Date September 20, 1792
Location Between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy
French victory issue
Belligerents
French Prussians
Commanders
General Kellermann and General Dumouriez Duke of Brunswick
Forces present
50,000 men 80,000 men
Losses
300 dead 184 dead
During the French Revolution, the battle of Valmy, or rather the cannonade, took place in Valmy on September 20, 1792 between Prussia and France.
Historical background
After France declared war on Austria on April 20, 1792, anti- or counter-revolutionary forces invaded France on August 18, 1792.
An army of 150,000 men, a combined troop of Prussia, Austria, and Hessians under the command of the Duke of Brunswick, representative of King Frederick William II of Prussia, joined by 20,000 emigrants, was first advanced against France, along the whole line of its frontiers, between Dunkirk and Switzerland. On August 12, at sunrise, the Prussian light troops entered French territory. On the 15th, the Prussian army camped between Sierck and Luxembourg, and General Clairfayt, at the head of the Austrians, cut off communication between Longwy and Montmédy. On the 19th Marshal Luckner courageously resisted an attack by 22,000 Austrians at Fontoy.
On August 20, the Prussian won the Battle of Verdun:the road to Paris was then open. The commanders-in-chief of the French armies become suspect; so, before any serious action could be taken, the three armies of Rochambeau, Lafayette and Luckner were divided between Generals Dumouriez and Kellermann.
Campaign before the battle
On August 23, after a three-day bombardment, Longwy surrendered to the allies who then marched slowly towards indefensible Verdun.
The commander of the place, Colonel Beaurepaire who defends the place, indignant at the cowardice of the council of war which wants to capitulate, takes a pistol and commits suicide. The young and valiant Marceau, who, like Beaurepaire, wanted to bury himself under the ruins of the square, ended up surrendering on September 3, 1792, after the defeat of August 20. He had lost his crews, his horses, his money.
"What do you want us to give back to you? asked a representative of the people.
- Another saber to avenge our defeat. »
On September 2, the Duke of Brunswick takes possession of Verdun in the name of the King of France. The invading army, assembled at Verdun, is 80,000 strong. In a hurry to achieve his goal, the King of Prussia ordered the army the next day to advance across the plains of Champagne and march straight on Paris. Nothing seems easier to him. However, he stops a few leagues from Châlons, having reached the end of his journey, which was to be a series of celebrations and triumphs.
But Dumouriez, who was training his new troops at Valenciennes with frequent but limited actions with the intention of invading Belgium, moved towards the Argonne by a rapid and daring march almost under the eyes of the Prussian vanguard and barred the road to Paris, enjoining Kellermann to assist him from Metz. Kellermann is moving but slowly, and before he arrives the northern part of the line of defense is smashed. Dumouriez, unintimidated, changed the front to face north, with his right wing in the Argonne and his left extending towards Châlons-sur-Marne and, in this position Kellermann made his junction at Sainte-Menehould on 19 September 1792.
Dumouriez encamped a league in front of Sainte-Menehould, on a low plateau above the meadows to the right of the path which leads to Châlons. This position leans on the right to the Aisne which descends from Sainte-Menehould, marshy meadows and a pond cover the left. A narrow valley separates the camp from the heights of the Iron and the Moon where the Prussians are encamped. Between these two elevations is a basin of meadows from which emerge a few mounds, the highest of which is that which is crowned by the mill of Valmy. Two small rivers separate this space, they fall into the Aisne, above and below Sainte-Menehould, the Auve is to the south and the Bionne is to the north. The headquarters is placed in Sainte-Menehould at an equal distance from the army corps and the vanguard commanded by General Dillon. On the right bank of the Auve. A battalion of line troops is in the castle of Saint-Thomas. Vienne-le-Château, Moirmont and Neuville are occupied by three other battalions and cavalry. The front of the camp is covered with batteries which expose the valley in all its extensions. The left of the camp ends on the chemin de Châlons, the right bank of the Auve is left to Kellermann's army.
Kellermann arrived on September 18 at Dampierre-le-Château from where he received in the evening a dispatch from Dumouriez indicating to him an excellent position in rear and on the left, forming square with his own. The next day, Kellermann made his troops cross the Auve. But hardly had he reached the position designated by Dumouriez than, struck by its inconveniences, he ran to Sainte-Menehould to point out to the general-in-chief how dangerous this position was. The left deprived of support, is subjected to the heights which descend from the mill of Valmy. The right touches a pond which hinders its communication with the left of the army of Sainte-Menehould. The Auve stream, the only retreat in case of failure, is too close to the rear of the camp. An army fleeing in disorder would find itself bogged down. If both armies are attacked, they would be defeated by the mere fact of terrain. Kellermann warns Dumouriez that he has decided to cross the Auve the next day, September 20, at daybreak. He doesn't have time to put his plan into action. The enemy informed of his arrival, and correctly judging the difficulty of his position, is already marching to attack him.
The Duke of Brunswick, however, had passed the northern defiles and pivoted to cut off Dumouriez from Chalons. At this moment, the Prussian maneuver being almost complete, Kellermann, commander in the temporary absence of Dumouriez, advanced his left wing and took up position on the plateau backing onto the mill between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy.
Procedure
Before three o'clock in the morning of September 10, the Prussians and Austrians were already on the move and soon the Prussian vanguard, commanded by the Prince of Hohenlohe-Singelfingen, encountered that of General Kellermann, under the orders of General Després- Crassier, established in front of the village of Hans to light this part and cover the left of the army. The enemy's attack made people realize that it was a serious matter and not a skirmish between outposts, the allies wanted to end it and crush the two small armies that oppose their march.
The enemy vanguard moved directly towards Hans, between La Bienne and La Tourbe, while the bulk of the army went up the river, to Somme-Tourbe, followed by General Clairfayt's Austrians.
At the first news of the attack of his vanguard, Kellermann ordered the tents to be folded up, arms to be taken and the road to be cleared behind, sending the crews along the main road to Sainte-Menehould. It is no longer a question of recrossing the Auve, time is running out. The vanguard, vigorously attacked, is already falling back on the army. Kellermann immediately makes arrangements for a full battle.
Until about seven o'clock, a thick fog prevented the two armies from knowing their respective positions. When it dissipates a little, the artillery begins to fire on both sides, and the fire is maintained with vivacity, without being really murderous for any party. Around ten o'clock, Kellermann, placed in the center of the line, studied the maneuvers of the enemy when his horse was killed under him by a cannon shot. Almost at the same time, shells burst in the middle of the ammunition depot and blew up two artillery caissons, injuring many people around. In the disorder thus caused, the conductors fled with their caissons. Lack of ammunition, the fire decreases in intensity. Part of the infantry then operates a retreat and adds to the general confusion. Kellermann goes there in person, and takes back the first position.
The Duke of Brunswick, seeing that the fire of his artillery had failed to shake the French troops, wanted to try a strong attack. About eleven o'clock the fire of his batteries redoubled. He forms three attack columns supported by the cavalry. The two columns on the left are moving towards the Valmy mill, the right keeping at a distance. These attacks in oblique order are the usual tactic of the Prussians.
Kellerman understands that with this mindset, it is also not possible to maintain discipline while remaining static. Also, he orders to move forward. He arranges his army in columns by battalion. When they are formed, he goes through them and addresses them with this short harangue:“Comrades, this is the moment of victory; let the enemy advance without firing a single shot, and charge him with the bayonet. »
The army, full of enthusiasm and already hardened by a four-hour cannonade, responds to the words of its general with repeated cries of:Long live the nation! Kellermann himself puts his hat on the end of his saber and repeats:Long live the nation! In an instant, all the hats are on the bayonets and a huge cry rises from all the ranks of the army.
These movements, this enthusiasm, announce an army which burns to fight. The enemy is surprised, his columns stop:"Victory is ours!" shouts Kellermann, and the artillery, whose fire redoubles, strikes down the heads of the Prussian columns. Faced with such determination, the Duke of Bruswick gives the signal to retreat.
The fire continues until four o'clock in the evening. Once again the enemy reforms his columns and tries a new attack. But the good countenance of the French army, its ardor manifested by new cries, was enough to stop it a second time. Around seven o'clock in the evening, the allies regained their first positions, leaving the battlefield strewn with dead to the French.
The retreat of the Prussians surprised many observers. The assumptions are going well:the Duke of Brunswick would not have been bought by Georges Danton with the diamonds of the royal crown of France, stolen four days earlier (September 16, 1792) from the storage?[2]. But we must also take into account the bad weather, the poor state of health of the Prussians (dysentery caused by the consumption of green grapes, the supply being cut). A few days earlier, the invasion of Poland by Russia and Austria began. However, Prussia needs this army to participate in the partition.
The battle will remain marked above all by an intense cannonade during which the new French artillery created by Gribeauval marks its superiority. Both armies witnessed the battle without really taking part in it. In the end, there were only 300 dead on the French side, 184 among the Prussians.
Dumouriez took all his measures to come to the aid of Kellermann in case of failure, or to take part in the affair if it became general. Clairfayt was content to show three column heads towards Valmy and Maffrievart to hold the French in uncertainty and at the same time threaten the head of the Sainte-Menehould camp and the rear of Kellermann's right. The Duke of Brunswick was so sure of winning that he thought he could do without the effective assistance of Clairfayt and the Austrians.
At the Battle of Valmy, there were 24,000 Frenchmen engaged against 100,000 Austro-Prussians... On that day, Kellermann had saved the country and revealed to the French the secret of their valor. It is done, the coalition is defeated on this point. 80,000 enemies, who had marched as if in triumph, stopped, seized with fear, and the French army which, until then, had feared its inexperience, in front of seasoned and disciplined soldiers, realized that courage and patriotism can make her formidable, until the moment when discipline first comes to equal her, to soon elevate her above those Prussians and Austrians so renowned.
Consequences
The next day, September 21, the news reached Paris. Assured of the safeguard of the country, sure of its strength, the National Convention proclaimed the Republic. That same day, Kellermann, whose position, despite the enemy's retreat, was no less hazardous, established himself on the heights of Voilemont, his front covered by the Auve and his right resting on the left of Dumouriez.
The Battle of Valmy is at the origin of the myth of the armed citizen who will found conscription (or military service). We know that the consequences of this battle were the evacuation of French territory by the coalition army on the following October 22.
Personalities who participated in this battle
On the side of the French troops
* Augustin Daniel Belliard (1766-1832), deputy, captain of the volunteers, during the battle, in the middle of the cannonade, he transmitted from one army corps to another, the orders of Beurnonville.
* Jean Ernest de Beurmann (1775-1850), then captain.
* Charles François Dumouriez (1739-1823), general, he commanded part of the troops.
* Pierre Dupont de l'Étang (1765-1840), then adjutant general lieutenant-colonel, he fought valiantly.
* Dominique François Xavier Félix (1763-1839), then adjutant-general, he took a glorious part in the battle.
* Joseph Diaz Gergonne (1771-1859).
* Paul Grenier (1768-1827, then captain.
* François Christophe Kellermann (1735-1820), general, he commanded part of the troops.
* Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803), French writer, (author of Dangerous Liaisons), Commissioner at the Ministry of War where he was in charge of reorganizing the troops of the young Republic, thanks to his activities, he participated decisively in the victory.
* Adelaïde Blaise François Le Lièvre de La Grange (1766-1833), then colonel.
* Louis-François Lejeune (1775-1848), then a volunteer.
* Nicolas Luckner (1722 and died guillotined in Paris in 1794), is a French soldier of Germanic origin. Marshal of France in 1791, command of the Army of the North, he was relieved of his duties.
* Jean Bernard Gauthier de Murnan, (1748-1796), then colonel.
* Louis-Philippe d'Orléans (1773-1850), then lieutenant-general.
* Pierre Claude Pajol (1772-1844), then lieutenant of the grenadiers of the future infernal columns .
* Auguste Marie Henri Picot, marquis de Dampierre (1756-1793), then colonel.
* Jacques Marguerite Pilotte, then colonel.
* Gabriel Adrien Marie Poissonnier Desperrières (1763-1852), then colonel, he commanded 2,500 grenadiers who performed prodigies of valor in battle.
* Pierre Riel de Beurnonville (1773 -1850), then lieutenant-general, he commanded the vanguard of Dumouriez.
* David Maurice Joseph de Saint-Maurice de la Redorte (1768-1833), then captain.
* Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, count of Rochambeau (1752-1821), general, he commanded part of the troops.
* Claude Testot-Ferry (1773-1856), then enlisted as a volunteer.
* Benjamin Zix (1772-1811), draftsman at the headquarters of the Grande Armée, he made the sketches of the battle.
Aside from the attackers
* Charles-Guillaume-Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1735-1806), German general and prince. He commanded the attacking forces.
* Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfait (1733-1798), he commanded the corps of 12,000 Austrians and cut off communication between Longwy and Montmédy.
* Louis de Frotté (1766-1800), then colonel-general of the emigrant forces.
* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, novelist and playwright, also a scientist, he was at the Battle of Valmy alongside the Duke of Saxe-Weimar.