In the summer of 1702 the two deployments fought to control the lands around Mantua. Spain by sea and France by the Alpine paths strengthened the Allies power so sensibly that the numerical superiority was obvious.
In this way, after the German garrison run away from Guastalla, the French went on northbound. Before trying the assault of Borgoforte, Vendôme set the field and ordered to place some defenses, just after Luzzara, that is to say in the southern field of Riva.
On the other hand Prince Eugene decided to abandon the siege of Mantua and sent all the military potential on the right hand side of the Po river, nearby the old village of Riva.
The setting of the armies put the left side of the Allies and the right of the Empires on the riverbank of the Po, while the rest of the troops was on open fields, full of ditches, channels, fences and high bushes.
On the morning of August 15 th
, even the furthest units of the Empires, called for urgently, reached the rest on the battle line.
Around 5 p.m., prince Eugene, considering that the Allies still were hesitating to open the fight, with two cannon shoots gave the signal to begin the clashes. The armies faced each other with big efforts, and only the tiredness of the day and the darkness of the night put the clash to rest. In the following days none of the two Parties seemed to be willing to restart an open fight. Both the defense forces stood in their positions, until the cold of the forthcoming winter forced them to the winter quarters. The losses during the fight were enormous, summing up, according to the most reliable fonts, to 2800 soldiers of the Empires and 4600 of the Allies. The battle of the 15 th
of August 1702 was an episode of inconceivable harshness in the setting of the War of the Spanish Succession that, until the very end, showed uncertain outcomes and that left the land of Riva filled with dead bodies, most of which still unburied after several months from the ending of the hostilities and that left the village like a ghost-town.
Comune di Suzzara
Centro Studi di Storia locale di Riva di Suzzara
Comune di Luzzara
One of the chief events of the War of Spanish Succession (1700-1714) was the Battle of Luzzara on August 15 th
1702. The death of Charles II on November 1 st
1700 occasioned these events. He died heirless, and his will appointed the Duke Philip of Anjou, nephew of Louis XIV King of France, his sole heir. This would have inevitably meant the domination of the French monarchy, which disturbed whole Europe .
Philip of Anjou, known as Philip V, went to Spain in 1701. The Emperor
Leopold I immediately reacted. Since the Italian states were the main cornerstone of the European balance, he decided to invade the territory of Milan. Great Britain had an even more worried reaction: the formation of a joint fleet of France Spain and Flanders was seen as a great danger.
For fear that France could seize the flourishing market of the Spanish
Indies, Great Britain formed a coalition with the Netherlands (1701) and
Austria (1702). Also the Electors of Palatinate and Hannover and Frederick
I King of Prussia joined the Imperial coalition. Louis XIV opposed them with the Franco-Spanish coalition called ‘the Allies’, which was shouldered by Victor Amedeo II Duke of Savoy (who betrayed to join the Imperial coalition in 1703), the Duke of Mantua and Monferrato, the Electors of
Cologne and Bavaria and the King of Portugal. The Italian territory has been from the beginning the scene of the first battles. In the Po Valley, the Imperial troops led by Prince Eugene of Savoy met in battle the
Franco-Spanish troops led by the French general Catinat at Carpi di
Legnago and Chiari in 1701. They also fought the Allies led by Villeroy a n d t h e n b y
Ve n d ô m e a t
C r e m o n a a n d
Luzzara in 1702.
The war went on with its ups and downs until 1713-
14, when the peace treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt were s i g n e d . T h e y e s t a b l i s h e d a general settlement of whole Europe, which avoided the domination of the monarchy of Roi
Soleil and achieved a balance policy in
Europe.