Battle of Rinnthal

Part of Palatine Uprising

Date	17 June 1849
Location	Rinnthal
Result	The irregulars (Freischaren) were defeated and the Prussians advanced on Landau

Belligerents

Palatine rebel army

Vanguard of the 2nd Division of the 1st Army Corps

Commanders and leaders

August Willich

Major von Mutius

Strength

1,600

1,300

Casualties and losses

20 dead; 20 wounded; 20 taken prisoner

9 wounded

The Battle of Rinnthal (German: Gefecht bei Rinnthal, sometimes called the Schlacht von Rinnthal) was the heaviest battle of the Palatine uprising and took place on 17 June 1849 near Rinnthal in the Annweiler valley in Europe. The revolutionary troops under August Willich tried in vain to halt the advance of Prussian troops on Landau.

The movement of the March revolution within the member states of the German Confederation led to the election of Frankfurt Assembly, the first all-German parliament. This parliament proclaimed the Constitution of St. Paul's Church on 28 March 1849 that provided for the state as a hereditary constitutional monarchy. The Prussian king Frederick William IV refused the imperial crown that he was offered. On 23 April, the Bavarian king and his government rejected the constitution, which was regarded by the left as a coup. On 2 May, it was decided to set up a ten-member National Committee for the Defence and Implementation of the Constitution and on 7 May 1849 the representative of the Central Power for the Palatinate, Bernhard Eisenstuck, legitimized the National Defence Committee. On 3 May 1849, the May uprising in Dresden broke out, but this was put down on 9 May by Saxon and Prussian troops. On 11 May, the third Baden uprising began with the mutiny of Baden troops in the federal fortress of Rastatt.

On 11 June, the feared Prussian intervention began - the advance guard of the 1st Division of the 1st Prussian Army Corps under Major General von Hannecken crossed the Palatine border unopposed near Kreuznach and advanced south.

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Wikipedia