France's victory at Jemappes opened the Austrian Netherlands to French conquest and demonstrated that revolutionary volunteer armies could defeat professional forces.
Key Facts
- Date
- 6 November 1792
- French force advantage
- Approximately three-to-one over Austrians
- French commander
- General Charles François Dumouriez
- Austrian commander
- Field Marshal Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen
- Outcome for French
- Austrian Netherlands overrun within one month
- Austrian Netherlands lost again
- Battle of Neerwinden, March 1793
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the War of the First Coalition, the French Republic's Armée du Nord advanced into the Austrian Netherlands. Austrian forces under the Duke of Saxe-Teschen occupied a prepared ridge position near Mons to block the French advance, setting the stage for a direct confrontation between a large but inexperienced French revolutionary army and a smaller, professional Austrian force.
On 6 November 1792, General Dumouriez led the French Armée du Nord in a series of enthusiastic but poorly coordinated frontal assaults against the Austrian ridge position near Jemappes. Despite heavy losses, the French eventually seized part of the ridge; the outnumbered Austrians, unable to dislodge them, withdrew under orders from Saxe-Teschen, handing France one of its first major offensive victories of the revolutionary wars.
Following the victory at Jemappes, Dumouriez overran the entire Austrian Netherlands within a month. However, French control proved short-lived, as defeat at the Battle of Neerwinden in March 1793 reversed these gains. The French did not reconquer the Austrian Netherlands until the summer of 1794, making Jemappes a significant but ultimately temporary early triumph.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
General Charles François Dumouriez.
Side B
1 belligerent
Field Marshal Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, François de Croix, Count of Clerfayt.