Battle of Caldiero (1805)

Battle of Caldiero
	Part of the War of the Third Coalition
	; Archduke Charles and staff at the Battle of Caldiero
Date	30 October 1805
Location	Caldiero, present-day Italy
Result	French victory; (see § Commentary)
Belligerents
French Empire	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
André Masséna	Archduke Charles; Karl Hillinger
Strength
33,000–49,000; 23,600–33,000 engaged	49,200
Casualties and losses
3,729 total:; 3,204 killed or wounded; 525 captured	9,221 total:; 2,712 killed or wounded; • 503 killed; • 2,209 wounded; 1,509 captured; a further 5,000 captured at Cara Albertini – Hillinger's force

45°25′26″N 11°11′26″E / 45.42389°N 11.19056°E / 45.42389; 11.19056

The Battle of Caldiero took place on 30 October 1805, pitting the French Armée d'Italie under Marshal André Masséna against an Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The French engaged only some of their forces, around 33,000 men, but Archduke Charles engaged the bulk of his army, 49,000 men, leaving out Paul Davidovich's corps to defend the lower Adige and Franz Seraph of Orsini-Rosenberg's corps to cover the Austrian right against any flanking maneuvers. The fighting took place at Caldiero, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Verona, during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

By 1805, the French Army was well trained and equipped, which compensated for its numerical inferiority at Caldiero. In the battle, both Masséna and Charles gradually introduced units into the fight as combat around Caldiero escalated. The result of the battle was that the French managed to hold the contested village of Caldiero, – the central position, – by nightfall, which changed hands several times in fierce combats; in other areas of this battle the French did not achieve favourable results and were checked, but Charles decided to disengage at night.