Wagram, Battle

Wagram, Battle of

(July 5–6, 1809) Victory by French forces under Napoleon against Austria. In an attempt to break French control of Germany, Austria's 158,000 troops under Archduke Charles (1771–1847) were deployed along a 14-mi (23-km) front on either side of the village of Wagram, near Vienna. The attack by Napoleon and his 154,000 French troops split the centre of the Austrian line. By the time reinforcements arrived, Charles's army was in retreat, and four days later he asked for an armistice. Heavy use of artillery (the heaviest in any war to that time) caused more than 40,000 Austrian casualties and about 34,000 French.