Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4Menzel, Wolfgang
History
Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4
Menzel, Wolfgang
Germany -- History
The peace of Vienna, in which the Tyrolese were not even mentioned,
was meanwhile concluded. The restoration of the Tyrol to Bavaria was
tacitly understood, and, in order to reduce the country to obedience,
three fresh armies again approached the frontiers, the Italian, Peyry,
from the south through the valley of the Adige, and Baraguay
d'Hilliers from the west through the Pusterthal; the former suffered a
disastrous defeat above Trent, but was rescued from utter destruction
by General Vial, who had followed to his rear, and who, as well as
Baraguay, advanced as far as Brixen.[16] Drouet d'Erlon, with the main
body of the Bavarians, came from the north across the Strub and the
Loferpass, and gained forcible possession of the Engpass. Hofer had
been persuaded by the priest, Donay, to relinquish the anterior passes
into the country and Innsbruck, and to take up a strong position on
the fortified mountain of Isel. Speckbacher arrived too late to defend
Innsbruck, and, enraged at the ill-laid plan of defence, threw a body
of his men into the Zillerthal in order to prevent the Bavarians from
falling upon Hofer's rear. He was again twice wounded at the storming
of the Kemmberg, which had already been fortified by the Bavarians. On
the 25th of October, the Bavarians entered Innsbruck and summoned
Hofer to capitulate. During the night of the 30th, Baron Lichtenthurm
appeared in the Tyrolese camp, announced the conclusion of peace, and
delivered a letter from the Archduke John, in which the Tyrolese were
commanded peaceably to disperse and no longer to offer their lives a
useless sacrifice. There was no warrant for the future, not a memory
of an earlier pledge. The commands of their beloved master were obeyed
by the Tyrolese with feelings of bitter regret, and a complete
dispersion took place. Speckbacher alone maintained his ground, and
repulsed the enemy on the 2d and 3d of November, but, being told, in a
letter, by Hofer, "I announce to you that Austria has made peace with
France and has forgotten the Tyrol," he gave up all further
opposition, and Mayer and Kemnater, who had gallantly made head
against General Rusca at the Muhlbacher Klause, followed his example.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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