Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813, at Leipzig, Saxony. Napoleons army contained Polish and Italian troops, as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine, the battle was the culmination of the 1813 German campaign and involved nearly 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I. Being decisively defeated for the first time in battle, Napoleon was compelled to return to France while the Coalition hurried to keep their momentum, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba in May 1814. However, the Russian Tsar refused to even as the French occupied the city. With this string of defeats, the armies of France were in retreat on all fronts across Europe, anti-French forces joined Russia as its troops pursued the remnants of the virtually destroyed Grande Armée across central Europe. He sought to regain the offensive by re-establishing his hold in Germany, the victories led to a brief armistice.
He won a victory at the Battle of Dresden on 27 August. This policy led to victories at Großbeeren, Katzbach, after these defeats, the French emperor could not easily follow up on his victory at Dresden. With the intention of knocking Prussia out of the war as soon as possible, Oudinot was defeated at the Battle of Großbeeren, just south of the city. With the intact Prussian force threatening from the north, Napoleon was compelled to withdraw westward and he deployed his army around the city, but concentrated his force from Taucha through Stötteritz, where he placed his command. The Prussians advanced from Wartenburg, the Austrians and Russians from Dresden, the coalition had some 380,000 troops along with 1,500 guns, consisting of 145,000 Russians,115,000 Austrians,90,000 Prussians, and 30,000 Swedes. This made Leipzig the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, surpassing Borodino, Wagram and Auerstadt, Napoleon conscripted these men to be readied for an even larger campaign against the newly formed Sixth Coalition and its forces stationed in Germany.
While he won several battles, his army was being steadily depleted as Coalition commanders, closely following the Trachenberg Plan. The Swedes had under their command a company of the British Rocket Brigade armed with Congreve rockets, despite being outnumbered, Napoleon planned to take the offensive between the Pleisse and the Parthe rivers. The position at Leipzig held several advantages for his army and his battle strategy, the rivers that converged there split the surrounding terrain into many separate sectors. The northern front was defended by Marshals Michel Ney and Auguste de Marmont, the artillery reserve and parks and baggage stood near Leipzig, which Napoleon made his supply base for the battle. The bridges on the Pleisse and White Elster rivers were defended by infantry, the main battery stood in reserve, and during battle was to be deployed on the Gallows Height. This battery was to be commanded by the artillery expert Antoine Drouot, the western flank of the French positions at Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz was defended by Prince Joseph Poniatowski and Marshal Pierre Augereau and his young French conscripts
Battle of Sehested
The Battle of Sehested was fought between Danish and Russian-Prussian-British troops at Sehested on 10 December 1813 during the War of the Sixth Coalition. However, the battle could not change the course of the war, the Danish casualties were 469–534 men. Greenhill Books,1998 Map of the battle as of 11,00 AM, from napoleon-series. org
August Neidhardt von Gneisenau
August Wilhelm Antonius Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau was a Prussian field marshal. He was a prominent figure in the reform of the Prussian military, Gneisenau was born at Schildau in the Electorate of Saxony. He was the son of a Saxon lieutenant of artillery, August William Neidhardt and he grew up in great poverty at Schildau, and subsequently at Würzburg and Erfurt. In 1777 he entered the University of Erfurt, but two joined an Austrian regiment quartered there. In 1782, taking the name of Gneisenau from some lost estates of his family in Austria. With one of that princes mercenary regiments in British pay, he saw active service, returning in 1786, he applied for Prussian service, and King Frederick the Great gave him a commission as first lieutenant in the infantry. Made Stabskapitän in 1790, Gneisenau served in Poland from 1793-1794, ten years of subsequent quiet garrison life in Jauer enabled him to undertake wide ranging studies of military and political history. In 1796 he married Caroline von Kottwitz, the commandant received the highly prized Pour le Mérite and promotion to lieutenant-colonel.
A wider sphere of work now opened to Gneisenau, as chief of engineers, and a member of the reorganizing committee, he played a great part, along with Scharnhorst, in the work of reconstructing the Prussian army. Though primarily devoted to the problem of military reorganization, he exercised influence on the general policy of the Ministry as well. A colonel in 1809, he drew upon himself, by his energy, the suspicion of the dominant French. But after visiting Austria, Imperial Russia and England on secret missions, he returned to Berlin, thus began the connection between these two soldiers which has furnished military history with one of the best examples of harmonious co-operation between a commander and his chief-of-staff. The plan for the march on Paris, which led directly to the abdication of Napoleon in April 1814, was specifically the work of the chief-of-staff. In 1814, as a reward for his service, Gneisenau — along with Yorck, Kleist. In 1815, once more chief of Blüchers staff, Gneisenau played a conspicuous part in the Waterloo campaign of June/July 1815.
On the field of Waterloo, Gneisenau carried out a pursuit that resulted in the capture of Napoleons carriage, in the days following the battle, Gneisenau saw that the Prussian forces reached Paris before Wellington. In reward Gneisenau gained further promotion and the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, in 1816 Gneisenau was appointed to command the VIII Prussian Corps, but soon retired from the service, both because of ill health and for political reasons. For two years Gneisenau lived in retirement at his estate, Erdmannsdorf in Silesia, but in 1818 he became governor of Berlin, as successor to Kalckreuth, in 1825 he was promoted to General Field Marshal
Battle of Reims (1814)
The Battle of Reims was fought at Reims, France between an Imperial French army commanded by Emperor Napoleon and a combined Russian-Prussian corps led by General Emmanuel de Saint-Priest. On the second day, an overconfident Saint-Priest carelessly deployed his forces west of the city, too late, Saint-Priest realized who he was fighting and tried to organize a retreat. In the battle followed, the French army struck with crushing force. During the fighting, Saint-Priest was struck by a howitzer shell, on 9–10 March 1814, a 100, 000-strong Allied army led by Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Emperor Napoleons 39, 000-man Imperial French army in the Battle of Laon. The French lost 4,000 killed and wounded plus 2,500 men,45 guns and 130 caissons captured, the Allies admitted only 744 casualties. Another source stated that the Allies sustained 4,000 casualties while inflicting 7,500 on the French, early on the second day, Blücher was so ill with an eye infection that he temporarily handed over command to his chief of staff August Neidhardt von Gneisenau.
Though Blücher had issued orders to attack the French that day, Napoleon was able to disengage his battered army and withdraw almost unmolested to Soissons. Without Blüchers guiding hand, the Allied corps commanders began to clash with one another, ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg tried to resign his corps command and was only persuaded to remain by Blücher. At dawn on 11 March, Napoleons army began its retreat to Soissons where it formed for battle at 3,00 pm, only 1,500 Russians mounted a pursuit and they were easily kept at bay by the French rearguard. The right wing of Marshal Auguste de Marmont, whose corps had been routed at Laon, on 11–12 March Napoleon organized Soissons for defense and issued orders for his eastern garrisons to break out and harass the Allied supply lines going back to the Rhine River. Not only did the French army suffer heavy casualties at Laon, a new cavalry unit called the Converged Squadrons Division was formed and assigned to Sigismond-Frédéric de Berckheim. Napoleon disbanded the two Young Guard corps of Marshals Michel Ney and Claude Perrin Victor and Poret de Morvans provisional division, extra officers and non-coms were sent to Paris to recruit while the survivors were consolidated into the divisions of Curial and Charpentier.
After reorganization, Mortiers 10, 609-strong corps consisted of Christianis 2,034 men, Curials 2,796 men, Saint-Priest, a French émigré, led the Russian 8th Infantry Corps, which was made up of the 11th and 17th Infantry Divisions. Each division consisted of four infantry and two jäger regiments. At the beginning of 1814, the corps numbered 11,900 soldiers and formed part of Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langerons 43, on 31 December 1813, the 8th Corps executed a successful assault crossing of the Rhine River near Koblenz. After this operation the corps advanced to Dinant on the Meuse River, on 15 February, Saint-Priests corps was ordered to take over the Siege of Mainz. By early March, Saint-Priest had moved west to occupy Châlons-sur-Marne, fresh from the blockade of Erfurt, Jagow brought his Prussian brigade to join Saint-Priest. In 1814, Reims had a population of 30,000 and was one of the most important cities of France, the city was surrounded by a wall and the Vesle River flowed through the city from southeast to northwest
Battle of Dresden
The Battle of Dresden was a major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle took place around the city of Dresden in modern-day Germany, with the recent addition of Austria, the Sixth Coalition felt emboldened in their quest to kick the French out of Central Europe. Despite being heavily outnumbered, French forces under Napoleon scored a modest victory against the Allied army led by Field Marshal Schwarzenberg, Napoleons victory did not lead to the collapse of the coalition, and the lack of effective French cavalry units precluded a major pursuit. A few days after the battle, the Allies surrounded and captured a French corps at the Battle of Kulm. On 16 August, Napoleon had sent Marshal Saint-Cyrs corps to fortify and hold Dresden in order to hinder allied movements and he planned to strike against the interior lines of his enemies and defeat them in detail, before they could combine their full strength. He had some 300,000 men and 800 cannons against allied forces totaling over 450,000 and 1200 cannons, but the Coalition avoided battle with Napoleon himself, choosing to attack his subordinate commanders instead.
On 23 August, at the Battle of Grossbeeren, south of Berlin, and on 26 August, Prussian Marshal Blücher defeated Marshal MacDonald at the Katzbach. In Dresden, French infantry manned the various redoubts and defensive positions and they hoped to last long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Sure enough, they got their wish, Napoleon arrived quickly and unexpectedly with reinforcements to repel this assault on the city. French counterattacks on the Great Garden in the southeast and on the center were successful. Although outnumbered three to two, Napoleon attacked the following morning, turned the allied left flank, and won a tactical victory. The flooded Weisseritz cut the wing of the Allied army, commanded by Johann von Klenau and Ignaz Gyulai. Marshal Joachim Murat took advantage of isolation and inflicted heavy losses on the Austrians. A French participant observed, Murat. cut off from the Austrian army Klenaus corps, nearly all his battalions were compelled to lay down their arms, and two other divisions of infantry shared their fate.
Gyulais divisions suffered losses when they were attacked by Murats cavalry during a rainstorm. With damp flints and powder, their muskets would not fire and many became a easy prey to the French cuirassiers. However, Napoleons failure to follow up on his success allowed Schwarzenberg to withdraw, the Coalition had lost some 38,000 men and 40 guns. Some of Napoleons officers noted he was suffering from a violent colic, on 27 August, General Vandamme received orders to advance on Pirna and bridge the Elbe there
Battle of Montereau
Gathering up his outnumbered forces, Napoleon rushed his soldiers south to deal with Schwarzenberg. Hearing of the approach of the French emperor, the Allied commander ordered a withdrawal, ordered to hold Montereau until nightfall on the 18th, the Crown Prince of Württemberg posted a strong force on the north bank of the Seine River. All morning and past noon, the Allies stoutly held off a series of French attacks, under increasing French pressure, the Crown Princes lines buckled in the afternoon and his troops ran for the single bridge to their rear. Brilliantly led by Pierre Claude Pajol, the French cavalry got among the fugitives, the Allied force suffered heavy losses and the defeat confirmed Schwarzenbergs decision to continue the retreat to Troyes. On 10 February, the Army of Bohemia under Karl Philipp, on the right, Peter Wittgenstein and Karl Philipp von Wrede headed for Nogent and Bray on the Seine River supported by the Guards and Reserves. On the left, Crown Prince Frederick William of Württemberg moved on Sens with the I Corps of Frederick Bianchi, the left flank forces were backed by Ignaz Gyulais corps.
The Allies were briefly checked at Nogent on the 10th by 1,000 French troops under Louis-Auguste-Victor, Sens was taken on the 11th after a skirmish between the Crown Prince and Jacques-Alexandre-François Allix de Vaux. Tasked with the defense of the Seine, Marshal Claude Perrin Victor held Nogent, on the 12th the Allies captured Bray from a weak force of French National Guards as well as the bridge at Pont-sur-Seine near Montereau. Afraid of being surrounded, Victor evacuated Nogent and fell back, the appearance of troops under Marshal Jacques MacDonald did not stop the retreat and by 15 February the French were moving back to the Yerres River only 18 miles from Paris. Alexander Nikitich Seslavin led a force of three Russian hussar squadrons and one Cossack regiment well to the south to seize Montargis and threaten Orléans. Auxerre was stormed and its garrison wiped out, Cossacks roamed freely in the Forest and Palace of Fontainebleau. When Victors wagon train appeared at Charenton-le-Pont the Parisians were thrown into panic, fleeing peasants reported that Paris would soon be attacked by 200,000 Cossacks.
Following his successes in the Six Days Campaign on 10–14 February 1814, forces under Marshals Édouard Mortier and Auguste Marmont were left behind to keep Gebhard Leberecht von Blüchers Army of Silesia under observation. Giving up his plans to finish off Blücher, Napoleon left Montmirail on 15 February with the Imperial Guard and Emmanuel Grouchys cavalry. In an epic march, with some traveling in carts. Another authority stated that some troops marched 60 miles in 36 hours, hearing of Blüchers defeat and the approach of Napoleon, the cautious Schwarzenberg scrambled to put the Seine between his army and the French emperor. On 17 February, he ordered Wittgenstein to retreat to Provins while Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly massed the Russian and Prussian Guards near Nogent and he instructed Wrede to fall back to Donnemarie while leaving an advanced guard at Nangis. Württemberg and Bianchi were posted near Montereau while Gyulai held Pont-sur-Yonne, if the Army of Bohemia needed to retreat farther, it was important to hold the position at Montereau
Battle of Kulm
The Battle of Kulm was a battle near the town Kulm and the village Přestanov in northern Bohemia. It was fought on 29–30 August 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, following the French victory at Dresden, Vandamme pursued the retreating allies. Napoleon sent Marshals Gouvion Saint Cyr and Auguste Marmont to support Vandammes corps, with Vandamme in advance, Saint Cyrs and Marmonts corps brought up the rear. Vandamme caught up with Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoys forces near the town of Kulm, the situation was very dangerous for the allies, if Vandamme won the battle, the French would take the passes in the mountain, and the retreating Coalition army could be trapped by Napoleon. However, Ostermann-Tolstoy rallied all of his troops for a stiff defense, Vandammes situation changed the next day. A Prussian corps commanded by Friedrich von Kleist attacked Vandammes rear guard, Kleist received help from a combined Russian and Austrian attack on his front, under the command of Generals Ostermann-Tolstoy and von Colloredo-Mansfeld.
In an attempt to repulse attacks on his front and rear. The inexperienced French troops were unable to fend off the allies, the allies lost approximately 13,000 soldiers killed or wounded. In Vandammes corps there were two Polish regiments of Uhlans, part of cavalry divisions under the command of General Jean Corbineau and these regiments were used by Vandamme to defend against enemy cavalry charges. One regiment, commanded by Colonel Maximilian Fredro, was attacked after withdrawing to a defile, the other regiment of Uhlans, under the command of Count Tomasz Łubieński successfully withdrew. Thus, by winning this battle, Ostermann-Tolstoy and his troops succeeded in buying much needed time for the Coalition armies to regroup after the Battle of Dresden. According to a French anecdote, after the battle Vandamme was brought to and accused by Emperor Alexander I of Russia of being a brigand and plunderer. He retorted, I am neither a plunderer nor a brigand and this statement apparently hinted at the widespread belief that Alexander I was implicated in the murder of his father, Emperor Paul I.
The battlefield is mostly built over, there is a large monument topped with a lion next door to the Hotel Napoleon. Jadwiga Nadzieja Lipsk 1813 historical battles serie published in Warsaw by Bellona 1998 ISBN 83-11-08826-8 pp. 57–59, Battle of Kulm Memoirs of the Duke Rovigo
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established.
The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity.
In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
Battle of Feistritz
The Battle of Feistritz saw an Imperial French corps led by Paul Grenier attack an Austrian brigade under August von Vécsey. After putting up a resistance, the outnumbered Austrians were defeated and forced to retreat. The clash occurred during the War of the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, Feistritz im Rosental is located on the Drau River near the southern border of Austria, about 16 kilometres southwest of Klagenfurt. When hostilities commenced between the Austrian Empire and Imperial France, Johann von Hiller led an Austrian army to attack the Illyrian Provinces, when the Austrian general established a second bridgehead at Feistritz, Eugène sent Grenier to wipe it out. The minor victory only delayed the inevitable, and within a few weeks Eugène was compelled to abandon Illyria, in 1812, the best French and Italian units from the French Army of Italy were assigned to the IV Corps for the French invasion of Russia. The troops fought well under the command of Eugène de Beauharnais, to rebuild his army in Germany for the 1813 campaign, Emperor Napoleon transferred four more divisions from the garrison of Italy to join the newly established IV and XII Corps.
The emperor gave his stepson Eugène permission to organize a new out of French. By May 1813, the new army began forming around the French 46th, 47th, and 48th Divisions, the Italian 49th Division, and one cavalry division. In fact, only 13,000 French conscripts joined the army, since military equipment was scarce, some soldiers were sent to the front dressed in police uniforms. Nevertheless, the continued to expand and Eugène eventually renumbered his divisions 1 through 6. Meanwhile, the Austrian Empire prepared for war with Napoleon by expanding their army, while their main army was based in Bohemia, Austria stationed one army corps on the Danube and another in the Duchy of Carinthia. The troops in Carinthia were placed under the command of Feldzeugmeister Johann von Hiller, since it was considered a minor theater, Hillers army only counted 35,000 soldiers and 120 artillery pieces in August. This total was smaller than the number of troops in his opponents army, the Austrian general had veteran division and brigade commanders, but he was handicapped by a clumsy command system and large numbers of indifferently-equipped conscripts in the ranks.
Though the Danube corps remained in place, reinforcements were continually switched from there to the Army of Inner Austria throughout the autumn, the Advanced Guard had two Grenz infantry battalions and two hussar squadrons. Frimonts division had three brigades led by General-majors Franjo Vlašić, Ferdinand Daniel Pulszky, and August von Vécsey. Vlašićs light brigade comprised one jäger and one Grenz battalion and six squadrons, Pulszkys brigade consisted of four line battalions. Marzianis division was made up of a brigade led by General-major Johann Mayer von Heldensfeld with seven line battalions. Sommarivas division counted three brigades commanded by Generals-major Joseph Xaver von Stutterheim, Joseph von Fölseis, and Georg Johann von Wrede
French Empire
Kingdom of Prussia,
Russian Empire
