The opportunity for an
effective stroke appeared to be afforded by the Spanish situation, and
the general result was a desperate attempt, premature as the event
proved, to overthrow Napoleon. On 9 April, 1809, Austria declared war,
and the next day Archduke Charles with a splendid army advanced into
Bavaria. Napoleon, who temporarily put the Spanish danger out of his
mind, struck the archduke with his usual lightning rapidity, and within
a week's time had forced him back upon Vienna. Before the middle of May
the French emperor was once more in the Austrian capital. But the
Archduke Charles remained resolute, and on 21-22 May inflicted such a
reverse on Napoleon at Aspern on the Danube below Vienna, that, had
there been prompt cooperation on the part of other Austrian commanders
and speedy assistance from other states, the Corsican might then have
been overthrown and Europe saved from a vaster deluge of blood. As it
was, Napoleon was allowed a fateful breathing spell, and on 5-6 July he
fought and won the hard battle of Wagram.
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