The Battle of Winterthur (27 May 1799) was fought between French forces under André Masséna and elements of the Austrian army under Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze during the War of the Second Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The town of Winterthur lies 18 kilometers (11 mi) northeast of Zürich, in Switzerland. Any army holding the town, at the junction of seven crossroads, controlled access to most of Switzerland and entry points into southern Germany. By mid-May 1799, the Austrians had wrested control of parts of Switzerland from the French. After defeating Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's 25,000-man Army of the Danube at the battles of Ostrach and Stockach, the Austrian army prepared to unite its three main forces on the plains surrounding
