Napoleon's Danube Campaign 1809

Historical Overview

It is the 16th April 1809. The travelling coach of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte races across the border into Bavaria and on towards the largest contingent of his scattered army. Six days earlier a force of 90,000 Austrians under the command of Archduke Charles crossed the river Inn aiming to shatter the dispersed French forces and regain the territory lost to them after their humiliating defeat at Austerlitz. Simultaneously, a second Austrian army crossed the border into northern Italy aiming to strike a blow against the French forces commanded by the Emperor's step-son Viceroy Eugene.

The stage is set for one of the bloodiest and most bitterly contested campaigns of the Napoleonic era, as two mighty empires clash to decide the fate of central Europe.

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