Battle of Luzzara

: "This article is about the 1702 Battle of Luzzara. For the Battle of 1734 see the Battle of Guastalla."Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Luzzara


caption=
partof=the War of the Spanish Succession
date=August 15, 1702
place= Near Luzzara, present-day Italy
result=Indecisive
combatant1=flagicon|Habsburg Monarchy Habsburg Austria
combatant2=flagicon|France|restauration [1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, New York 1910, Vol.X, p.460: "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour."George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana, "The American Cyclopaedia", New York, 1874, p. 250, "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis...". * [http://www.anyflag.com/history/fleur23.htm] The original Banner of France was strewn with fleurs-de-lis. ] Kingdom of France
commander1=flagicon|Habsburg Monarchy Prince Eugene of Savoy
commander2=flagicon|France|restauration Duc de Vendôme
strength1=25,000
strength2=30,000 - 36,000
casualties1=2,000
casualties2=4,000

The Battle of Luzzara was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession, which was fought on August 15, 1702 near Luzzara, Italy.

Prelude

In the summer of 1702 , after taking Guastalla, the French under Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme turned north , with the intention to besiege Borgoforte. On this road he set up camp near Luzzara on the right bank of the Po River.

When Prince Eugene of Savoy heard of this, he was besieging Mantua. He decided to give up the siege and assemble all available forces to intercept Vendome.

Arriving near Luzzara, Prince Eugene set up his headquarter a few kilometers north near the village of Riva.

The Battle

Vendome was in a favourable position, having prepared his defenses and with the Po River on his left side and the right side of the Austrians. The rest of the terrain was an open field, full of ditches, channels, fences and high bushes.

The Austrians had more experienced troops and commanders like Daun, Vaudemont, Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt and Guido Starhemberg. On the morning of August 15, Prince Eugene waited until the rest of his units, called for urgently, had reached the battle line. Then around 5 pm. he attacked. His plan was to part the enemies from the riverside and try to surround them. He attacked several times but with no practical result, because of the strong French resistance.

The battle raged until darkness.

After this battle, the two armies laid facing each other until the French decamped first on November 4, ending the 1702 campaign.

References

External links

* [http://www.centrostudiriva.it/home_page_eng.htm commemorative site of 2002]
* [http://www.centrostudiriva.it/mappa_della_battaglia1702.htm Map of the Battlefield (Red = Austrians , Blue = French)]