was weakened, the French Emperor ordered an attack toward the area known as Pratzen Heights, which was the lynchpin of the Russo-Austrian line.

A cavalry charge into the Russo-Austrian line nearly killed the Russian Grand Duke Constantine and destroyed the cavalry brigade of General Liechtenstein of the Austrians.

French Cuirassiers

Phase III:

Now the finishing touches were administered by Napoleon. The IV Corps under Marshal Soult marched toward the French right and made a flank and rear attack on the enemy. Now that they were pressed everywhere, the Russo-Austrians were forced to retreat in confusion.

Aftermath:

Peace was arranged with the Treaty of Pressburg, ending the War of the Third Coalition. France was now the preeminent power in Germany, eclipsing the Austrians. Francis II would in the next year renounce the ancient title of Holy Roman Empire, at last dissolving the anachronistic entity that had lasted for a millennium. Napoleon would consolidate the former Imperial territories and principalities into the much more compact Confederation of the Rhine to serve as a buffer between France and its principal Continental enemies- Prussia, Austria, and Russia.

The Holy Roman Empire in 1789

Its replacement, the Confederation of the Rhine, at maximum in 1812 (by ziegelbrenner)

Assessment:

The political consequences of this battle- the dissolution and replacement of the old Holy Roman Empire, were monumental. Though Napoleon would go down to defeat in the end, the victors of the Napoleonic Wars opted to keep his idea of a German league (the German Confederation) and did not attempt to restore the Holy Roman Empire. The several hundred polities that composed the old entity were thus reduced to around forty, with Austria and Prussia the preeminent figures in the organization.

The first major step toward German unification had thus at last taken place. Prussia and Austria (and later on, France) would go on to decide the fate of the new Germany in the latter half of the century.

The German Confederation after the Napoleonic Wars

Sources:

Edward Cust, Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth Century, (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1863)

Reginald George Burton, From Boulogne to Austerlitz, Napoleon’s Campaign of 1805, (London: George Allen & Company, LTD, 1912)

Walter Scott, The Life of Napoleon, (Philadelphia: E.L. Carey and A. Hart, 1839) Battle of Austerlitz 1805 Napoleon Bonaparte

This Day on the Battlefield: Lutzen

November is a time that is late in the traditional campaigning season, and not many battles are fought in the mid-point of autumn, as armies moved toward their winter quarters, preparing for the next campaign in the Spring. Nevertheless, it was on this date (ten days later in the modern Gregorian Calendar, but still traditionally marked on the date of the old Julian Calendar) in 1632 that one of the most important battles of the devastating Thirty Years' War occurred- Lutzen. It was here that the Protestant forces, though victorious, suffered a horrible loss- the leader which had singularly rescued their cause from certain destruction.

Background:

Begun in 1618, the Thirty Years' War was actually a series of smaller wars from the period 1618-48 which were fought primarily on German soil. Religious as well as political reasons existed for the conflict, which was the last and most destructive of the religious wars set off by the Reformation.

Things at first did not appear to be going well for the Protestant princes in Germany. Defeat at the Battle of White Mountain (1620) removed Frederick V from the Bohemian throne and caused confusion. Christian IV of Denmark intervened and was in turn defeated. The Treaty of Lubeck was a humiliation, forcing the Danish King to surrender territory and abandon any support for Protestant powers in the Holy Roman Empire.

Led by talented generals in Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, and Albrecht von Wallenstein, it seemed that nothing would stop the Catholic Imperial forces from overrunning all of Germany and bringing the heretical Protestant sect to heel at last.

It was at this point that a "lion from the North" emerged, succeeding where Christian IV failed. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, landed in northern Germany. He would go on to defeat Tilly at the decisive Battle of Breitenfeld in September 1631, paving the way for a new era in battlefield tactics and shattering his formidable Catholic army. Gustavus defeated Tilly again at the Battle of Rain, this time costing the latter his life (as an aside, there is a touching story of this battle that I've written about here on one of my other blogs).

In a year, the tide of the war had changed completely. Gustavus was now in control of most of Germany. Left with no other options, the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, was compelled to recall Wallenstein, who he never fully trusted.

The Campaign:

Wallenstein had success in the 1632 campaign, defeating the Saxons and even inflicting a loss on Gustavus himself at the Battle of Alte Veste. Saxony was now under threat and it was imperative that this hotbed of Protestantism be protected.

In November, Wallenstein began to move toward winter quarters at Leipzig (incidentally, very near the vicinity where Breitenfeld was fought). He did not expect any more moves from Gustavus because the campaigning season was at its end. Wallenstein split his forces, sending part of them toward the Rhineland under General Pappenheim.

Hoping to surprise Wallenstein, Gustavus set out from his camp to attack the Imperial army. When he heard of this, Wallenstein gathered what forces he could and made ready for battle, setting up a strong defensive position. Gustavus' gambit to take Wallenstein by surprise had failed.

The two armies met near the village of Lutzen.

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden

Albrecht von Wallenstein

The Battle:

Positioning of the forces

Phase I:

The battle began with a Swedish cavalry assault on Wallenstein's left flank, which was weak. After some initial success, Pappenheim arrived on the field and began to push the Swedes back. However, the general was mortally wounded in his counterattack. He would not be the only notable casualty.

In the confusion of the charge, Gustavus got separated from his men and was shot in the back by an Imperial musketeer. He died on the field, and the Protestants lost their champion.

Gustavus' death

Phase II:

The Swedish center had begun advancing on the entrenched Imperial center and right. Led by the battle-hardened Yellow and Blue regiments, the infantry marched forward, but was crushed by Imperial artillery and musket fire. To add more injury to the picture, the Imperial left wing cavalry rode in to flank the Swedish assault. The infantry assault as expected panicked and broke, with the Yellows and Blues, the best of the Swedish army, being almost totally destroyed.

The King's Chaplain, Jakob Fabricius, then began to rally the retreating men, and General Dodo Freiherr zu Innhausen und Knyphausen (did you get that?), a trusted professional soldier, held the reserves steady, and thus began to restore order amongst the fleeing infantry.

Phase III:

After a lull in the battle, the Protestant second-in-command, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, organized another attack. This last phase would come down to the grim 'push of pike.' This latter part is somewhat ironic, because a central piece of Gustavus' Adolphus' success in the war was the rescinding of the importance of pike formations in his army, with long lines of musketeers that could bring maximum firepower to bear against an enemy taking preeminence.

The Swedish infantry eventually broke through and took the Imperial artillery position, rendering their entire line vulnerable. In this atmosphere, Wallenstein had no choice but to retreat, despite additional reinforcements arriving later.

Aftermath:

Both sides suffered about the same number of casualties (several thousand). Tactically, the Protestant forces could claim victory, as the Imperial Catholics retreated from the field. Strategically, Saxony was also saved from invasion. However, in the meantime, the Protestants lost Gustavus Adolphus, who saved them from destruction.

His body was returned to Sweden in early 1633 and buried in Riddarholm Church. He was voted to be called 'Gustavus Adolphus the Great.' No other Swedish monarch shares the moniker.

 

Assessment:

The close Swedish victory at Lutzen could be seen as a short-term strategic gain, but a long-term strategic loss. The Imperial military continued to recover nicely, and dealt its Protestant foes severe defeats such as at Nordlingen in 1634. Gustavus' death opened the way for the seesaw of the Thirty Years' War to reverse again.

With Gustavus' death, the best chance at ending the Thirty Years' War was halted, and the tumult would continue for another sixteen years. Germany would feel the terrible effects of this continued bloody seesaw between its Protestant and Catholic Princes.

See also:

A very good summary of the campaign and battle by Pierre Cloutier Battle of Lutzen 1632 Thirty Years' War