The Battle of Stockach occurred on 25 March 1799, when French and Austrian armies fought for control of the geographically strategic Hegau region in present-day Baden-Württemberg.

Although the First Coalition forces achieved several initial victories at Verdun, Kaiserslautern, Neerwinden, Mainz, Amberg and Würzburg, the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces back and resulted in the negotiation of the Peace of Leoben (17 April 1797) and the subsequent Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797).

A Congress convened at Rastatt for the purposes of deciding which southwestern German states would be mediatised to compensate the dynastic houses for territorial losses, but was unable to make any progress.

The uprising in Naples raised further alarms, and recent gains in Switzerland suggested the timing was fortuitous to venture on another campaign in northern Italy and southwestern Germany.

The Austrians had already reached an agreement with Tsar Paul of Russia by which the legendary Alexander Suvorov would leave retirement to assist Austria in Italy with another 60,000 troops.

The Third Division, commanded by Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, positioned itself at the far left flank, and Dominique Vandamme's detached force, returning from reconnaissance near Stuttgart, roamed on the north shore of the river.

Finally, General Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze, marching north with 10,000 men, from Feldkirch, threatened Ferino's First Division from the south.

The first division pulled back to Bodman, on the northern tip of the Überlingen-finger of Lake Constance; in the retreat, a portion of the force was encircled and cut off by the 2nd Lancers of Karl Philipp, Prince Schwarzenberg's brigade, and more than 500 were taken prisoner.

[19] Fought at the junction of the east–west and north–south roads on the eastern side of the Black Forest, the day-long battle at Stockach and Engen pitted the two armies against each other for the second time in seven days.

Charles, likewise, had shortened his line; although Hotze had not yet caught up with the archduke, he and his 10,000 men were approaching from the Austrians' left rear.

An additional force of 13,000 troops under the command of Lieutenant Field Marshal Anton Count Sztáray formed the southern flank.

As Karl Aloys Fürstenberg led the hussars and grenadiers into a counter-attack, he was hit by French case shot and killed.

Division, lost both his brother at his side, and his aide-de-camp, and Jourdan himself had barely escaped being trampled to death or captured, as he tried to rally his own troops.

[32] At the French right flank, General Ferino attempted to push the Austrians back, first with a cannonade, followed by an attack through the woods on both sides of the road between Asch and Stockach.

The French fixed bayonets and charged the village of Wahlwies, successfully taking it, but they were unable to hold it in the night, and subsequently fell back.

[34] Saint Cyr had already withdrawn along the Danube, after his and Vandamme's assaults on the Austrian right failed, and was working his way west toward the Black Forest.

The Aulic Council, in establishing a plan of battle, had forbidden his approach to the Rhine until Switzerland was also cleared of the French army; Charles simply held his ground.

For the whole day of the general engagement, the French had remained on the field of battle without meat, bread or brandy, and their animals had been without forage: "it is impossible to deny," Jourdan wrote later, "without the most glaring injustice or falsehood, that we gained a victory.

[40] From exile on Elba fifteen years later, Napoleon analyzed the Battle of Stockach and the French defeat: its cause, he concluded, lay in Jourdan's division of force.

Against a more concentrated force, the Austrians could not have moved troops from the left to reinforce the right flank when Saint Cyr and Vandamme attacked from front and rear.

Furthermore, Napoleon averred, Ferino's force on the French right had not been concentrated sufficiently and d'Hautpoul's cavalry assault had taken too long to materialize, giving the Austrians the upper hand.