ORDER OF BATTLE // August 16, 1705
Battle of Cassano
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 42,000 estimated
France
22,000
Medium-confidence figure
Habsburg monarchy
20,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Cassano, fought on 16 August 1705, brought together two of the War of the Spanish Succession's most prominent commands: the duc de Vendôme and Philippe de Vendôme led the French force of 22,000, while Prince Eugene and Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau commanded the Habsburg army of 20,000. French casualties of 3,000 against Habsburg losses of 4,500 indicate the engagement was costly for both sides, with the Habsburgs sustaining notably heavier losses. The battle formed part of the contest for northern Italy, a subsidiary but strategically significant theater of the wider war in which France and the Habsburgs competed for control of the Italian peninsula while the principal struggle over the Spanish succession was prosecuted simultaneously in Iberia and the Low Countries.
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