User:Rebel Redcoat/Sandbox2

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Carpi
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
Prince Eugene leading his army across the Alps in 1701
Date 9 July 1701 Location Carpi, in (Modern day Italy) Result Austrian Habsburg victory
Belligerents
Austrian Habsburgs	Kingdom of France, Duchy of Savoy, Kingdom of Spain
Commanders
Prince Eugene of Savoy	Nicolas Catinat
Strength
30,000	38,000
Casualties and losses
100[1]	350 killed / wounded 150 prisoners

The Battle of Carpi was an engagement fought during the War of the Spanish Succession on 9 July 1701. The battle was the first of a series of engagements in northern Italy as Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, sought to lay dynastic claim to the Spanish possessions in Italy.

After bringing his army across the Alps, the Austrian Habsburg commander Prince Eugene of Savoy confronted the right flank of Franco-Spanish forces at Carpi. Unnerved, the French commander, Nicolas Catinat, pulled his whole force back over the River Mincio, before retreating farther west towards the River Oglio. Displeased at the setback against inferior forces, King Louis XIV dismissed Catinat as supreme commander in Italy, and replaced him with his lifelong friend, the duc de Villeroi.

[edit] Background

With the death of the infirm and childless King Charles II of Spain on 1 November 1700, the succession of the Spanish throne, and subsequent control over her empire, once again threatened to embroil Europe in war. On his deathbed, Charles had prepared a will that bequeathed the entire Spanish inheritance to King Louis XIV's grandson, Philip, duc d'Anjou. These territories included all the valuable possessions in Italy: the Duchy of Milan, Kingdom of Naples and Sicily.

From the beginning Leopold – who insisted his son was the rightful heir to the Spanish throne – refused to accept the will of Charles II, but the immense cost of the previous war (the Nine Years War), had left Habsburgs ill-prepared to fight another major European conflict.^[2] Furthermore, despite their recent victory over the Turks, the Habsburg government remained unpopular in Hungary where there was a danger of a new revolt once Imperial troops were diverted to other fronts. Additionally, the outbreak of the Great Northern War created a real danger of a diversion in the northeast.^[3]

The English Tories and Dutch oligarchs were ready to accept Philip as King Philip V of Spain, providing their commerce were not disrupted and the crowns of France and Spain were not united under the House of Bourbon. But a series of political miscalculations and antagonistic measures by King Louis, soon convinced them that peace with France was impossible.^[4] Nevertheless, Leopold did not wait for England and the Dutch Republic before opening hostilities; in the early months of 1701 – before a new Grand Alliance could be concluded – the Emperor prepared to send an expedition, commanded by Prince Eugene of Savoy, to seize the Spanish lands in Italy.

[edit] Prelude

At the end of May Eugene joined his army – some 30,000 troops – at Rovereto in the Tyrol. Due to the paralysis of the Imperial War Council Eugene had been largely responsible for the preparations of the Italian campaign: the vice-president of the council, Count Caprara, died in February 1701, and the president, Rüdiger Starhemberg, was fatally ill.^[5] Additionally, Eugene had insisted on picking his own subordinates: Prince Commercy, Guido Starhemberg, General Börner (who had risen from the ranks to become one of the foremost artillerymen of Europe),^[6] and Prince Vaudémont, whose father had declared for Philip V. King Louis, meanwhile, had sent French forces under Nicolas Catinat to strengthen the Spanish garrisons in Milan and the fortresses of Verona and Legnago on the River Adige, and Peschiera and Mantua on the River Mincio – all the north of the country from the Duchy of Savoy to the borders of the Republic of Venice, was occupied by French, Savoyard and Spanish troops.^[7]

Eugene, however, first had to get his army across the Alps and into the Italian plain. Catinat – who had led the French forces in northern Italy during the Nine Years War – had blocked all the mountain passes from the Tyrol into Lombardy, including the gorge of the Adige leading from Rovereto to Verona, the only apparent way into Italy (see map).^[6] There was no alternative but to find a new route. Simulating preparations for a frontal attack on Franco-Spanish defences, Eugene decided to take his army eastwards – through mountains previously thought impassable – and march for Vicenza.^[6]

On 26 May, the march began. Hundreds of local peasants were employed to cut paths through the Terragnolo and Fredda valleys before Eugene could bring his animals and artillery through. By early June the bulk of the army – ‘without mishap’ – had crossed the mountains, emerging between Verona and Vicenza. Eugene wrote to Leopold – "it was amazing that an army and its artillery had crossed such dangerous and precipitous mountains where there had been no roads at all before …"^[8]

[edit] Battle

Eugene reached the plains, albeit violating Venetian neutrality. Catinat – whose own orders had strictly prohibited him trespassing on Venetian territory^[9] – was completely taken by surprise. Unsure if Eugene intended to march south towards Naples or west towards Milan, Catinat sought to defend the line of the River Adige, spreading his troops in small detachments along a front of 60 miles (~100km). This thinning of French forces made it easier for Eugene to cross the large number of canals and rivers in this part of northern Italy.^[8]

Eugene turned west and pounced upon Catinat’s extreme right at Carpi on 9 July. The Imperial commander had his horse shot from under him, and suffered a slight bullet wound, but he had succeeded in piercing and turning the French front. Catinat withdrew his whole line westwards over the River Mincio.^[6] Eugene defeated Catinat again at Novara, before marching against the other French flank on Lake Garda at Peschiera, thus threatening Catinat’s communications with Milan.^[9]

[edit] Aftermath

Catinat realised too late that he should have denied the Austrians the initiative, admitting to King Louis – "Up to now, sire, our war has not been a successful one."^[8] The French commander, now joined by the Duke of Savoy, retreated towards to the River Oglio, bent only on defending Milan. But the failure of French forces to withstand the smaller Imperial army caused indignation from King Louis at Versailles:

The Imperialists are marching through a country unknown to them; they have neither magazines nor safe places, yet nothing stops them … I have warned you that you are dealing with an enterprising young prince: he does not tie himself down to the rules of war, whereas you want to follow them and let him do anything he wants.^[10]

Louis’ lifelong friend, the ageing duc de Villeroi, replaced Catinat as supreme commander in Italy, arriving in theatre in late August. Despite the French retreat across the Oglio, and the abandonment of the Duchy of Mantua, Villeroi was confident of victory. Subsequently, the French Marshal and Eugene clashed on 1 September 1701 at the Battle of Chiari.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Chandler, David. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. Spellmount Limited, (1990). ISBN 0-946771-42-1
• Churchill, Winston. Marlborough: His Life and Times. University of Chicago Press, (2002). ISBN 0-226-10633-0
• Henderson, Nicholas. Prince Eugen of Savoy. Weidenfield & Nicolson, (1966). ISBN 1-84212-597-4
• McKay, Derek. Prince Eugene of Savoy. Thames & Hudson Ltd, (1977). ISBN 0-50087-007-1
• Wolf, John B. The Emergence of the Great Powers: 1685–1715. Harper & Row, (1962). ISBN 0061397509