Battle of Modena (1799)

Part of War of the Second Coalition

Date	12 June 1799
Location	Modena, Italy
Result	French victory

Belligerents

Republican France

Habsburg Austria

Commanders and leaders

Jacques MacDonald (WIA)

Prince Hohenzollern

Units involved

Army of Naples

Mantua Siege Corps

Strength

29,000

4,300

Casualties and losses

600

2,400, 8 guns

French Revolutionary Wars – Italian Campaigns

1st Saorgio Epierre 2nd Saorgio 1st Dego Loano Voltri Montenotte Millesimo 2nd Dego Ceva Mondovì Fombio Lodi Borghetto Lonato Castiglione Rovereto 1st Bassano 2nd Bassano Calliano Caldiero Arcole Rivoli 1st Mantua Faenza Valvasone Tarvis Veronese Easter Verona Magnano Cassano Bassignana Modena Trebbia 2nd Mantua Novi Genola Genoa Montebello Marengo Pozzolo

War of the Second Coalition

The Battle of Modena (12 June 1799) saw a Republican French army commanded by Jacques MacDonald attack a Habsburg Austrian covering force led by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated but in an accidental encounter, MacDonald was painfully wounded by two saber cuts. The action occurred during the War of the Second Coalition, part of a larger conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars. Modena is a city in northern Italy about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Bologna.

In the battles of Magnano and Cassano, the Austrians and allied Russian Empire forces swept the French from much of northern Italy in April 1799. MacDonald collected the French occupying forces in south and central Italy into an army and marched north to retrieve the situation. Bursting out of the Apennine Mountains, the French mauled Hohenzollern's division at Modena. MacDonald swung west to fight the Coalition forces. The next action would be the Battle of Trebbia from 17 to 19 June.

References

Duffy, Christopher (1999). Eagles Over the Alps: Suvarov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799. Chicago, Ill.: The Emperor's Press. ISBN 1-883476-18-6.
Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

Coordinates: 44°39′N 10°56′E / 44.650°N 10.933°E / 44.650; 10.933

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