The Austrians lost the battle of Hohenlinden by neglecting this
principle. The imperial army, under the orders of the archduke John,
was divided into four columns, which had to march through an immense
forest, previous to their junction in the plain of Anzing, where they
intended to surprise the French. But these different corps, having no
direct communication, found themselves compelled to engage separately
with an enemy who had taken the precaution of concentrating his masses,
and who could move them with facility in a country with which he had
been long previously acquainted.
Thus the Austrian army, enclosed in the defiles of the forest with its
whole train of artillery and baggage, was attacked in its flanks and
rear, and the archduke John was only enabled to rally his dispersed and
shattered divisions under cover of the night.
The trophies obtained by the French army on this day were immense. They
consisted of eleven thousand prisoners, one hundred pieces of cannon,
several stand of colors, and all the baggage of the enemy.
The battle of Hohenlinden decided the fate of the campaign of 1800, and
Moreau’s brilliant and well-merited success placed him in the rank of
the first general of the age.