Conflict: Wars of the French Revolution
Combatants: Austrians vs. French
Location: Netherlands
Outcome: Austrian victory
Following the beheading of King Louis XVI by French revolutionaries, the governments of Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Holland, and Spain formed an alliance against the nascent republic. France chose to strike first with an invasion of Holland. General Charles Dumouriez, leading 41,000 French soldiers, attacked 43,000 Austrians near Neerwinden under the military command of Charles Louis and Baron Karl Mack von Leiberich. The French attack was repulsed, however, with losses of 4,000 men. The Austrians suffered about 3,000 casualties.
The Austrians followed this victory with the taking of Brussels and forcing the French out of the Netherlands altogether.
Points of Interest:
After the defeat at Neerwinden, Charles Dumouriez plotted with the Austrians and openly joined their army in April of 1793.
Dumouriez attempted to return to France during the Second Restoration but was denied by King Louis XVIII. He died in exile in England.
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.