You Do Not Know Our Father: Sinsheim (Franco-Dutch War)

[Music]

french commander henri de la tour de

varnia vicomte tehran

began his illustrious military career in

the dutch army

his uncle maurice of nassau the stat

holder of the netherlands took young

henry under his wing as a volunteer in

1625

he distinguished himself in the dutch

service gaining a reputation for bravery

and martial prowess

and returned to france five years later

karma richelieu gave him command of a

regiment and he served for the duration

of the 30 years war

his tactical skill and physical courage

won him the rank of marshall de comp in

1634 and by 1640 he was considered among

the best commanders in the french army

he was made a marshal of france in 1643

for his victory at trino he won further

victories at brysock freiburg alerheim

and zusmar's housing

in 1648 when civil war broke out in

france taran at first remained neutral

he temporarily joined the rebels but

then switched sides and fought for the

king

taran won victories over the rebels at

blenow and foburg saint antoine and

against their spanish allies at harass

and dunkirk

the royalist french victory at dunkirk

ended the civil wars and the conflict

with spain

france after gobbling up some spanish

possessions along the eastern borders

now turned to the dutch whose diplomatic

machinations had prevented further

french gains at spain's expense

louis xiv sought to expand his realm and

weaken the netherlands leading to the

franco-dutch war

the conflict began poorly for the dutch

but soon the holy roman empire along

with spain and prussia joined the war on

their side

france was now at war along all of her

frontiers

in this desperate situation tehran was

placed in command of french forces in

the rhineland in april 1674.

the forces given to tehran were small

compared to other armies

this may have been due to collusion

among his enemies at court and in the

army particularly secretary of state for

war francois michel atelier the marquis

of leuvoir and louis de barban the great

khan day france's other great commander

it is more likely that france's military

situation in the summer of 1674 only

allowed for a few soldiers to be

allocated to the rhineland frontier all

in all taran found himself in command of

9 000 men facing off against much larger

armies along the front

with this force he had to defend a

200-mile frontier from koblenz to basil

in early june taran learned that two

imperial armies one of nine thousand led

by alexander von burnonville and count

ania sylvius de caprara were on the move

seeking to merge their forces to cross

the rhine river

[Music]

caprara was a native of bologna and

could boast of a distinguished pedigree

his cousins raymondo montecolucci and

otavio piccolomini were some of the

greatest soldiers of the age

the former in fact had fought

successfully against tehran in the

campaign of the previous year stifling

his attempts to march the aid of french

forces in the low countries

taran was in no mood to wait for the

enemy to strike first he set his army on

a force march on june 12 1674

hoping to destroy caprara before he

could link up with vernonville

on june 14th he crossed the rhine on a

bridge of boats near phillipsburg and

with only three days worth of provisions

rushed to hockenheim and encamped there

meanwhile caprara was on the road north

marching toward heidelberg

it is unknown when exactly he realized

that taran was at his heels but he must

have been aware of the french presence

by the time tehran settled into camp at

hockenheim on the 14th

taran and caprara's forces made contact

that night and heavy skirmishing erupted

between french and allied pickets

fearing a surprise attack taran ventured

out into the dark to make certain that

his troops were ready to defend the camp

on passing a tent he heard some young

recruits grumbling about the long march

and poor conditions they'd endured over

the past few days

he overheard an old soldier who had been

wounded in the previous hours fighting

laying nearby

he said

you do not know our father referring to

tehran

he would not have exposed us to so much

fatigue if he had had not some great

thing in view of which we as yet know

nothing

taran engaged in an incredibly dangerous

operation and he no doubt took comfort

from this expression of loyalty and

devotion

caprara did not make a general attack on

the night of the 14th

on the 15th tehran marched his tired

army to vestlock trailing caprara's

march north on the 16th terran roused

his troops for yet another march at

around 3 a.m

after 4 days and 90 miles of marching

taran found caprara's main army near the

town of sendtime at 9 am

caprara had chosen the ground and would

make his stand

sources differ on the number of troops

engaged at sinzheim and on their

composition

tehran had anywhere from seven thousand

five hundred to twelve thousand men the

majority of them cavalry

caprara's forces were even more cavalry

heavy than terrans caprara bought 7 000

cavalry and 2 000 infantry to the field

though he might have had as many as 15

000

it is unclear where precisely in the

holy roman empire these soldiers were

from though many appear to have hailed

from the lorraine region

whatever the exact figures both forces

appear to have been evenly matched in

number caprara's decision to turn and

face his pursuer has been criticized by

those who insist that he should have

continued on toward heidelberg where

vernonville was waiting

these critics forget that caprara held

several advantages going into the battle

his men were fresh and well-rested

facing an exhausted french enemy

caprara's main advantage however was his

position not only was sensheim itself a

natural obstacle being guarded by two

branches of the eltzbach river but the

terrain surrounding it was elevated and

perfect for defense

caprara deployed his main force on a

plateau to the north of senzheim and by

9 am had 1 000 foot soldiers and 400

dragoons in the town and the fortified

abbey south of the plateau

the battle began shortly after nine am

tyrann's sixth cannon opened fire upon

the imperial positions in senzheim

one thousand three hundred french

infantry and four squadrons of dragoon

splashed across the river using marshy

fords along its length to cross

the french fought through the gardens

and hedges along the riverbank and

pressed on toward the town

under heavy fire tyrann's men led by the

marquis of hogan court managed to push

the imperial troops back into senzheim

itself where the streets were barricaded

in wine barrels stuffed with dirt and

beams ripped from the houses

[Music]

by 10 30 a.m after brutal fighting in

the streets and outskirts of sindheim

the french broke through and advanced

upon the fortified abbey

the abbey's defenders in danger of being

cut off from the rest of the army put up

little resistance before fleeing toward