31 October in history: Battles of Zornoza and Hanau

Quick answer

In 1808, in the Basque hills east of Bilbao, Marshal Lefebvre disobeyed orders and attacked General Joaquín Blake's Spanish army at Zornoza. He won the field, but chased Blake out of the trap Napoleon was preparing. In 1813 Napoleon's army, retreating from its defeat at Leipzig, found Karl Philipp von Wrede's Austro-Bavarian army across its road at Hanau. On 30 October fifty guns and the Guard cavalry smashed a way through, and on 31 October the French marched on toward the Rhine while a wounded Wrede fought their rearguard.

Battle of Zornoza, 1808: the marshal who attacked too soon

31 October 1808 · 218 years ago

At Zornoza, Marshal Lefebvre's French corps attacked the Spanish army of General Joaquín Blake in one of the first actions of Napoleon's invasion of Spain. The Spaniards were driven back but escaped encirclement, to the emperor's displeasure.

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Battle of Hanau, 1813: Napoleon breaks through to the Rhine

31 October 1813 · 213 years ago

Near Hanau in Hesse, Napoleon's army retreating after Leipzig found its road blocked by Wrede's Austro-Bavarian corps in the Sixth Coalition war. Napoleon defeated Wrede and reopened the route back to France.

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Also on this day

In 1914, at the crisis of the First Battle of Ypres, the Germans broke through at Gheluvelt, and about 370 men of the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment counter-attacked across open ground and restored the line. The story is told on our 19 October page.¹

In 1917, in the late afternoon, the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments of the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade charged the Ottoman trenches at Beersheba and rode into the town, saving most of its vital wells. The Gaza to Beersheba line was turned, and Gaza fell within a week. The desert war that led there is followed from Romani on our 3 August page.²

In 1940 the Battle of Britain reached its official end: the British reckoning runs from 10 July to 31 October. Its opening is told on our 10 July page.³

Frequently asked questions

What happened at Zornoza on 31 October 1808?

Marshal Lefebvre's French IV Corps, about 21,000 men, attacked General Joaquín Blake's Spanish army of about 19,000 and broke its center. The Spanish lost about 300 killed and wounded and 300 prisoners, the French about 200, and Blake retreated beyond Bilbao in good order.

Why was Lefebvre's victory a problem for Napoleon?

Napoleon had ordered his marshals not to attack, because he wanted Blake to stay in his exposed forward position until a double envelopment could trap him. According to Oman, Lefebvre's attack pushed Blake about forty miles back, and although Victor beat him again at Espinosa on 10 and 11 November, a large part of the Spanish army escaped.

Why did Wrede lose at Hanau?

He believed he faced only a French flank column, and he posted most of his army with the river Kinzig at its back. Drouot's battery of about fifty guns silenced his artillery, and the French cavalry then broke his center, which had to escape with the river at its back.

What is the Virgil story from Hanau?

In his memoirs Marbot tells how his trumpeter recited a Virgil eclogue that begins with lying under a spreading beech, while the regiment was under fire in the beech forest. Marshal Macdonald laughed at it. An hour later the trumpeter was killed when an ammunition wagon exploded.

How many men were lost at Hanau?

The sources disagree. Rickard puts Wrede's losses at 9,250 for 28 to 31 October, while napoleon-empire.org gives almost 5,000 killed and wounded plus almost as many prisoners, and 2,000 to 3,000 French losses in the battle. Both say the allies picked up about 10,000 French stragglers.