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WATTIGNIES

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 419 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WATTIGNIES , a See also:

village of See also:France 5i m. S.S.E. of See also:Maubeuge, in See also:watts is measured by the product of the current flowing through the See also:scene of a See also:battle in the See also:French Revolutionary See also:Wars (q.v.), the See also:circuit in amperes and the potential difference of the ends of fought on the 15th-16th See also:October 1993. The Allied See also:army, chiefly that circuit in volts, multiplied by a certain See also:factor called the Austrians, under See also:Coburg, was besieging Maubeuge, and the Revolutionary army, preparing to relieve it, gathered behind See also:Avesnes. Coburg disposed a covering force of 21,00o astride the Avesnes-Maubeuge road, 5000 on the right with their flank on the Sambre, 9000 in the centre, on a See also:ridge in an See also:amphitheatre of See also:woods, and 6000 on the See also:left, chiefly on the See also:plateau of Wattignies. A See also:long See also:line of woods enabled the Republican See also:commander, See also:Jourdan, to deploy unseen; 14,000 men were to attack the right, 16,000 were sent towards Wattignies, and 13,000 were to demonstrate in the centre till the others had succeeded and then to attack. Meantime (though this See also:part of the See also:programme miscarried) the Maubeuge See also:garrison, which was almost as strong as its besiegers, was to sally out. Even without the Maubeuge garrison Jourdan had a two-to-one superiority. But the French were still the undisciplined enthusiasts of Hondschoote. Their left attack progressed so long as it could use " dead ground " in the valleys, but when the Republicans reached the gentler slopes above, the volleys of the See also:Austrian regulars crushed their swarms, and the Austrian See also:cavalry, striking them in flank, rode over them. The centre attack, ordered by See also:Carnot on the See also:assumption that all was well on the flanks, was premature; like the left, it progressed while the slopes were See also:sharp, but when the Republicans arrived on the See also:crest they found a See also:gentle See also:reverse slope before them, at the See also:foot of which were Coburg's best troops. Again the disciplined volleys and a well-timed cavalry See also:charge swept back the assailants. The French right reached, but could not hold, Wattignies.

But these reverses were, in the eyes of Carnot and Jourdan, See also:

mere mishaps. Jourdan wished to renew the left attack, but Carnot, the engineer, considered the Wattignies plateau the See also:key of the position and his See also:opinion prevailed. In the See also:night the nearly equal See also:partition of force, which was largely responsible for the failure, was modified, and the strength of the attack massed opposite Wattignies. Coburg meanwhile strengthened his wings. He heard that Jourdan had been reinforced up to 1oo,000. But he called up few fresh battalions, and put into line only 23,000 men. In reality Jourdan had not received reinforcements, and the effects of the first failure almost neutralized the superiority of See also:numbers and See also:enthusiasm over discipline and confidence. But at last, after a long fight had eliminated the faint-hearted, enough brave men remained in the excited crowds held together by Carnot and Jourdan to win the plateau. Coburg then See also:drew off. His losses were 2500 out of 23,000, Jourdan's 3000 out of 43,000.

End of Article: WATTIGNIES

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