The Battle of Ettlingen or Battle of Malsch (9 July 1796) was fought during the French Revolutionary Wars between the armies of the First French Republic and Habsburg Austria near the town of Malsch, 9 kilometres (6 mi) southwest of Ettlingen. The Austrians under Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen tried to halt the northward advance of Jean Victor Marie Moreau's French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle along the east bank of the Rhine River. After a tough fight, the Austrian commander found that his left flank was turned. He conceded victory to the French and retreated east toward Stuttgart. Ettlingen is located 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of Karlsruhe.

The Rhine Campaign of 1796 saw Moreau's army facing the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine under Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour in the south. Meanwhile, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's French Army of Sambre-et-Meuse opposed the Army of the Lower Rhine under Archduke Charles in the north. Jourdan drubbed Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg at Altenkirchen on 4 June, compelling Archduke Charles to rush to the rescue with reinforcements. Charles defeated Jourdan at Wetzlar on the 15th, forcing him to pull back to the west bank of the Rhine. At this time there was a shake up in the high command and the archduke was put in control of both Austrian armies. In Charles' absence, Moreau successfully crossed the Rhine at Kehl on the night of 23–24 June and beat Latour at Rastatt on 5 July. Leaving Wilhelm von Wartensleben in charge in the north, Charles rushed south to confront Moreau along the Alb River near Ettlingen. After an all-day combat, the Austrians held the advantage on their right wing near Malsch, but the French had defeated their left wing in the Black Forest.

At the beginning of the Rhine Campaign of 1796, Austria had two armies in Germany, the Army of the Upper Rhine under Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser and the Army of the Lower Rhine under Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The left wing of the 80,000-man Army of the Upper Rhine guarded the Rhine River from Mannheim to Switzerland under Anton Sztáray, Michael von Fröhlich and Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé while its right wing was on the west bank around Kaiserslautern. The Army of the Lower Rhine had a 20,000-strong right wing under Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg on the east bank observing the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf. The archduke's remaining 70,000 troops lay on the west bank along the Nahe River with powerful garrisons in Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress.

The Army of Rhin-et-Moselle led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau was deployed with its right flank at Huningue, its center on the Queich River and its left flank at Saarbrücken. The Army of Sambre-et-Meuse commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was responsible for a line running north from Sankt Wendel to Cologne, while the 22,000 men of its left wing under Jean-Baptiste Kléber held Düsseldorf. The French grand strategy designed by Minister of War Lazare Carnot was for each of their two armies to turn the Austrian flanks. The strategic plan called for Jourdan to start by advancing by his left wing and was designed to accomplish two goals. First, it was hoped that this would cause the Austrians to abandon the west bank of the Rhine. Second, the move would draw Austrian strength north and allow Moreau's army a better chance to cross the Rhine in the south.

Until this time, the Army of Rhine-et-Moselle consisted of independent divisions. When Moreau assumed command he reorganized the army into three corps or wings plus a small reserve. Over the objections of all three men, he named Louis Desaix, Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr and Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino wing commanders. The system soon proved its worth. Moreau's other innovation was to group many of the heavy cavalry regiments in the army reserve. The Chasseurs à Cheval, Dragoon and Hussar regiments remained attached to the infantry divisions. On 8 June, Ferino's Right Wing had three divisions led by François Antoine Louis Bourcier (9,281 infantry, 690 cavalry), Henri François Delaborde (8,300 infantry, 174 cavalry) and Augustin Tuncq (7,437 infantry, 432 cavalry). Desaix's Center had three divisions commanded by Michel de Beaupuy (14,565 infantry, 1,266 cavalry), Antoine Guillaume Delmas (7,898 infantry, 865 cavalry) and Charles Antoine Xaintrailles (4,828 infantry, 962 cavalry). Saint-Cyr's Left Wing had two divisions under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme (7,438 infantry, 895 cavalry) and Alexandre Camille Taponier (11,823 infantry, 1,231 cavalry). Altogether, Moreau's Army of Rhin-et-Moselle numbered 71,581 foot soldiers and 6,515 cavalry, plus gunners and sappers. Counting artillery and other elements, Moreau's total was 79,592 soldiers while Jourdan commanded 77,792 men.

The Rhine Campaign of 1795 had concluded with an armistice. On 20 May 1796, the Austrians notified the French that the truce would end on 1 June. The minute it expired, Kléber led two divisions across the armistice line heading south toward Charles' right wing. The French beat the Duke of Württemberg in the Battle of Altenkirchen on 4 June, capturing 3,000 Austrians, four colors and 12 guns. By 6 June Kléber's wing was on the Lahn River and Archduke Charles began evacuating the west bank of the Rhine in order to concentrate against the French incursion. Kléber was joined within a few days by Jourdan and most of the Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse. At about this time, the Austrian high command began transferring Wurmser and 25,000 Austrians to Italy due to the successes of Napoleon Bonaparte. On 15 June, the archduke defeated the French in the Battle of Wetzlar. Subsequently, Jourdan recrossed to the west bank of the Rhine while Kléber retreated north toward Düsseldorf.

With Wurmser leaving the theater, Archduke Charles was given command over both Austrian armies. Wilhelm von Wartensleben took command of the Army of the Lower Rhine while Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour assumed leadership of the Army of the Upper Rhine. Jourdan and Kléber's advance had caused their opponents to abandon the west bank of the Rhine and had drawn Charles north, as planned. Meanwhile, Moreau mounted operations against the Austrian fortifications opposite Mannheim in order to lead his enemies into thinking that it was the main attack. But on 24 June 1796, Moreau launched a successful river crossing in the Battle of Kehl. The 7,000 defending troops of the Swabian Regional Contingent put up a stout fight but were defeated with the loss of 700 soldiers, 14 guns and 22 munition wagons. The French reported losses of 150. Subsequently, Sztáray took command of the Swabians who were reinforced up to a strength of 9,000 by some Austrians. On the 28th Sztáray was beaten by Desaix at Renchen. The French sustained 200 casualties while allied losses amounted to 550 killed and wounded plus 850 men, seven guns and two munition wagons captured.

Having blocked Jourdan, Archduke Charles began moving troops south to oppose the Army of Rhin-et-Moselle as early as 21 June. He received the news that Moreau was across the Rhine on the 26th. Leaving 25,351-foot and 10,933 horse under Wartensleben and 27,000 more around Mainz, the archduke raced south. The last units of the Moreau's army made it across the Rhine on 29 June, though Delaborde remained guarding the west bank of the Rhine for a time. For a few days the French enjoyed a numerical superiority of 30,000 to 18,000 over their opponents. Moreau then made the remarkable decision to switch the positions of two of his wings; Desaix now led the Left Wing while Saint-Cyr commanded the center. He also reorganized his army, reassigning some regiments that got lost in the confusion of the river crossing. Army of Rhin-et-Moselle expanded its bridgehead in a semicircle. Desaix moved downstream (north), Ferino moved upstream (south) and Saint-Cyr operated in the hills, ready to support either wing. The French irruption caused Fröhlich and Condé to retreat up the Rhine and Kinzig Rivers while Sztáray and the Swabians fell back to Freudenstadt.