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Battle of Elchingen, France defeats Austria

The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch.

The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France while other formations fled to the east. Soon afterward, the Austrians trapped in Ulm surrendered and the French mopped up most of the remaining Austrian forces, bringing the Ulm Campaign to a close.

In late September and early October 1805, Napoleon carried out a gigantic envelopment of the Austrian army in Bavaria led by Karl Mack von Lieberich. While the Austrian army lay near Ulm, south of the Danube River, the French army marched west on the north side of the river.

Historical Significance

The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch.

Events Before

  1. Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Saint-Domingue (Haiti) independent from France, ending the 13-year-long Haitian Revolut

    Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Saint-Domingue (Haiti) independent from France, ending the 13-year-long Haitian Revolution; becoming the only state ever founded by formerly enslaved people and without slavery

  2. World’s first steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, runs for the first time along the tramway of the Penydarren

    World’s first steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, runs for the first time along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

  3. Economist Thomas Malthus (38) weds Harriet Eckersall in Bath, Somerset

    Economist Thomas Malthus (38) weds Harriet Eckersall in Bath, Somerset

  4. Napoleonic Code is adopted in France, stressing clearly written and accessible law

    The Napoleonic Code (French: Code Napoléon), officially the Civil Code of the French (French: Code civil des Français; simply referred to as Code civil), is the French civil code established during…

  5. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition sets out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast, commissioned by Thomas Je

    Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition sets out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson

Events After

  1. Napoleon Bonaparte abolishes the French Republican calendar after 12 years of use

    The French Republican calendar (French: calendrier républicain français), also commonly called the French Revolutionary calendar (calendrier révolutionnaire français), was a calendar created and…

  2. Frontiersman Davy Crockett (20) weds Polly Finley in Tennessee

    Frontiersman Davy Crockett (20) weds Polly Finley in Tennessee

  3. German writer, artist and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe marries mistress Christiane Vulpius in Weimar

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language.

  4. Battle of Blaauwberg: British forces attack French vassal, the Batavian Republic near Cape Town, modern day South Africa

    Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa.

  5. Dutch forces in Capetown surrender to the British

    Dutch forces in Capetown surrender to the British

More from the 1800s

The dissolution of the Dutch East India Company comes into effect

The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874.

Italian monk Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the dwarf planet Ceres

Giuseppe Piazzi was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer.

Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Roy

Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam

Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Saint-Domingue (Haiti) independent from France, ending the 13-year-long Haitian Revolut

Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Saint-Domingue (Haiti) independent from France, ending the 13-year-long Haitian Revolution; becoming the only state ever founded by formerly enslaved people and without slavery

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on October 14, 1805?
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France while other formations fled to the east. Soon afterward, the Austrians trapped in Ulm surrendered and the French mopped up most of the remaining Austrian forces, bringing the Ulm Campaign to a close.
Why is Battle of Elchingen, France defeats Austria significant?
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch.

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October 14 in HistoryYear 1805