First Battle of Höchstädt 1703
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 20 September 1703 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1703 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Germany | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War of the Spanish Succession | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 48.6000, 10.5833 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The First Battle of Höchstädt took place on 20 September 1703 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Fought near Höchstädt an der Donau in Bavaria, a combined Franco-Bavarian force under Claude Louis Hector de Villars defeated an Imperial army led by Hermann Otto II of Limburg Stirum.
During the summer of 1703, a Franco-Bavarian offensive along the Danube potentially threatened the Habsburg capital of Vienna. In response, Imperial forces under Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden entered Bavaria, and captured Augsburg. He then ordered Limburg Stirum to cross the Danube at Donauwörth with 18,000 men, and join an attack on the Franco-Bavarian camp at Nordendorf. The latter arrived in Höchstädt on 19 September, but Villars and Maximilian had already reached Donauwörth.
Early on the morning on 20 September, Limburg Stirum found the main Franco-Bavarian army of 15,000 was advancing on him from Donauwörth, with a corps of 8,000 under the Marquis d'Husson in his rear. He therefore decided to withdraw north to Nördlingen, but was attacked by d'Husson as he did so. The Imperials drove their outnumbered opponents back, before the main Franco-Bavarian force arrived on the battlefield at 11:00 am.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of Höchstädt (revision 1370618690), 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 Höchstädt (1800) 1800 · 2 km
- Battle of Blenheim 1704 · 5 km
- Battle of Wertingen 1805 · 9 km
- Battle of Schellenberg 1704 · 19 km
- Battle of Donauwörth 1805 · 19 km
- Battle of Zusmarshausen 1648 · 22 km
Other battles of the War of the Spanish Succession
- Battle of Luzzara 1702
- Battle of Vigo Bay 1702
- Siege of Kaiserswerth 1702
- Siege of Landau (1702) 1702
- Siege of Venlo (1702) 1702
- Battle of Cap de la Roque 1703
- Battle of Ekeren 1703
- Battle of Krottensee 1703
- Battle of Speyerbach 1703
- Siege of Bonn (1703) 1703
All 61 battles of the War of the Spanish Succession →
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