Second Battle of Kehl (1796) 1796
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 18 September 1796 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1796 | 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 | French Revolutionary Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 48.5750, 7.8050 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Second Battle of Kehl occurred on 18 September 1796, when General Franz Petrasch's Austrian and Imperial troops stormed the French-held bridgehead over the Rhine river. The village of Kehl, which is now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, was then part of Baden-Durlach. Across the river, Strasbourg, an Alsatian city, was a French Revolutionary stronghold. This battle was part of the Rhine Campaign of 1796 of the War of the First Coalition, in the French Revolutionary Wars.
In the 1790s, the Rhine was wild, unpredictable, and difficult to cross. Its channels and tributaries created islands of trees and vegetation that were alternately submerged by floods or exposed during the dry seasons. A complex of bridges, gates, fortifications and barrage dams linked Kehl with Strasbourg. These had been constructed by the fortress architect Sébastien le Préstre de Vauban in the seventeenth century. The crossings had been contested before: in 1678 during the French-Dutch war, in 1703 during the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1733 during the War of the Polish Succession, and earlier in the Battle of Kehl, when the French crossed into the German states on 23–24 June. Critical to French success would be the army's ability to cross the Rhine at will.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Second Battle of Kehl (1796) (revision 1379639865), 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
- Siege of Kehl (1703) 1703 · 1 km
- Siege of Kehl (1796–1797) 1797 · 1 km
- Battle of Strasbourg Bridge 1634 · 1 km
- Battle of Kehl (1796) 1796 · 1 km
- Siege of Kehl (1733) 1733 · 1 km
- Siege of Strasbourg 1870 · 4 km
Other battles of the French Revolutionary Wars
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- Battle of Genoa (1795) 1795
- Battle of Groix 1795
- Battle of the Hyères Islands 1795
- Action of 9 September 1796 1796
- Battle of Borghetto 1796
- Battle of Caldiero (1796) 1796
- Battle of Calliano 1796
- Battle of Castiglione 1796
All 81 battles of the French Revolutionary Wars →
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