 The Army of the Danube advanced on Pfullendorf and Ostrach , the former an imperial city in Upper ( southern ) Swabia , and the latter a nearby village of 300 belonging to the Imperial Abbey of Salem , an influential and wealthy ecclesiastical territory on Lake Constance . Jourdan 's objective was simple and direct : cut the Austrian line at the border of the southwestern German states and Switzerland , preventing the Coalition 's use of Switzerland as an overland route between central and southern Europe . Isolation of the two theaters would prevent the Austrians from assisting one another ; furthermore , if the French held the interior passes in Switzerland , they could use these routes to move their own forces between the two theaters . 
