Battle of Calcinato

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Battle of Calcinato
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
Date April 19, 1706 Location Near Calcinato, Italy Result French victory
Combatants
France	Austria
Commanders
Duc de Vendôme	Reventlow
Strength
41,000	19,000
Casualties
unknown	6,000

War of the Spanish Succession
Carpi – Chieri – Cremona – Luzzara – Cádiz – Málaga – Friedlingen – Vigo Bay – Höchstädt - Schellenberg – Blenheim – Cassano – Calcinato – Ramillies – Turin – Almansa – Toulon – Oudenarde – Malplaquet – Saragossa – Almenara – Brihuega – Villaviciosa – Denain – Barcelona

The Battle of Calcinato was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession.

[edit] Prelude

In Italy the 1706 campaign had, as before, two branches : the contest for Piedmont and the contest between the French forces in Lombardy and the Austrian second army that sought to join Victor Amadeus and Starhemberg in Piedmont. The latter, repulsed by Vendome at Cassano, had retired to Brescia and Lake Garda, Vendome following up and wintering about Castiglione and Mantua.

[edit] The Battle

In April 1706, profiting by Eugene's temporary absence, Vendome attacked the Imperialists' camp of Montechiaro-Calcinato. His intention was by a night march to surprise the post of Ponte San Marco on their extreme left, but when day came he noticed that he could give battle to the enemy's left wing at Calcinato before their right from Montichiari could intervene. His onset broke up the defence completely and he hustled the fragments of the Imperialist army back into the mountains, where Eugene had the greatest difficulty in rallying them.

[edit] Aftermath

Until the middle of June, Vendome completely baffled all attempts of Eugene to slip past him into Piedmont. In that month, Vendome was sent to Flanders after the crushing defeat there in the Battle of Ramillies. As a result the French position in Italy deteriorated drastically, and by the end of the year, all French forces were chased from Italy.