Siege of Mainz (1793)

Coordinates: 50°00′00″N 8°16′16″E / 50.0000°N 8.2711°E / 50.0000; 8.2711
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Siege of Mainz
Part of the
French Revolutionary War
Date14 April – 23 July 1793
Location
Mainz, Republic of Mainz (present-day Germany)
50°00′00″N 8°16′16″E / 50.0000°N 8.2711°E / 50.0000; 8.2711
Result Coalition victory[1]
Belligerents
 France

 Holy Roman Empire

Commanders and leaders
Alexandre de Beauharnais
Field Marshal von Kalckreuth
Holy Roman EmpireKingdom of Prussia Duke of Brunswick
Strength
22,000[1]-23,000 men,
184 cannons		 36,000-43,000[1] men,
207 cannons
Casualties and losses
4,000 killed or wounded[1]
18,000[1]-19,000 captured
(released after the battle)		 3,000 killed or wounded[1]
Siege of Mainz (1793) is located in Europe
Siege of Mainz (1793)
class=notpageimage|
Location within Europe

In the siege of Mainz (German: Belagerung von Mainz), from 14 April to 23 July 1793, a coalition of Prussia, Austria, and other German states led by the Holy Roman Empire besieged and captured Mainz from revolutionary French forces. The allies, especially the Prussians, first tried negotiations, but this failed, and the bombardment of the city began on the night of 17 June.[2]

Siege

Within the town the siege and bombardment led to stress between citizens, municipality and the French war council, governing since 2 April. The city administration was displaced on 13 July; this increased the stubbornness of the remaining population. Since a relief army was missing, the war council was forced to take up negotiations with the allied forces on 17 July; the remaining soldiers capitulated on 23 July.[2]

Nearly 19,000 French troops surrendered at the end of the siege, but were allowed to return to France if they promised not to fight against the allies for one year. Consequently, they were used to fight French royalists in the

Armée du Rhin).[2]

The

St. Alban's Abbey. The cathedral had been heavily damaged.[2]

The biggest impact of the occupation and siege was that the city's part in the old imperial

electoral
structure finally came to an end. Thus the events of the year 1793 also marked the end of Aurea Moguntia, the Latin nickname for the city: "Golden Mainz". The city lost its status as the electoral residence.

The shelling of Mainz was widely discussed in Europe. Many people gathered round the town in order to view the siege.

Carl August of Saxe-Weimar during the siege and wrote a famous book about the siege [3]

Related people]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Bodart 1908, p. 276.
  2. ^ a b c d festung-mainz 2015.
  3. ^ Goethe 1884, p. 71.

Bibliography

  • Smith, D. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book.
    Greenhill Books
    , 1998.
  • Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1884). Miscellaneous travels of J. W. Goethe; comprising Letters from Switzerland; The campaign in France, 1792; The siege of Mainz; and A tour on the Rhine, Maine, and Neckar, 1814-15.
  • Schmittlein, Raymond: Un Recit de Guerre de Goethe le Siege de Mayence II. Éditions Art et Science. Mayence. 1951. (in French)
  • Arthur Chuquet: The Wars of the Revolution: The Siege of Mainz and the French Occupation of the Rhineland 1792–93.
  • Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905) (in German). Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  • festung-mainz (2015). "Die Belagerung der Festung Mainz 1793" (in German). Archived from the original on 2015-03-24. Retrieved 5 July 2022.

External links

Preceded by
Battle of Kaiserslautern 		French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns
Siege of Mainz (1793) 		Succeeded by
Battle of Wattignies
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Siege_of_Mainz_(1793)&oldid=1213016766"