When was the Battle of Luzzara?

It was fought on 15 August 1702, during the War of the Spanish Succession, between Luzzara and Riva di Suzzara on the south bank of the Po in northern Italy.

Who won the Battle of Luzzara?

Neither side clearly. Both Prince Eugene and the Duke of Vendôme claimed victory, but the Enciclopedia Italiana calls the result indecisive. The French and Spanish did not relieve Mantua, and the imperials did not retreat.

Who fought at Luzzara?

The imperial Habsburg army of Prince Eugene of Savoy against a French and Spanish army under the Duke of Vendôme, with King Philip V of Spain present in person.

How many men died at Luzzara?

Estimates differ: about 10,000 dead in all according to the Enciclopedia Italiana, or 4,600 imperial and 3,000 Franco-Spanish losses according to Mantovauno.

Why did Eugene attack a stronger army?

He saw that Vendôme was trying to turn his flank along the south bank of the Po and decided to strike first, hoping to surprise an enemy he knew to be careless about reconnaissance.

Battle of Luzzara, 1702: Prince Eugene against Vendôme on the Po

Bataille de Luzzara donnée le 15 d'août 1702, engraved plan (1702), Bibliothèque nationale de France, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Quick answer

What happened at the Battle of Luzzara?

On 15 August 1702 Prince Eugene of Savoy, commanding the Habsburg army in northern Italy, crossed to the south bank of the Po and attacked the much larger Franco-Spanish army of the Duke of Vendôme, accompanied by the young King Philip V of Spain, near Luzzara. The fighting lasted from late afternoon into the night. Eugene's attacks on the enemy left failed and the Prince of Commercy was killed, but Vendôme could not break the imperial army either. Both sides claimed victory; the losses were heavy and roughly equal.¹

The War of the Spanish Succession, fought over the inheritance of the last Habsburg king of Spain, opened in northern Italy. For the Austrian Habsburgs the real prize there was Spain's Duchy of Milan. In 1701 Prince Eugene of Savoy led an imperial army over the Alps, outmaneuvered Marshal Catinat, beat Marshal Villeroy at Chiari, and on 1 February 1702, in a daring raid on Cremona, captured Villeroy himself.²

Louis XIV then sent Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, to Italy. In May 1702 Vendôme opened a great offensive with twice Eugene's numbers, trying to envelop him along both banks of the Po.³

Philip V comes to Italy

The young Spanish king came in person. On 12 July Philip V, nineteen years old, joined Vendôme near Cremona with about 2,000 Spanish troops; Vendôme's French army was some 30,000 strong, and a further Spanish contingent came under the Prince of Vaudémont, governor of Milan. The plan agreed at Cremona was to relieve Mantua, which Eugene's army was blockading.⁴

Eugene was too weak to hold everything. According to the Enciclopedia Italiana, he gave up the blockade of Mantua of his own accord and gathered his field forces north of the Po, keeping in touch with detachments south of the river through his bridge at Borgoforte. Vendôme, with the king beside him, maneuvered by Casalmaggiore on both banks, meaning to keep the imperials guessing and then turn their flank along the south bank.⁵

Eugene strikes first

Eugene guessed the move and decided to forestall it. He crossed the Po at Borgoforte with the troops he had at hand, fewer than 30,000 men and 27 guns, and advanced across the low, covered ground of the south bank towards Luzzara, hoping to surprise an enemy he knew to be careless about scouting. The surprise almost worked, but at the last moment, by chance, an enemy patrol spotted the imperial columns. Vendôme quickly brought into line infantry and artillery about twice as strong as the attackers. Mantovauno, a Mantua newspaper, says Eugene attacked at about three in the afternoon while the Franco-Spanish army was still in march order; the Enciclopedia Italiana puts the start of the fighting at about five.⁶

The fight on the Po

The battle quickly became extremely violent. To turn the enemy left and cut it off from the Po, Eugene first sent a striking force under the Prince of Commercy, which could not break through; Commercy himself was killed. Two more attacks with fresh troops met the same fate. Eugene then took personal command of his right and threw himself into the fight, while the rest of his army, under Count Starhemberg, attacked the Franco-Spanish right.⁷

For a moment this final effort seemed about to succeed. Then Vendôme committed the fresh troops he still had in good numbers and restored the balance. The fighting went on until nine in the evening, according to Mantovauno. When it ended, neither army had been driven from the field.⁸

Two victories, one battle

The next day each side claimed the win, and thanksgiving masses were sung in both Vienna and Paris. The Enciclopedia Italiana judges the result indecisive, and considers that a credit to Eugene, given the odds. The losses are reported very differently. The encyclopedia gives about 10,000 dead in all, roughly equal on both sides; Mantovauno gives 4,600 imperial losses against 3,000 Franco-Spanish; and the local memorial counts some 7,000 killed and wounded on the field.⁹

The armies faced each other without fighting until November and then went into winter quarters, both south of the Po. Mantovauno sums up the strategic result: the Franco-Spanish army had not lifted the siege of Mantua, and the imperials had not given ground. For the Enciclopedia Italiana's entry on Eugene, Luzzara broke one arm of Vendôme's pincer, but Eugene was too short of men and money to conquer the Duchy of Milan, and early in 1703 he went to Vienna to fight for resources; in June he became president of the Imperial War Council.¹⁰ › Battle of Blenheim, 1704

Today the battle is remembered at Riva di Suzzara, where a Memorial of Reconciliation stands in the San Colombano park and a peace event is held every year on its anniversary, Ferragosto.¹¹