Battle of Glarus (1799)

This article is about the 1799 battle at Näfels and Netstal. For the 1388 battle, see Battle of Näfels.
Battle of Glarus
Part of Suvorov's Swiss campaign (War of the Second Coalition)

Painting of the battle from Molitor's possession
DateOctober 1, 1799
Location
Glarus, Switzerland
Result Russian victory
Belligerents
 Russian Empire
Habsburg monarchy Habsburg monarchy		 France France
 Helvetic Republic
Commanders and leaders
Russia Alexander Suvorov[a]
Russia Pyotr Bagration
Habsburg monarchy Franz Xaver von Auffenberg		 France Jean-de-Dieu Soult
France Gabriel Molitor
France Honoré Gazan
Strength
4,160[3] 5,497[4]
Casualties and losses
450 killed
1,700 wounded		 320 killed
830 wounded[5]

The Battle of Glarus (also uncollectively the Combat of Näfels/Netstal[6]), was a battle fought on October 1, 1799,[b] the battle was the bloodiest battle of the War of the Second Coalition.[7] The battle ended the Austro-Russian invasion of the Helvetic Republic and was the last campaign which involved the Russian undefeated general Alexander Suvorov.[8] Initially, Suvorov's rearguard, led by Andrei Rosenberg, was able to fend off a French attack led by Adolphe Mortier in the Battle of the Muota Valley. Suvorov's vanguard under Pyotr Bagration, managed to overwhelm French forces at Glarus, also capturing Netstal, but came to a stalemate near Näfels and Mollis.[9] Russians completed the main tasks and took Glarus, which deprived the French of hope for decisive success.[10][9] Suvorov began a retreat via the Panixer Pass. In his report to Emperor Paul I[11] Suvorov did not mention the battle. Instead, the report portrayed his Alpine campaign as a series of his brilliant victories. Turning to the generals, Suvorov did not even want to consider the possibility of retreating through Italy.[12]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference WWed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Alexander Suvorov § Consequences
  3. ^ Reding-Biberegg, p. 127 does not include reinforcements from Yakov Povalo-Shveikovsky's division
  4. ^ Reding-Biberegg, p. 127
  5. ^ Gaston Bodart (Hrsg.): Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905). C. W. Stern, Wien/Leipzig 1908, P. 344 (Battle of Glarus is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive).
  6. ^ Petrushevsky. Generalissimo Prince Suvorov (Russian: Генералиссимус князь Суворов; 1884 ed.), vol. 3, ch. 34 (p. 250)
  7. ^ Measured by the percentage of fallen and wounded soldiers. Steven T. Ross: The A to Z of the Wars of the French Revolution. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland 2010, ISBN 978-1-4616-7238-8, pp. 20, 36 (Digital link): «bloodiest action of the War of the Second Coalition».
  8. ^ Peter Hoffmann: Alexander Suvorov. The undefeated general. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-327-00026-3, p. 6 ("Suvorov never lost a battle as a commander [...]"), 199 (battle of Näfels suppressed).
  9. ^ a b Mikaberidze, Alexander (2003). Lion of the Russian Army: Life and Military Career of Prince General Peter Bagration. Florida State University. pp. 162–165.
  10. ^ Egorshina & Petrova 2023, p. 148.
  11. ^ Resolution of the official reports of Prince Suvorov on his campaign in Switzerland. In: Ludwig Ferdinand Huber (Red.): Allgemeine Zeitung. Stuttgart, December 26, 1799, p. 1593 (Digital link); Georg Fuchs (ed.): Correspondence of the Kai. Soot. Generalissimo, Prince Italiisky Count Alexander Wassiljewitsch Suworoff-Rimniksky on the Russian-Austrian campaign in 1799. [...] Translated from the Russian by a Prussian officer. 2nd part, Carl Heymann, Glogau/Leipzig 1835, P. 223 (Digital link).
  12. ^ Suvorov 2023, pp. 360-361:Suvorov, recognizing the situation as extremely desperate, said: What should we do? You can't retreat - I've never retreated before, it's impossible to go forward, Massena has 60,000, and I don't have 20, besides, we're running out of bullets... We can only hope for almighty God and the bravery of our troops. We are Russians! God is with us! Save the honor of Russia and the emperor!.


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