This paper was presented at the 1992 Autumn Conference of the Napoleonic Association,held at the National Army Museum.

In the year 1809 the Emperor Napoleon was at the height of his power. The age of neo-Classicism was giving way to the Romantic. Men, or most of them anyway, had abandoned the practice of powdering their hair; and women had thrown away their corsets. Men, in France especially but also across Europe, aspired to Glory -- and to the rich rewards associated with it. Women aspired to the rich rewards - and to the reflection of the glory.

The famous painting by David, the father of neo-classical art, portraying Napoleon crossing the Alps in 1800, summed up the spirit of the age - and it still does. Of course, no sensible person would attempt the dangerous alpine roads dressed like that, nor on such a mettlesome horse, and Napoleon, if he rode at all, did so on a sure-footed mule, represented in a much more realistic manner by the romantic painter Delacroix.

By the end of the XVIIIth century the Revolution, and the at first inept, then cruelly barbaric and finally totally incompetent Governments which tried to implement it, had reduced France to a moral end economic ruin. As everyone knows, when Napoleon seized power during the closing weeks of that century, he immediately and energetically set about the practical and administrative reforms necessary to restore the health of the nation.

One of the first things he did was to restore everyone's self-respect by abolishing the ridiculous and ubiquitous title "Citizen"; and recognising the basic human need, always to have someone to look up to, he invited such of the emigre aristocracy as was prepared to serve under his leadership to return to France. And he created an aristocracy of his own, promotion to which was based on administrative merit, more usually on valour, and sometimes, as in the case of the dashing cavalry commander Murat, on personal relationship to the Emperor -- for Murat had married the Emperor's youngest and spiteful sister Caroline, and thus became King of Naples. The humble origins of some of the new aristocracy (Murat was the son of an inn-keeper) led to some surprising scenes in the great houses of Europe.

Morals were at a low ebb, although by 1809 the dress of the great ladies was somewhat less dramatic than that worn by the Emperor's favourite sister the Princess Pauline in the famous picture at Apsley House, London. That picture was acquired by the Duke of Wellington when he bought Pauline's Paris house for use as the British Embassy in 1814. It hung in his dressing room near another of his then mistress, the famous Italian opera singer, Giuseppina Grassini. Between the two girls he had a picture of the Pope, Pius VII - people said it was like Christ between the two thieves.

Morale

But if morals were at a low ebb, morale was at an all-time high. The destruction of the Austro-Russian Army at Austerlitz, on 2nd December 1805, and the campaigns of 1806 and 1807 had made France master of Europe. Only the British could claim any kind of success against the "Corsican upstart". For it was the battle of Trafalgar, on 21st October 1805, that paved the way for direct British military intervention, on land, with the Emperor's plans. Without Trafalgar there could have been no Peninsular Campaign -- and without that there could have been no Waterloo.

But the fighting in the Peninsular did not really get under way until 1808, and at first, both sides made a mess of it. In July an entire French Army Corps, under General Dupont, surrendered to the Spanish General Castanos at Baylen. 17,635 Frenchmen were taken prisoner. Only some 2,500 of them ever saw France again, the remainder dying in captivity, along with their regimental women, on the rotting prison hulks in Cadiz harbour.

In August the first British Expeditionary Force of 14,000 men arrived in Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesley, whose Commander-in-Chief was Sir Hugh Dalrymple. A fortnight later he defeated the French under General Junot at Vimiero. After the battle, Junot proposed to Dalrymple that, in exchange for that part of Portugal now controlled by the British, he and his men should be allowed to return to France. And so it was agreed, at the disgraceful Convention of Cintra, to which both Dalrymple and Wellington were signatories. 25,747 Frenchmen, their bags and baggage, their arms and equipment, their guns and ammunition, their camp-followers - but, above all, their Eagles, were returned to France in British ships, escorted by the Royal Navy. Within a month they were back in Spain.

Napoleon was furious with Junot and the British Government was furious with Dalrymple and Wellesley, both of whom were recalled to London to face a court of enquiry. Napoleon decided it was time for him to take personal command in Spain. He arrived during November and, within a few weeks, the new British Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Moore had been killed at Corunna and the British Army driven into the sea. Europe was aghast.

Austrian Preparations

But Austria had gone too far in preparation for a fifth attempt at reversing the Revolution and destroying Napoleon's Empire. By early 1809 she had about half a million men under arms, sixty percent of them regulars. The Archduke Charles, brother of the Emperor Francis of Austria, had spent the last three years, since the disaster of Austerlitz, retraining, re-equipping and reorganising the army along the lines of the French Grande Armee.

Napoleon, whose spy network was widespread and efficient, was well aware of the Austrian intentions, and hurried back to Paris, leaving Spain on 17th January, the day after the Battle of Corunna. Immediately available to face the Austrian threat he had the French Army of Germany, under Marshal Davout, about 80,000 men. Although the situation in Spain was more or less stabilised, he felt he could not afford to withdraw more than the Imperial Guard, so gave instructions to his old friend Marshal Bessieres to prepare the complex plan necessary for that. He had the armies of the German States of the Federation of the Rhine, notably that of Bavaria, about 30,000 men under command of Marshal Lefebvre; and also about 12,000 men from the State of Wurttemberg, under General Vandamme.

To make up the shortfall he raised an entirely new force, under command of Marshal Massena, most of which consisted of raw recruits, some of them called up as much as two years before their due date. Both Austria and France had armies in Northern Italy, the former under the Archduke John, the latter under Eugene de Beauharnais, the Emperor's stepson.

Operations there had more or less stalled along the line of the River Adige. The main part of Charles' Army invaded Bavaria by crossing the River Inn on 9th April, advancing in a North Westerly direction towards the city of Landshut. A strong right wing, under Field Marshal Kollowrat, advanced through the forests of Bohemia towards Regensburg. Charles hoped to catch Marshal Davout and his Army of Germany before it had time to concentrate from its peacetime locations.

Davout's Inititiative

But Davout, the most loyal and most effective of Napoleon's Marshals, had lost none of the initiative which had enabled him to win the battle of Auerstadt three years before. Besides, it was largely his intelligence which had kept Napoleon informed of Austrian preparations. Napoleon himself wanted to stay in Paris until the last possible moment because he did not want to appear to provoke the forthcoming Austrian attack. He therefore appointed Marshal Berthier not simply Chief-of- Staff but also Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Berthier was one of the great Chiefs-ofStaff of all history; but he was no field commander; and it was not long before he succeeded in confusing the situation. His confusion was completed when a telegraph message, originated by the Emperor on 10th April, was held up by the weather.

The only surviving station of the French telegraph network is at Saverne, not far from Strasbourg. It was restored to full working order during the 1960's and now forms the centre-piece of a Museum of Post & Telegraph. The message of 10th April was overtaken by a courier with a letter by Napoleon an hour or so later, which arrived at Army Headquarters at Donauworth on 13th January, more or less at the same time as the delayed one. Berthier was quite unable to work out what his Emperor really intended.

Napoleon himself left Paris in 13th April. They said he took with him only "his little recruits, his long boots and his reputation". To the surprise of many the Empress Josephine accompanied him as far as Strasbourg, by which time she was exhausted. They stopped only to change the horses, cat-napping in the coach. Josephine eventually went on to Plombieres to take the waters, as she did every year, in the hope that it might help her to bear Napoleon a son.

The Emperor raced on to Donauworth, where he arrived on 17th April, having covered 400 miles in four days, no mean achievement. Because Berthier was away in Augsburg that day, Napoleon issued his orders himself. If Berthier was no commander, Napoleon was certainly no Chief-of-Staff, so his orders only served to compound the confusion, so that by 18th things were, if anything worse than before. The French right wing was separated from its left by some 75 miles, a distance that would require four days of forced marching to effect concentration.

Fortunately for Napoleon, Davout had noted the importance of an impressive defile near the village of Saal, on the Danube about 15 miles South West of Regensburg, and sent a force to secure it. In the meantime the Bavarians were falling back ahead of the Austrian advance, and by 19th April were near the village of Abensberg.

Abensberg

On that day Napoleon moved his Army Headquarters forward to Vohburg. When he arrived there he reviewed the troops of Wurttemberg, who happened to be in the vicinity. Then he rode out to Abensberg to make a personal reconnaissance. There was little news from

Davout, largely because the latter had his hands full with increasing Austrian pressure. Marshal Lannes, a great personal friend of the Emperor had just arrived from Spain, together with Bessieres. The three of them spent an anxious night in the castle at Vohburg. In the small hours a message arrived from Davout, to the effect that he had successfully passed two divisions through the defile at Saal. Napoleon immediately issued his orders, forming those two divisions into a temporary corps under Lannes' command.

The plan for 20th April was simple: the Bavarian would advance towards Landshut on a ten mile front, supported by Lannes on their left and the Wurtternbergers on the right. Massena's five divisions, two of them forming a Corps under General Oudinot, would march for Landshut in the hope of cutting off the Austrian withdrawal. Napoleon rode out to a small hill near Abensberg early on 20th, where he made a morale-raising speech to the Bavarians, which was translated into German by the Crown Prince of Bavaria, the red-headed Ludwig, later King Ludwig 1.

The valley of the Abens river, despite the modern roads still looks much as it did in 1809. In the event the battle of Abensberg was more of a hunt than a battle. The Austrian left wing, under Field Marshal Hiller, crumbled before the Bavarian attack. By 21st April they were in full scale retreat through Landshut. Massena had been too slow to cut them off by capturing the city.

When Napoleon came in sight of Landshut the battle had ground to a halt at the main bridge over the River Isar, where the Austrian Rearguard was commanded by General Radetzky, later immortalised in the famous march by Johann Strauss. Napoleon sent for one of his ADCs, General Mouton, and ordered him to take the grenadiers of the 17th Regiment and storm the bridge. They rushed across, cutting loose and throwing into the water the blazing bales of straw with which the Austrians hoped to destroy the bridge.

Despite fierce resistance the town was soon in French hands, together with over 2,000 prisoners and a large number of cannon and wagons, including a complete pontoon bridge train. Army headquarters moved into the Residenz on the main street, nowadays a favourite tourist attraction.

Increased Action

Napoleon was in a high humour, because he was under the impression that he had defeated the main body of the Austrian Army. This misconception was all too apparent to Davout, still holding in the North near Regensburg, who was coming under increasing pressure from the enemy.

But it was not until a personal messenger, in the shape of General Pire, a cavalry brigade commander, arrived about two o'clock in the morning that Napoleon realised his mistake. He immediately ordered Lannes to march on the village of Eckmuhl, 38 kilometres to the Northward, followed by Massena. Bessieres, with some cavalry and a Bavarian division was to pursue to defeated Field Marshal Hiller to the South East.

The leading elements of Lannes' Corps arrived on the hill overlooking Eggmuhl in the early afternoon. Napoleon himself conducted the battle from the church at Linclach, small hamlet little changed over the years. Fighting went on into the night, ending with a furious cavalry battle in the moonlight around the Schloss at Alteglofsheim, which is now an old people's home.

Napoleon's Army headquarters moved in there, and as they did so, 2,500 miles away in Montego bay, Sir Arthur Wellesley was landing in Portugal with the second British Expeditionary Force, this time as Commander- in-Chief in his own right.

After the Battle

After the battle, the Parish Priest of Schierling, Father Haring, who was blind, set the villagers to work, recovering the wounded to a makeshift hospital in his presbytery. A painting by the Bavarian painter von Heideck hangs there today commemorating the good priest's devotion. Von Heideck was a young captain at the time of the battle and knew Father Haring well. He returned to the scene some two years later to make sketches for his picture (which is of no great artistic merit) and was astonished to find the priest's sight had been restored.

One of the wounded whom Father Haring treated had been an Austrian surgeon and he had repaid the kindness shown him by arranging an operation on the cataracts which caused the priest's blindness.

Eagles on the Danube Part 2