194 LON 
Bonaparte, having learned by the telegraph, late in the 
evening of the 12th of April, that the Auftrians had 
palled the Inn, fet out early in the morning of the 13th 
from Paris. At Dillingen, on the 16th, he had an inter¬ 
view with the old eleftor of Bavaria; when he promifed 
in the (pace of a fortnight to reftore him to his capital, to 
revenge the affront that had been given to his family, and 
to make him a greater fovereign prince than any of his 
anceftors had been. On the 17th he arrived at Donau- 
werth, where he eftabliflied his head-quarters. On the 
19th the different corps of the French began to unite; 
and genera! Oudinot, having advanced from Augfburg, 
arrived at day-break at Phaffenhoffen, attacked and drove 
from thence 3 or 4000 Auftrians, and took fome hundred 
prifoners. At Phaffenhoffen too MafTena arrived with 
his corps the day after : on which day, the 20th, marfhal 
Davouft with his corps quitted Ratifbon to march to 
Newftadt, and draw near to Ingol.fladt. Then it was 
that the plan of Bonaparte was unfolded ; which was to 
manoeuvre on the enemy, whofe line was extended, as juft 
noticed, from the near vicinity 'of Newftadt to Landlhut; 
and to attack him at the moment when, fuppofing him- 
felf to be the aflailant, he was on his march to Ratifbon ; 
to break the line of the grand Auftrian army, according 
to his ufual mode of warfare ; and to come between the 
archduke Charles and the corps commanded by his bro¬ 
thers. Such was the ftrength, and fiich- the defigns and 
views, with which the campaign on the Danube, of 1809, 
was opened, by the archduke Charles on the one part, 
and Bonaparte on the other ; the two firft generals of their 
age, and at the head of greater numbers of difciplined 
troops than had ever met in Europe 1 We fhall juft notice 
the principal circumftances and events on which the fate 
of the campaign turned. 
A great battle was fought at Abenfberg, April 20, in 
which Bonaparte appeared in perfon at the head of his 
Bavarians and Wirtembergers, againft the two Auftrian 
corps commanded by the archduke Louis and general 
Hiller; and another, with four Auftrian corps under the 
archduke Charles, on the aid, at Eckmuhl; in which two 
battles, according to the French accounts, 40,000 Auf¬ 
trians were taken prifoners, and 100 pieces of cannon. 
The archduke was forced to crofsthe Danube at Ratifbon, 
in order to form a junction with general Bellegarde, who 
did not arrive at that river before the 24th or 25th of 
April. Some fcattered divifions of the Auftrians endea¬ 
voured to make a ftand at Ratifbon, which the archduke 
had ordered to be covered with cavalry. But, after three 
fucceffive charges, they gave way, and were all either cut 
to pieces or obliged to flee acrofs the Danube. Ratifbon 
was taken ; the Auftrian garrifon was either cut to pieces, 
or taken prifoners, or faved themfelves by flight. The 
archduke, when he found the current of war running 
•ftrongly againft the Auftrians on the right bank of the 
Danube, and was under the neceflity of parting over to 
the left, lent a ftrong corps under general Hiller to the 
Inn, to join the other troops to be affembled for the pro¬ 
tection of Vienna ; it was expeftsd by the archduke to 
rejoin the corps under Hiller at Lintz. The French, 
however, by the rapidity of their movements, got there 
before them. 
Bonaparte, following the courfe of the Danube, ad¬ 
vanced rapidly towards Vienna; before which he appeared 
on the 10th of May. For upwards of a century the for¬ 
tifications of this city had been negleCted. ' In the city, 
properly fo called, there were not more than 80,000 peo¬ 
ple ; but in the fuburbs, which were conipofed of eight 
divifions, the number of inhabitants was computed to be 
220,000. The city was defended by about 3 or 4000 re¬ 
gular troops, as many armed citizens, and a few batta¬ 
lions of the land-wehr, the whole under the command of 
the archduke Maximilian. There was for about twenty- 
four hours fome ihow of refiftance. When, however, the 
French had diflodged the Auftrians from the iflands ad¬ 
jacent, and threatened to cut off all communication with 
DON. 
the left bank, it was thought prudent to furrender the 
city ; but not, However, till the regular troops had ef¬ 
fected their retreat by the bridge of Tabor, to which, 
when they had parted it, they fet fire. The emperor of 
Auftria, after the misfortunes that had befallen the army 
of the archduke Charles, and the rapid advance of the 
French, left his capital, and retired to Znaim in Moravia. 
In the mean time the archduke Charles, who had by 
incredible activity re-inforced his army to the number of 
75,000 effective men, having learned the fall of Vienna, 
moved down on the left bank of the Danube, for the pur¬ 
ports of watching the movements of the enemy, and check¬ 
ing any attempt that might be made to crofs the river. 
He fixed his head-quarters, on the 16th of May, at Eberf- 
dorf. The chain of his out-pofts extended, on the right, 
as far as Krents, while lower down the river fome batta¬ 
lions occupied Freiburg. The advanced guard was pufhed 
forward near to the Danube ; and the cavalry was polled 
along the banks of a fmall rivulet, on ground covered 
and partly concealed by bullies. Bonaparte, having re- 
folved to attack the archduke in his pofition, marched his 
army along the fouth bank of the Danube, till it had 
reached the diftance of about fix miles from Vienna. 
Here the breadth and rapidity of the Danube are broken 
by two iflands. From the fouth bank to the fmaller ifland 
on that fide the diftance is about 1000 fathoms ; from this 
fmaller ifland to the larger ifland, called the ifle of Lobau, 
the diftance is 120 fathoms ; from the ifle of Lobau to the 
north or left bank of the Danube, the diftance is only 
about 70 fathoms. At this favourable point Bonaparte 
determined to crofs the Danube. As foon as the engi¬ 
neers had eftabliflied two bridges acrofs from the fouth 
fide to the fmaller ifland, and from the fmaller ifland to 
the larger, Bonaparte fixed his head-quarters in the latter, 
and in lefs than three hours threw a bridge of pontoons 
from it to the north bank. As the French advanced, the 
archduke retreated, and permitted them to extend them- 
felves along the north bank of the river. Bonaparte, left 
at liberty to fix on the field of battle, polled the right 
wing of his army on the village of Efsling, and the left 
on the village of Afpern. The archduke, who in his re¬ 
treat had halted when he came to a favourable pofition, on 
the 21 ft of May at day-break called his troops to arms, 
drew them up in the order of battle, and communicated 
his plan of attack to his generals. 
For a particular account of the two dreadful battles that 
enfued on the 21ft and 22d of May, we muft refer our rea¬ 
der* to the Supplement to the London Gazette of the nth 
of July. They were both of them moll fanguinary and 
deftruftive, and harder fought, even by confiderable odds, 
than that of Pruflian Eylau in 1807. The battle of the 
21 ft was terminated only by the darknefs of the night. 
The French had by this time been driven from Afpern : 
they ftill retained pofleffion of Efsling; but the general 
pofition of their army was nearer 'the Danube than it was 
at the beginning of the engagement. The morning of 
the zzd faw Afpern again in poffeffion of the French ; 
but by repeated attacks, after repeated repulfes, the French 
were driven from both Afpern and Efsling. In the night 
between the 22d and 23d they effected their retreat from 
the left bank of the Danube, and took up a pofition in 
the ifland of Lobau. In thefe two battles, obftinate and 
bloody, hitherto perhaps beyond example in military an¬ 
nals, the intrepidity and perfeverance of the foldiers, as 
well as the cool courage and prefence of mind of the ge¬ 
nerals and other officers, on both fides, were aftonifhing. 
Both the archduke and Bonaparte expofed their perfon* 
wherever circumftances called for their prefence. The 
archduke, being entreated not to endanger himfelf by ex- 
pofing fo very much his own perfon, replied, “ I am re- 
rtolved to terminate this conteft, or to die in the flreets of 
Vienna.” The holtile parties combated each other with 
bayonets and fabres, in every ftreet of Afpern, in every 
barn and every houfe, and even amidft the flames of Efi¬ 
ling. The lof's on both fides was very great; but few 
3 jyifotfers 
