Höchstädt an der Donau

Höchstädt an der Donau

Coat of arms
Höchstädt an der Donau

Coordinates: 48°36′N 10°33′E / 48.600°N 10.550°E / 48.600; 10.550Coordinates: 48°36′N 10°33′E / 48.600°N 10.550°E / 48.600; 10.550
Country Germany
State Bavaria
Admin. region Schwaben
District Dillingen
Government
 • Mayor Hildegard Wanner
Area
 • Total 37.45 km2 (14.46 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
 • Total 6,663
 • Density 180/km2 (460/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 89420
Dialling codes 09074
Vehicle registration DLG
Website www.hoechstaedt.de
Diorama of the battle in the Höchstädt museum. The foreground depicts the fierce fighting in and around Blindheim.

Höchstädt an der Donau is a town in the district of Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated near the banks of the River Danube. It consists of the following neighborhoods: Höchstädt an der Donau, Deisenhofen, Oberglauheim, Schwennenbach and Sonderheim. The town is the seat of the municipal association Höchstädt an der Donau, which includes the towns Blindheim, Finningen, Lutzingen and Schwenningen.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the wealthy mercantile family Höchstetter, which came from the town, was part of the mercantile patriciate of Augsburg.

In the early 18th century, the town was the site of a battle twice. The first Battle of Höchstädt (German: Schlacht von Höchstädt) on 20 September 1703 cost over 5000 lives. A year later in 1704, the Battle of Blenheim (or Second Battle of Höchstädt also German: Schlacht von Höchstädt) between the Austrian and British forces (led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy) on the one side, and Bavarian and French troops (commanded by Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and the Comte de Tallard) on the other side.

The carnage of that battle was so horrific (over 20,000 men had died at the end of the day) that farmers are said to still dig up skulls from the fields today, as described in the poem After Blenheim, written by Robert Southey, which tells about children finding the skull of one of the "... many thousand men, said he, Were slain in that great victory."[2]

In June 1800, the armies of the French First Republic, under command of Jean Victor Moreau, fought Habsburg regulars and Württemberg contingents, under the general command of Pál Kray. Kray had taken refuge in the fortress at Ulm; Moreau diverted his army to approach Ulm from the east and, after a small group of men captured a foothold on the northern bank of the Danube, his forces were able to move against the fortress on both sides of the river. At this battle, the culmination of the Danube Campaign of 1800, Moreau forced Kray to abandon Ulm and withdraw into eastern Bavaria.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes". Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung (in German). June 2016.
  2. ↑ Robert Southey, Minor Poems: Battle of Blenheim. Longmans, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1823, pp. 167-172, p. 168 cited.
  3. ↑ "Höchstädt", History of the Wars of the French Revolution: Including Sketches of the Civil History of Great Britain and France, from the Revolutionary Movements, 1788, to the Restoration of a General Peace, 1815, Kuhl, France, 1820, p. 183.
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