The War of the Fifth Coalition, or the Austro-French War of 1809 was a conflict between Britain-backed Austria and the Empire of France with its allies in the Rhine Confederation. Austria started the war hoping that Napoleons forces would be weakened by the Peninsular War in Spain. This proved to be a misjudgment. Although Archduke Karl was able to defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Aspern, he suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Wagram. In the Peace of Schönbrunn the country suffered territorial losses and was greatly weakened. Politically, Austria was subsequently forced to adapt to France before joining the anti-Napoleonic coalition in 1813 in the wars of liberation.
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What circumstances led to the War of the Fifth Coalition 1809?
Philip von Stadion and the Austrian War Party
In contrast to Prussia with the Prussian reforms, Austria did not undergo a comprehensive state reform after its defeat in 1805 in the Third Coalition War. The groundwork for the War of the Fifth Coalition was laid as Johann Philipp von Stadion, a supporter of the Austrian war party, gained an influce in the Austrian politics. He had been appointed Foreign Minister at the insistence of Archduke Karl after the Peace of Bratislava. Stadion was actually conservative and strongly rooted in the tradition of the Old Empire. Nevertheless, he included national slogans in his statements. His aim was to make up for defeat in a new war. He hoped that the other German countries would join Austria in a war. As a result, the German states ruled by Napoleon were to be liberated and a new empire was to be created on the basis of a renewed standing order. Stadion wanted to defeat the enemy with his own weapons and relied on the “Austrian nation”, without it being clear what exactly was meant by this and how it related to Germany. Nevertheless, many stadiums took statements to mean that Austria was to act as the spearhead of the German nation against Napoleon. Publicity for Stadion was provided in particular by Friedrich Gentz. He was temporarily employed in the State Chancellery and remained a propagandist for a liberation struggle against Napoleon even after the war. Another important employee of Stadion was his brother Friedrich Lothar von Stadion.
Austrian policy of adjustment and army reform
In view of the French superiority, Stadion was initially forced to adopt a policy of adjustment. It decided to give top priority to army reform and armament. This task was assumed above all by Archduke Karl. In addition, all other reform efforts were postponed. In any case, these did not have the depth and scope as the reforms in the Rhine Confederation states or the Prussian reforms.
The army reform included, among other things, the establishment of a Landwehr on a provincial basis from 1806 onwards. Archduke Johann propagated the national idea and became the organiser of the Landwehr. However, the success of the Landwehr was not the same in all parts of the Reich. The Poles in Galicia were considered to be pro-French. The reaction in Bohemia was restrained and the Hungarian part of the empire rejected the Landwehr completely. This therefore played a role above all in the German-speaking parts of the Reich There were also considerable reservations in the military. Nevertheless, with the Landwehr, Austria had effectively introduced general conscription even before Prussia.
The army reform and the new Landwehr led to the government having a potentially strong army of defence and field troops at its disposal at the beginning of 1809. However, the war began before these mobilization possibilities were almost completely available. At the beginning of the war the Austrian troops consisted of the field army of 300,000 men. There were still 136,000 reserve troops available. In addition, 20,000 recruits were approved by Hungary. About 300,000 men were available at Landwehr and the Hungarian Insurrection.
Austria on the verge of bankruptcy
On the diplomatic stage, the government sought an alliance with Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. However, Stadion was forced to strike early and without a broad alliance. One factor in this was that Austria’s public finances were on the verge of bankruptcy after the wars of recent decades and as a result of the intensified armaments policy. This forced the start of the war in 1809 while reorganization of the army was not yet complete. The new land forces units were poorly trained and insufficiently armed. The potential allies showed little inclination to assist Austria effectively. A plan to unleash an anti-Napoleonic uprising in northern Germany became known in France and Napoleon forced the dismissal of Baron vom Stein. This weakened the Prussian war party and Frederick William III stuck to his policy of neutrality.
The conditions for a successful war were based on the hope that Napoleon and his troops would be tied up by the Peninsular War in Spain. There was also hope in Austria for an inner-French opposition against Napoleon. There was a chance if it was possible to defeat the French troops and those of the Rhine Confederation in southern Germany as quickly as possible before Napoleon could appear on the scene with his main army. These successes should lead to uprisings against Napoleon in the occupied territories and to the entry of other states into the war.
The Austrian ambassador in Paris, Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, was inclined towards the war party. This was supported by Empress Maria Ludowika and Archduke Johann. Archduke Karl, on the other hand, was rather sceptical about military strength despite the reforms. In February 1809 the leaders of the monarchy decided to go to war. Apart from Great Britain and Sweden, however, Austria had no allies. Russia had officially allied itself with France in the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 and secretly in the Treaty of Erfurt in 1808. In the end, the political situation was based on a complete misjudgment of Napoleon’s weakness.
The attack on Bavaria 10 April 1809
The Austrians started the war on 10 April 1809 by attacking Bavaria, which was allied with France. The Austrian main army was under the supreme command of Archduke Karl. It consisted of four corps and two reserve corps with a total of about 126,000 men and 382 guns. The army advanced across the Inn. It was to be supported by other units. One division stood near Salzburg. North of the Danube, two corps stood at the Bavarian-Bohemian border.
For Napoleon, the Austrian attack came faster than expected, and he also assumed that the Austrians would advance into Bohemia. Therefore the first instructions were contradictory. It was to his advantage that for various reasons the Austrian advance was very slow. Archduke Karl had fragmented his troops strongly.
Napoleon already arrived at the new European battlefield with his troops in Donauwörth one week later on 17 April. However, the French army was hardly comparable to that of earlier wars. The majority of the soldiers were young and inexperienced. About half of the army consisted of foreign aid contingents.
When Napoleon joined the army, three Bavarian divisions had retreated before the Archduke’s advance across the Isar. The French under Davout with about 63,000 men were near Regensburg. Another 64,000 men, partly from the Rhine Confederation and partly from France under Massena, were near Augsburg. There were also other smaller units.
On 16 April Archduke Karl forced the crossing over the Isar and intended an offensive. In the area of Regensburg there were battles with high Austrian losses around April 20th. Among these were the Battle of Abensberg on the 20th and the Battle of Eggmühl on the 22nd. The Austrian defeat had to do with poor reconnaissance, but also with the slowness of decisions and movements. Napoleon on the other hand acted quickly and prudently.
Napoleons March to Vienna
The Austrians found themselves on the defensive. In the battle of Ebelsberg on 3 May, the French suffered considerable losses, but the way to Vienna was clear. Before the French arrived in the capital, AUstrian authorities and the high court left the city.
Vienna was occupied by the French on 13 May. The reception of Napoleon by the Viennese was icy. He resided at Schönbrunn Palace and from there he ordered the annexation of the Papal States.
The Austrians had destroyed all bridges over the Danube before their retreat. Their army gathered on the other side of the river in a camp between Korneuburg and Stammersdorf. A total of about 96,000 men and 300 guns were assembled there. Napoleon gathered about 115,000 men near Vienna.
Aspern and Wagram
Napoleon then tried to win the left bank of the Danube from the island of Lobau on 21 May. This was followed by the battle of Aspern (21/22 May). There Archduke Karl defeated Napoleon. This was his first defeat in a field battle. The crossing over the river had failed.
The news spread quickly in Europe and even a counter-propaganda that soon began could not prevent the myth of Napoleon’s invincibility from being damaged. However, the victory of the Austrians was not decisive for the war. After the battle both armies faced each other on both sides of the Danube for about six weeks. Napoleon used this time to bring all kinds of troops together. On July 4th he had 188,000 men and 396 guns. Archduke Karl was considerably less successful in strengthening his troops. He eventually commanded 136,000 men and 446 guns.
On July 5th and 6th there was the Battle of Wagram, in which Napoleon decisively defeated the Archduke. Both sides suffered heavy losses. As a result, the Austrian army was forced to retreat to south-western Moravia. During the retreat there were several fights. The battle near Znojmo on 11 July ended with the request for an armistice by Archduke Karl.
Patriotism and its limits
Unlike the war of 1805, this campaign was popular among the population. A patriotic enthusiasm developed beyond the Habsburgs’ sphere of power. The Austrian commander-in-chief Archduke Karl took this into account. In an appeal he had it spread: ‘Not only for its independence, but for Germany’s independence and national honour’ Austria would fight.
The Austrian victory at Aspern in particular boosted hopes both inside and outside Austria. Kleist dedicated an ode to Archduke Karl as the “conqueror of the insurmountable”. He, Friedrich Schlegel, Adam Müller von Nitterdorf and others tried to further increase the patriotic mood.
Hopes for a general popular uprising in Germany were not fulfilled. In northern Germany there were only various actions, but they remained isolated. These included Ferdinand von Schill, the Doernberg Uprising and the procession of Friedrich Wilhelm of Braunschweig. These movements also failed because, unlike at the time of the liberation wars, they ultimately lacked broad popular support.
It was different in Tyrol. There a broad uprising movement arose around Andreas Hofer against the Bavarian-French occupation. This led to several real battles on the Bergisel. It was not until November of that year that the uprising could be crushed. The execution of Andreas Hofer made him a national hero. The execution of Schill had similar consequences.
Secondary battlefields of the war
Smaller units of the Austrian army under Field Marshal Archduke Ferdinand Karl and Archduke Johann fought in Poland and Northern Italy.
On 15 April Archduke Ferdinand Karl and 32,000 men entered the Duchy of Warsaw. He defeated the Polish troops under Poniatowski near Raszyn, occupied Warsaw and advanced to Thorn. However, he did not succeed in gaining a permanent foothold on the right bank of the Vistula. A popular uprising took place against the Austrians. This gave Poniatowski more room to manoeuvre and he marched into the Austrian part of Galicia. Thereupon Russia, as a sham ally of the dukedom and avoiding any action against Ferdinand, began the occupation of Galicia up to a demarcation line along the Vistula and Dunajec. While Archduke Ferdinand Karl withdrew to the main theatre of war in Bohemia in July, Russians and Poles occupied Krakow.
Archduke Johann had 46,000 men at his disposal. He crossed the Alps and surprised the Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais. He was defeated in several meetings – such as the battle of Sacile – and had to retreat behind the Piave. However, the Austrians had also suffered heavy losses. For this reason, but also because of the weather and road conditions, they advanced only slowly. This prompted Eugen to counterattack, but he was beaten again in several skirmishes at the end of April. In the meantime Archduke Johann had decided to retreat. He lost a battle on the Piave river on 8 May. Weakened by a fragmentation of his forces and the return of land forces units, further battles were lost on 11 and 12 May. Despite fierce resistance the French conquered the Austrian positions on the Predil Pass and near Malborgeth. The Archduke continued his retreat via Klagenfurt and Graz. On 1 June he reached Körmend in the Raab valley. Eugen followed him via Villach, Klagenfurt, Judenburg over the Semmering Pass to Wiener Neustadt. On 13 June some Hungarian troops joined Johann near Raab. Napoleon had given Eugen the task of conquering Raab and, by driving Johann away, of securing the flank and backs of the main French army. On 14 June, the Battle of Raab, which had been lost to Austria, took place. Johann marched from there to Preßburg. Raab soon passed into the hands of the French. As a result, the French had gained a firm position to protect the main army, and Eugen was able to reinforce Napoleon’s main army with part of his units. Conversely, Archduke Johann could not join the Austrian main army early enough before the Battle of Wagram.
Consequences of the War of the Fifth Coalition
As a result of the defeat at Wagram, the armistice of Znojmo was concluded on 12 July. Archduke Karl had already offered this before the battle, because he knew that further resistance was pointless. Against the will of his generals Napoleon accepted the offer after the battle.
The peace negotiations dragged on because the war party remained influential. It was also hoped that the British would land in the Netherlands. But the Walcheren expedition failed. Therefore, the Peace of Schönbrunn was concluded on 14 October. The peace terms were hard for Austria. It lost Salzburg, Berchtesgaden and the Innviertel to Bavaria. Western Galicia came to the Duchy of Warsaw. Russia was given a territory in eastern Galicia. The country also lost the Dalmatian coast and Trieste, which became Illyrian provinces to France. Thus Austria no longer had direct access to the sea. It also had to pay substantial contributions and had to stop supporting the insurgents in Tyrol. Restrictions were imposed on the military; the army was now only allowed to comprise 150,000 men.
Austria was greatly weakened by the peace, so that it could no longer threaten Napoleonic hegemony. At least it remained a weakened but independent power. However, it was subsequently forced to adopt a policy of adjustment towards Napoleon.
Emperor Francis I blamed the forces of reform for the catastrophe of 1809. His brothers Karl and Johann lost their prominent positions and Stadion was replaced by Metternich. The Landwehr was dissolved. In 1811, the high cost of the war and the payments to France led to de facto national bankruptcy.
Metternich was convinced that sooner or later the Napoleonic system would collapse. To maintain Napoleon’s goodwill, he advocated his marriage to the Emperor’s daughter Marie Louise. In fact, it turned out that Napoleon had passed the peak of his power. Spain remained a permanent problem and a national consciousness directed against Napoleon began to develop in German-speaking countries. After the defeat in Russia, this led to the wars of liberation.