Count Thurn advanced from Moravia to meet him. The junction of
their forces placed the two leaders in command of sixty thousand men.
They followed along the left bank of the majestic Danube until they
arrived opposite Vienna. Here they found eighteen thousand troops posted
to oppose. After a short conflict, the imperial troops retreated from
behind their intrenchments across the river, and blew up the bridge.
In such a deplorable condition did the Emperor Ferdinand find his
affairs, as he returned from Germany to Austria. He was apparently in a
desperate position, and no human sagacity could foresee how he could
retrieve his fallen fortunes. Apparently, could his despotic arm then
have been broken, Europe might have been spared many years of war and
woe. But the designs of Providence are inscrutable. Again there was
apparently almost miraculous interposition. The imperial troops were
rapidly concentrated in the vicinity of Vienna, to prevent the passage
of the broad, deep and rapid river by the allied army. A strong force
was dispatched down the right bank of the Danube, which attacked and
dispersed a force left to protect the communication with Hungary. The
season was far advanced, and it was intensely cold in those northern
latitudes.
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