Battle of Grand-Reng 1794
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 10 May 1794 – 13 May 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 | 50.3333, 4.0667 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Grand-Reng or Battle of Rouvroi (13 May 1794) saw a Republican French army jointly commanded by Louis Charbonnier and Jacques Desjardin attempt to advance across the Sambre River against a combined Habsburg Austrian and Dutch army under Franz Wenzel, Graf von Kaunitz-Rietberg. After winning crossings over the Sambre at Thuin and Lobbes on the 10th and Merbes-le-Château on the 12th, the French were defeated on 13 May at Grand-Reng and forced to retreat. The War of the First Coalition engagement marked the first of five attempts by the French armies to establish themselves on the north bank of the Sambre. Grand-Reng is now part of the village of Erquelinnes, Belgium, lying close to the border with France. Rouveroy (Rouvroi) is situated 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi) north. Grand-Reng is located about 33 kilometres (21 mi) southwest of Charleroi.
The spring of 1794 saw intense and continual fighting in the Austrian Netherlands between the French and First Coalition armies. While the Coalition army concentrated their main effort in the center against Landrecies, the French directed their efforts against the flanks. On the eastern flank, the small Army of the Ardennes under Charbonnier joined with three Army of the North divisions led by Desjardin to threaten Mons.
The two French forces failed to cooperate effectively; Desjardin's troops did all the fighting while Charbonnier's soldiers sat idle nearby.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Grand-Reng (revision 1370441955), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Erquelinnes 1794 · 5 km
- Siege of Maubeuge (1793) 1793 · 9 km
- Siege of Maubeuge 1914 · 9 km
- Battle of Wattignies 1793 · 15 km
- Siege of Mons (1691) 1691 · 15 km
- Siege of Mons (1572) 1572 · 15 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 Gosselies 1794
All 84 battles of the War of the First Coalition →
Browse more: battles in Belgium · Europe · Early modern battles