Key Facts
- Duration
- 20 August – 23 December 1793
- French garrison size
- 3,800 men
- Siege method
- Blockade (no Prussian siege cannons available)
- Outcome
- Prussians forced to raise the siege
Strategic Narrative Overview
Lacking siege artillery, the Prussians relied on starvation tactics to force Landau's 3,800-man garrison under Laubadère into surrender. Meanwhile, Coalition forces won the First Battle of Wissembourg, pushing the French Army of the Rhine deep into Alsace. The French government prioritised relieving Landau, prompting Pichegru to launch sustained offensives at Haguenau. Hoche's Army of the Moselle then outflanked Wurmser at Froeschwiller, setting the stage for a decisive French counteroffensive.
01 / The Origins
During the War of the First Coalition, Prussia joined the coalition of European monarchies seeking to suppress the French Republic. Landau, a fortified city in the Rhineland, held strategic importance as a French stronghold on the eastern frontier. In August 1793, a Prussian corps under Prince Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen moved to encircle the garrison, aiming to reduce French control of the region by cutting off supplies rather than by direct assault.
03 / The Outcome
In late December 1793, the combined French armies of the Moselle and Rhine defeated the Coalition at the Second Battle of Wissembourg, overcoming both Wurmser and the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. This victory forced the Prussians to abandon the siege of Landau entirely. The French garrison was relieved after four months of blockade, and French control of the fortress was preserved, stabilising the Republic's eastern frontier temporarily.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
Side B
1 belligerent
Joseph Marie Tennet de Laubadère, Lazare Hoche, Jean-Charles Pichegru.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.