Battle of Valmy

The Battle of Valmy was the military engagement that saved the French Revolution. It took place near the town of Valmy, in north-eastern France, on September 20, 1792, during the French Revolutionary Wars. Fought between the French Army and the combined forces of Prussian and Austrian troops, the Battle of Valmy was a decisive French victory that stopped the advance of the allied armies, led by the Duke of Brunswick, on their way to Paris to suppress the Revolution and reestablish the absolute monarchy, there.

Summary of the Battle of Valmy

The French Army was divided into two army battle groups. The first one was composed of approximately 30,000 men, under the command of Francois Kellerman; it was deployed west of Valmy on the slopes of a low hill with a windmill on top; the other group, which consisted of 17,000 troops, under Charles Francois Dumouriez, took up position to the east of the town. In order to cut off Dumouriez’s forces, the Prussian commander, the Duke of Brunswick, headed through the northern woods and formed his combined army on a line of hills 3,000 yards to the west of Kellerman’s battle group.

The battle began with a long range artillery duel, but neither side suffered significant casualties. Then, the Prussians launched an infantry assault across open ground under fire. However, the French army held its ground, also under Prussian artillery fire, proving that it was a force to be reckoned with. As Brunswick saw that the French still held their ground despite the fierce Prussian attack, he called off this first assault as the artillery duel began again.

When a lucky shell hit one of the French ammunition wagons, causing a large explosion, the Prussians launched a second, and more determined attack. Although the Prussian infantry reached within 600 yards of the French lines this time, Brunswick once again cancelled the assault. Finally, at 16:00 hours, the Prussians abandoned the battle with neither side suffering heavy casualties in the artillery duel. The Prussians suffered 160 casualties, while the French lost around 300 men, killed and wounded.

After the French victory at the Battle of Valmy, the French National Convention was emboldened enough to formally declare the end of monarchy in France, establishing of the First French Republic.

Battle of Valmy, 1792, (Video)