The Coalition army of the Habsburg monarchy together with a small contingent of allied Dutch Republic troops repulsed all French assaults after bitter fighting and Dumouriez conceded defeat, withdrawing from the field.

The French position in the Austrian Netherlands swiftly collapsed, ending the threat to the Dutch Republic and allowing Austria to regain control of its lost province.

The War of the First Coalition engagement was fought at Neerwinden, located 57 kilometres (35 mi) east of Brussels in present-day Belgium.

Rather than driving the Austrians to the west bank of the Rhine River, Dumouriez and the French government became preoccupied with a war with the Dutch Republic.

During the breathing space offered by her enemy, Austria assembled an army under the Prince of Coburg and struck back.

After a French covering force was routed by Coburg at Aldenhoven, Dumouriez began gathering his army for a counterstroke.

In the face of the military collapse, Dumouriez negotiated a free withdrawal of French troops in return for the surrender of Belgium and Dutch territory.

Soon, Dumouriez was plotting against his own government and when his plans failed, he defected to the Austrians, leaving the French army in chaos.

On the right flank, the Army of the Ardennes led by Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence advanced down the Meuse River toward Huy.

It was joined by a column under Benôit Guérin de Berneron that marched first from Ath northeast to Leuven (Louvain).

[2] Mechelen (Malines) capitulated to Henri Christian Michel de Stengel and 6,000 Frenchmen on 16 November 1792 and its garrison of one battalion of the Austrian Württemberg Infantry Regiment Nr.

On the 27th Stengel with 8,000 soldiers from the Army of Belgium won a minor action at Voroux-lez-Liers near Liège over Anton Sztáray and four battalions of Austrians.

[3] The 2,599-man garrison of Namur under Johann Dominik von Moitelle surrendered on 2 December to Valence and Harville after a four-week siege.

But the French government forced his hand, declaring war on Great Britain on 1 February 1793 and ordering him to overrun the Dutch Republic.

Leaving Miranda to besiege Maastricht, covered by Valence's army and Harville's corps, Dumouriez pushed north.

[10] Both Breda and Geertruidenberg had been bluffed into giving up by the military engineer Jean Claude le Michaud d'Arcon, who had designed the floating batteries at the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

[10] Poised at the edge of Hollands Diep, Dumouriez planned to cross and march through Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague and Leiden to seize Amsterdam.

[12] On 1 March, Coburg swept aside René Joseph de Lanoue's covering army at the Battle of Aldenhoven.

Leaving Louis-Charles de Flers in command of the Army of Holland, Dumouriez arrived at Leuven on 11 March.

[12] Dumouriez thought his soldiers' morale was too shaky for a retreat so he advanced on Coburg's army, seeking battle.

Earlier, François Joseph Drouot de Lamarche had been driven out of Tienen (Tirlemont), but on 16 March the French recaptured it after a vigorous combat.

[13] The French attacked Tienen with 10,000 troops while Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen defended the town with 6,000 soldiers, six guns and two mortars.

[13] Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote that Dumouriez put 42,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry into battle against Coburg's 30,000-foot and 10,000 horse.

[10] Miranda's Left Wing was made up of Jean Alexandre Ihler's 7,000 men and Felix Marie Pierre Chesnon de Champmorin's 5,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry.

[15] Joseph de Ferraris led the eight battalions and 16 squadrons of the 1st Rank with Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg as his division commander.

[15] François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt led 11 battalions and 14 squadrons of the Reserve, with József Alvinczi as his division commander and Johann Nepomuk Gottfried von Lützow as his brigadier.

The French reserve formed a final column on the far left where it was to first capture Zoutleeuw (Leau) and then swing south against Halle.

[13] Dumouriez believed that Coburg would put his main strength on the right wing to protect the Austrian line of communications.

After bitter fighting in which Oberwinden and Racour changed hands repeatedly, the two villages and Neerwinden were recaptured by Clerfayt's troops.

[19] When Miranda attacked that morning, Coburg's first reaction was to draw substantial troops from his center to reinforce his right flank.