September 20, 1792 · Champagne, France Theater
September 20, 1792
Valmy was not a great battle by any conventional measure — casualties were minimal, the fighting lasted only hours, and the opposing armies barely closed. But it was one of the most consequential military engagements in history. The Duke of Brunswick's Prussian army — the finest professional force in Europe — advanced on the French position at Valmy and was met by a sustained artillery duel followed by something unprecedented: French citizen soldiers, raw recruits of the revolutionary army, chanting 'Vive la Nation!' and refusing to break. Brunswick, who had expected professional French soldiers to collapse under pressure and had never imagined they might hold on ideology alone, paused, reconsidered, and ordered a retreat. The road to Paris was open — and he chose not to take it.
Commanders