Die Erstürmung von Frankfurt durch die Hessen am 2. Dezember 1792
Maximilian Joseph Carl von Ditfurth
★★★★★ — 5 out of 5 stars
Maximilian Joseph Carl von Ditfurth's Die Erstürmung von Frankfurt durch die Hessen am 2. Dezember 1792 is a remarkable and highly specialized account of one of the lesser-known military actions of the opening year of the French Revolutionary Wars. Originally published in Kassel in 1842, the work examines the Hessian assault on Frankfurt and the subsequent expulsion of the French revolutionary forces from the city.
What makes this work particularly valuable is Ditfurth himself. He was a Kurhessian officer and military historian, and his interest was not simply in recounting a historical event but in preserving the military history and traditions of the Hessian forces. His later Erzählungen aus der hessischen Kriegs-Geschichte likewise included the Frankfurt assault, demonstrating the importance he attached to the episode within Hessian military history.
The strength of the book lies in its military focus. Ditfurth concentrates on the movements of the troops, the assault itself, the decisions of the commanders, and the difficulties encountered by the Hessian forces as they attempted to enter a city occupied by French troops. For anyone interested in eighteenth-century infantry warfare, the Hessian army, or the First Coalition War, this level of attention makes the work unusually valuable.
The fighting at Frankfurt was far from a simple victory parade. The attack at the Friedberger Tor became a costly engagement. Contemporary historical accounts describe the Hessians suffering significant casualties before the French position was finally overcome. The fighting also involved Frankfurt civilians, whose actions contributed to the eventual opening of the gates to the coalition forces.
One of the most interesting aspects of Ditfurth's account is therefore the interaction between regular military forces and the population of Frankfurt. The battle was not simply Hessians versus French. The circumstances inside the city, the behavior of the inhabitants, and the actions around the gates all played a role in determining the outcome.
The work should nevertheless be read with an awareness of its nineteenth-century perspective. Ditfurth was writing approximately fifty years after the battle, and he approached Hessian military history with obvious sympathy and pride. His purpose was partly historical preservation and partly the celebration of Hessian military achievement. The later collection containing the work was explicitly described as a book for "hessische Vaterlandsfreunde"—friends of the Hessian homeland.
That perspective is not necessarily a weakness. In fact, it is part of what makes the book interesting. Ditfurth preserves the memory of an event from the viewpoint of the Hessian military tradition. Modern historians can compare his narrative with French, Prussian, Frankfurt, and other contemporary sources to separate documented events from later interpretation.
Another important feature is the book's rarity and specialization. This is not a conventional modern military history written for a broad audience. It is a nineteenth-century primary/secondary historical account devoted almost entirely to one operation. For researchers interested in the Hessian army during the French Revolutionary Wars, that narrow focus is precisely its greatest strength.
The work also deserves recognition because the December 2, 1792 operation is an excellent example of how complicated warfare during the early Revolutionary Wars could be. The event combined coalition warfare, urban combat, local politics, civilian involvement, and the military traditions of the German states confronting Revolutionary France.
For a general reader interested in the French Revolution, the book may feel overly specialized. For a researcher of Hesse-Kassel, Hessian regiments, the First Coalition War, or the military events of 1792, however, it is considerably more important.
Its greatest value is not that it provides a perfectly objective modern reconstruction. Rather, it preserves a detailed nineteenth-century interpretation of the battle and the Hessian military experience. That makes it useful both as a historical narrative and as a source for studying how Hessian military history was remembered in the nineteenth century.
Die Erstürmung von Frankfurt durch die Hessen am 2. Dezember 1792 is a fascinating example of nineteenth-century military historiography. Ditfurth combines the perspective of a professional officer with a strong interest in preserving Hessian military history. The result is a specialized but unusually valuable account of a dramatic and often overlooked episode of the First Coalition War.
Overall: ★★★★★
This is not a book to read merely for a general history of the French Revolution. It is a book to read when you want to get close to the Hessian military experience of December 2, 1792. Nearly two centuries after the event, Ditfurth's account remains an important window into both the battle itself and the way Hessian soldiers and their achievements were remembered.
