Rhine campaign of 1713

Prelude

The Treaty of Utrecht, signed on 11 April 1713, ended the War of the Spanish Succession for most participants, but the Habsburg monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire refused to sign and remained at war with France. Emperor Charles VI's decision to continue was influenced by the Spanish party in the Habsburg court, which resented the loss of the Spanish throne to Philip V and sought a final campaign to extract concessions from France. Troops were withdrawn from Spain and Italy for a Rhine campaign. French domestic factors also played a role: Louis XIV's advanced age and the poor health of his infant heir, along with Queen Anne's illness, raised hopes in Vienna that France might face a succession crisis and seek peace.

Campaign

By 1713 both France and the Holy Roman Empire were militarily depleted. France initially made few preparations, but when the Habsburgs marshalled on the Rhine, Louis XIV concentrated a large army near Strasbourg and a smaller force on the Sarre and Moselle, totalling 300 squadrons and 240 battalions under Marshal Villars. Eugene of Savoy moved his forces from the Spanish Netherlands to the upper Rhine, but without subsidies from the Maritime powers the Imperial army numbered only 115 squadrons and 85 battalions, about one third of the French strength.

Eugene entrenched behind the Ettlingen Line, ceding the initiative to Villars. Villars considered several options: forcing the Rhine to extract tribute from south German states, pushing east into Bavaria to restore the Elector Maximilian, occupying the Electoral Palatinate, or ejecting Eugene from the Ettlingen Line. Throughout the campaign Villars used feints along these axes to mask his intentions and keep the Imperials bottled up behind the Lines of Ettlingen.