A Hungarian victory over East Francia and Swabia in 910 that opened Franconia to Magyar raids and forced multiple duchies into tributary status.
Key Facts
- Date
- 12 June 910
- Distance south of Augsburg
- 25 km km
- Follow-up battle
- Battle of Rednitz, 22 June 910
- Hungarian Grand Prince
- Zoltán (not present at battle)
- Tactics employed
- Feigned retreat and Parthian shot
- First Rhine crossing
- 911, following this victory
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the Hungarian invasions of Europe, Magyar forces repeatedly raided East Frankish territories. The inability of the fragmented East Frankish realm, weakened under the young King Louis the Child, to mount a unified defence invited a major Hungarian incursion into Swabia and surrounding duchies in 910.
On 12 June 910, a Hungarian army engaged the combined forces of East Francia and Swabia on the Lechfeld floodplain south of Augsburg. Employing feigned retreat and Parthian shot tactics characteristic of nomadic warfare, the Hungarians routed the Frankish and Swabian forces and inflicted a decisive defeat on the nominal command of Louis the Child.
After the victory, the Hungarians raided Franconia for the first time and defeated a coalition of Franconian, Lotharingian, and Bavarian forces at the Battle of Rednitz on 22 June. The Bavarian, Frankish, Swabian, and Saxonian duchies were compelled to pay tribute, and by 911 Hungarian raids crossed the Rhine for the first time.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Louis the Child (nominal).