Battle of Raab

Overview

The Battle of Raab or Battle of Győr was fought on 14 June 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars, between Franco-Italian forces and Habsburg forces. Most of the Habsburg army consisted of poorly trained Landwehr and militia. The battle was fought near Győr, Kingdom of Hungary, and ended in a Franco-Italian victory. The victory prevented Archduke John of Austria from bringing any significant force to the Battle of Wagram, while Prince Eugène de Beauharnais's force was able to link up with Emperor Napoleon at Vienna in time to fight at Wagram. Napoleon referred to the battle as "a granddaughter of Marengo and Friedland", as it fell on the anniversary of those two battles.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Raab, fought near Győr in the Kingdom of Hungary, produced a Franco-Italian victory over Habsburg forces composed largely of poorly trained Landwehr and militia. The outcome carried direct strategic consequences for the climactic Battle of Wagram: Archduke John's army was left too degraded to contribute any significant force to that engagement, while Eugène de Beauharnais was able to link up with Napoleon at Vienna in time to fight there. The battle thus shaped the correlation of forces at Wagram by simultaneously removing a substantial Austrian column from the order of battle and reinforcing the French main effort. Napoleon's own framing of the victory — calling it 'a granddaughter of Marengo and Friedland,' both of which fell on the same calendar date — reflected the weight he assigned to it within the broader campaign of 1809.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)