Theresian Military Academy. French Revolution In 1794 Kinsky was sent to the Austrian Netherlands to fight the Republican French during the War of the First Coalition. He served in the Coalition army commanded by Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in the Flanders Campaign, leading a division consisting of brigades under von Heister and Anton Ernst Mittrowsky. In mid-May, Karl Mack von Leiberich planned an operation whereby 73,350 Coalition troops would advance to catch the French divisions of Joseph Souham and Jean Victor Marie Moreau in a trap. The operation called for six columns to converge on the French units holding a salient at Menen (Menin) and Courtrai. On 17 May the Coalition columns were ordered to begin moving in order to get into their proper positions. The Count of Clerfayt with 19,600 soldiers was directed to advance south from Tielt, cross the Leie (Lys) River at Wervik and reach Tourcoing. The other five columns were ordered to move toward the northwest from the area of Tournai. Farthest north were Von dem Bussche's 4,000 Hanoverians. From north to south the other columns were Rudolf Ritter von Otto with 10,000 men, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany with 10,750 troops, Kinsky with 11,000 soldiers and Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen with 18,000 men. Kinsky and Charles were expected to defeat Jacques Philippe Bonnaud's division. Mack's plan was too ambitious and only Otto and York reached their proper stations at nightfall on 17 May. Clerfayt only began crossing the Leie at 1:00 AM. Bussche ran into stiff opposition, was drubbed and chased out of the area. Otto held Tourcoing and York reached Mouvaux. Kinsky and Charles pushed back Bonnaud's troops but Kinsky did not get farther than Bouvines and Charles was south instead of east of Lille. York realized his column was badly exposed because of Bussche's defeat and Kinsky's lack of progress. He appealed to Emperor Francis to allow his column to pull back to Lannoy. Permission was denied. Instead, Mack ordered Charles to hurry up and assumed Kinsky would do the same. In fact, Charles had an epileptic seizure and his staff refused to disturb him. In the night, Mack sent Charles orders to drop off 10 battalions and 20 squadrons to observe Lille and move with Kinsky to Lannoy so as to cover York's left flank. In the absence of their army commander Jean-Charles Pichegru, the French generals - Souham,