214 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



successes of Aspern and Essling, in- 

 surrections began to be considered 

 as dangerous to the predominating 

 irfiuence of Austria in Germany. 

 The archduke said, " It is on tiie 

 field of battle that we must contend 

 with Buonaparte ; thus Germany 

 shall be freed without the dangers 

 of insurrection ;" which was, in 

 other words, to say that all Ger- 

 many as well as the glory of hav- 

 ing defended it, should appertain 

 solely to the Austrians. 



After the disastrous battles of 

 Eckmiill and Ratisbon, the arch- 

 duke John was recalled with his 

 army from Italy, where he had at 

 first met with rapid success, to 

 form a junction, or to co-operate 

 with the main Austrian army under 

 the command of Charles on the 

 Danube. He had taken Padua 

 and Vicenza, crossed the Adige, 

 and threatened Venice ; but he 

 was stopped in his career by Eugene 

 Beauharnois, viceroy of Italy, who, 

 reinforced by 10,000 men from 

 Tuscany, retook Padua and Vicen- 

 za, crossed the Brenta, drove the 

 Austrians from the Pavia, and pur- 

 sued them in tlieir retreat across 

 the Tagliamento. Two engage- 

 ments took place and several skir- 

 mishes. The Austrians sustained 

 the greatest loss of men ; but they 

 every where presented an undaunt- 

 td front to the enemy. The vice- 

 roy of Italy still hung on the rear 

 of the retreating Austrians. It 

 had now indeed become as neces- 

 sary for the French army of Italy 

 to iiasten their junction with the 

 main army under Buonaparte, as 



it had been before for the arch- 

 duke John to form a junction with 

 his brother Charles. On the 14th 

 of June, the anniversary of the 

 battle of Marengo,* the two armies 

 came to a third, and that a very 

 severe and important engagement, 

 near Raab. The numbers of 

 Eugene Beauharnois's army, ac- 

 cording to the French bulletins, 

 was thirty-five, and that of the 

 archduke John fifty thousand. 

 According to the Austrian ac- 

 counts, the combined Austrian 

 army was not more than 36,000 

 strong, while that of the French 

 was 50,000. The combined Aus- 

 trian army was composed of the 

 army of Italy, now reduced greatly 

 in numbers, 10,000 men drawn 

 from different garrisons in Hun- 

 gary, five or six thousand of the 

 corps of general Jellacheik, and 

 other columns that had come from 

 the Tyrol through the Gorges of 

 Carinthia, and finally the Hun- 

 garian insurrection, from 12 to 

 15,000 infantry and cavalry. The 

 Hungarians were conducted to the 

 army of John by his brother, the 

 archduke Palatine, who was pre- 

 sent in the engagement ; but they 

 were under the immediate orders 

 of general Haddick. The battle 

 began about 2 o'clock p. m. vic- 

 tory was long doubtful ; but in 

 the space of four hours it was de- 

 cided. That part of the archduke's 

 army which consisted of the un- 

 disciplined troops of the Hun- 

 garian insurrection, and formed 

 the greater part of the right wing 

 gave way before the impetuous at- 

 tack 



• This frivolous circumstance, and other lucky omens of the same kind, are always 

 noticed in Buonaparte's orders to his army on the eve of any important engagement. 

 An opimon, we believe, was once very generally entertained that even the privates 

 «f the French army were above such sil^ superstition. 



