Battle of Carpi

The Battle of Carpi was a series of manoeuvres in the summer of 1701, and the first battle of the War of the Spanish Succession that took place on July 9, 1701 between France and Austria. In Italy the emperor took the initiative, and an Austrian army under Prince Eugene, intended to overrun the Spanish possessions in the Peninsula, assembled in Tyrol in the early summer, while the opposing army (French, Spaniards and Piedmontese), commanded by Ma... more

The Battle of Carpi was a series of manoeuvres in the summer of 1701, and the first battle of the War of the Spanish Succession that took place on July 9, 1701 between France and Austria. In Italy the emperor took the initiative, and an Austrian army under Prince Eugene, intended to overrun the Spanish possessions in the Peninsula, assembled in Tyrol in the early summer, while the opposing army (French, Spaniards and Piedmontese), commanded by Marshal Catinat, was slowly drawing together between the Chiese and the Adige. But supply difficulties hampered Eugene, and the French were able to occupy the strong positions of the Rivoli defile above Verona. There Catinat thought himself secure, as all the country to the east was Venetian and neutral. But Eugene, while making ostentatious preparations to enter Italy by the Adige or Lake Garda or the Brescia road, secretly reconnoitred passages over the mountains between Roveredo and the Vicenza district. On the 27th of May, taking infinite... less