ASPERN, or GROSS ASPERN. A vil lage of Austria, on the left hank of the Danube, 5 miles east-northeast of Vienna. Population about 1 BM. This village and the neighboring one of Essling are celebrated as the scene of a sanguinary battle in the summer of 1809, be tween the French army, under Napoleon I., and the Austrians. under Archduke Charles. After the battle of Eckuliihl (q.v.). in 1{ blob the Austrians were defeated, the Archduke retired to the left bank of the Danube, leaving the road. to Vienna open to the French. On May 12, 1809. the French army entered Vienna, when the Archduke concen trated his forces on the opposite bank of the river. Napoleon threw bridges over the river, from the island of Lohau, which he had occupied. and on the 21st the French army began crossing to the attack and seized Aspern and Essling. The Austrians at first seemed to give way: but when about half the French had crossed the river, they returned to the charge, and almost Surrounded the enemy in the narrow plain be tween the two villages. Here ensued the battle
of Aspern. a terrific conflict, the grand object of the contending hosts being the possession of the villages, of which Aspern was thrice lost and retaken by the Austrians. At the close of the day it remained undecided, hilt next morning it was renewed with fury on either side. 'The French had almost snatched the victory, when fresh Austrian troops marehed on the field and saved the day. After terrible slaughter Napo leon ordered a retreat, and his shattered ranks retired to the little island of Loban, in the mid dle of the river, whence they afterwards slowly withdrew to the right bank. The loss on the side of the Austrians was given at 4000 killed and 16,000 wounded; that of the French at double that number. Marshal Lannes, the most daring among the French generals, was among the slain. Both the villages were reduced to heaps of ruins. The French called this the battle of Essling,- while the Austrians gave it the name of .Aspern.