Battle of Gosselies 1794
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 30 May 1794 – 3 June 1794 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1794 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Belgium | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War of the First Coalition | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.4000, 4.4333 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Gosselies or Battle of Charleroi (3 June 1794) saw a Republican French army co-commanded by Jacques Desjardin and Louis Charbonnier try to cross the Sambre River against a joint Dutch and Habsburg Austrian army under William, Hereditary Prince of Orange. The French defeat in the battle marked the third of five attempts by their armies to win a foothold on the north bank of the Sambre during the War of the First Coalition. In 1794, Gosselies was a separate village but is now part of the Charleroi municipality, about 7 kilometres (4 mi) north of the city center. Charleroi is located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Brussels.
The spring of 1794 saw bitter fighting in the Austrian Netherlands as the numerically superior French armies mounted continual attacks against the forces of the First Coalition. In trying to cross the Sambre, the French were beaten at Grandreng on 13 May and Erquelinnes on 24 May. Nevertheless, the French recrossed the Sambre on the 26th and laid siege to Charleroi on 30 May. After their defeat and withdrawal on 3 June, the French would make one more failed attempt to cross the Sambre at Lambusart on 16 June before they triumphed in the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Gosselies (revision 1370441869), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Thimeon 880 · 0 km
- Battle of Charleroi 1914 · 1 km
- Battle of Lambusart 1794 · 10 km
- Battle of Fleurus (1622) 1622 · 12 km
- Battle of Fleurus (1794) 1794 · 12 km
- Battle of Fleurus (1690) 1690 · 12 km
Other battles of the War of the First Coalition
- Siege of Le Quesnoy (1793) 1793
- Siege of Maastricht (1793) 1793
- Siege of Mainz (1793) 1793
- Siege of Toulon (1793) 1793
- Siege of Valenciennes (1793) 1793
- Battle of Aldenhoven (1794) 1794
- Battle of Courtrai (1794) 1794
- Battle of Erquelinnes 1794
- Battle of Fleurus (1794) 1794
- Battle of Grand-Reng 1794
All 84 battles of the War of the First Coalition →
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