Ludwig von Cornaro, Verlag des Militär-wissenschaftlichen Vereines, Wien, 1874
This work is a 19th-century Austrian military study offering strategic analysis of the 1796 campaign in Germany during the French Revolutionary Wars. Written in the tradition of professional staff education, it examines the operations of the Austrian and French armies on the Rhine and in southern Germany, focusing on the broader strategic logic of the campaign rather than purely narrative history.
The author analyzes the movements of the opposing armies during the 1796 offensive and defensive operations, particularly the Austrian attempts to counter French advances into German territory. The study emphasizes strategic principles such as concentration of force, interior lines, operational maneuvering, and the relationship between geography and command decisions.
The campaign is presented as a case study in modern warfare, where large, rapidly moving armies operated across extended theaters, requiring coordinated planning between multiple corps and independent field commanders. Attention is given to the challenges faced by Austrian forces in responding to French operational flexibility and the difficulties of maintaining coherent defensive lines along the Rhine and into southern Germany.
Although the focus is on Austrian and French operations, the broader context includes the multinational structure of the Coalition armies, which at times incorporated various German contingents, including Hessian forces in the wider Rhine theater—though not as a central focus of this particular strategic analysis.
Published by the Austrian military scientific society in Vienna, the work reflects the professional military thinking of the late 19th century and contributes to the systematic study of Revolutionary-era campaigns as foundations for modern operational theory.
