In may 1809 Vienna was taken by Napoleon Bonaparte (for the second time already, after 1805) - it seemed that no one could stop him at the time. The Austrian Army however still didn't give up yet and set up camp just north of Lobau. Napoleon decided to meet them there - his camp was right in the heart of Lobau (I guess a great deal of the marshlands was devastated in the process), monuments still mark camp and cemetery:
The battle took place near the villages of Aspern and Essling, both now part of the Viennese district of Donaustadt. In English it is known as the Battle of Aspern-Essling, in French usually as bataille d'Essling, but in Austria it is always called Schlacht bei Aspern - don't ask me why this is so, just accept the fact. ;-) (Well actually the battle was also fought in the village of Aspern proper and not only in the fields, probably that's why we chose 'Aspern'.)
To the surprise of many Austria won.
The win was quite useless in military terms as our army soon enough lost another battle against Napoleon (and had to sign a peace treaty dictated by the French emperor). Still, Europe saw that la Grande Armée was not invincible.
So far some historical background. This monument here marks the war cemetery in Lobau, and the wreath you can see - with French and Austrian colours - was put there in honour of the 200. anniversary of this event. It is good to remember the bad, we should never forget - so that it never may happen again. (It seems however that we forget all too quickly.)
