battle of Grossbeeren. The Prussian generals were extremely
indignant against Bernadotte, whose slowness and inaction were
intolerable to them. It took them, under his orders, a
fortnight to advance as far as a good footman could march in a
day. They then unexpectedly met a new French army advancing
against them from a fortified camp at Wittenberg. Napoleon had
now assigned to Marshal Ney--the bravest of the brave'--the
work of beating 'the Cossack hordes and the poor militia,' and
taking Berlin. Under him were Oudinot, Regnier, Bertrand, and
Arrighi, with 70,000 men. On September 6 Tauenzien met their
superior forces at Jüterbogk, but sustained himself valiantly
through a perilous fight. Bernadotte was but two hours' march
away, but as usual disregarded Bülow's request to bring aid.
But Bülow himself brought up his corps on the right, and took
the brunt of the battle, extending it through the villages
south of Jüterbogk, of which Dennewitz was the centre. The
Prussians took these villages by storm, and when evening came
their victory was complete, though Bernadotte had not
stretched out a hand to help them. ... Bülow bore the name of
Dennewitz afterward in honor of his victory. Ney reported to
his master that he was entirely defeated. Napoleon unwisely
ascribed his defeat entirely to the Saxons, who fought well
that day for him, but for the last time. By his reproaches he
entirely alienated the people from him. The French loss in
this battle was 10,000 killed and wounded, and 10,000
prisoners, besides 80 guns. The Prussians lost in killed and
wounded more than 5,000. Thus five victories had been won by
the Allies in a fortnight, compensating fully for the loss of
the battle of Dresden. The way to the Elbe lay open to the
Army of the North. But Bernadotte continued to move with
extreme slowness. Bülow and Tauenzien seriously proposed to
Blücher to leave the Swedish prince, whom they openly
denounced as a traitor. Blücher approached the Elbe across the
Lausitz from Bohemia, and it would have been easy to cross the
river and unite the two armies, threatening Napoleon's rear,
and making Dresden untenable for him. Napoleon advanced in
vain against Blücher to Bausitz. The Prussian general wisely
avoided a battle. Then the emperor turned against the Army of
Bohemia, but it was too strong in its position in the valley
of Teplitz, with the mountains in its rear, to be attacked.
Then again he moved toward Blücher, but again failed to bring
about an action. At this time public opinion throughout Europe
was undergoing a rapid change, and Napoleon's name was losing
its magic. The near prospect of his fall made the nations he
had oppressed eager and impatient for it, and his German
allies and subjects lost all regard and hope for his cause. On
October 8 the Bavarian plenipotentiary, General Wrede,
concluded a treaty with Austria at Ried, by the terms of which
Bavaria left Napoleon and joined the allies. This important
defection, though it had been for some weeks expected, was
felt by the French emperor as a severe blow to his prospects.
Napoleon's circle of movement around Dresden began to be
narrowed. The Russian reserves under Benningsen, 57,000
strong, were also advancing through Silesia toward Bohemia.
Blücher was therefore not needed in Bohemia, and he pressed
forward vigorously to cross the Elbe. His army advanced along
the right bank of the Black Elster to its mouth above
Wittenberg. On the opposite bank of the Elbe, in the bend of
the stream, stands the village of Wartenburg, and just at the
bend Blücher built two bridges of boats without opposition. On
October 3 York's corps crossed the river. But now on the west
side, among the thickets and swamps before the village, arose
a furious struggle with a body of 20,000 French, Italians, and
Germans of the Rhine League under Bertrand. York displayed
eminent patience, coolness, and judgment, and won a decided
victory out of a great danger. Bernadotte, though with much
hesitation, also crossed the Elbe at the mouth of the Mulde,
and the army of the North and of Silesia were thus united in
Napoleon's rear. It was now evident that the successes of
these armies had brought the French into extreme danger, and
the allied sovereigns resolved upon a concerted attack.
Leipsic was designated as the point at which the armies should
combine. Napoleon could no longer hold Dresden, lest he should
be cut off from France by a vastly superior force. The
partisan corps of the allies were also growing bolder and more
active far in Napoleon's rear, and on October 1 Czernicheff
drove Jerome out of Cassel and proclaimed the kingdom of
Westphalia dissolved. This was the work of a handful of
Cossacks, without infantry and artillery; but though Jerome
soon returned, the moral effect of this sudden and easy
overthrow of one of Napoleon's military kingdoms was immense.
On October 7 Napoleon left Dresden, and marched to the Mulde.
Blücher's forces were arrayed along both sides of this stream,
below Düben. But he quietly and successfully retired, on
perceiving Napoleon's purpose to attack him, and moved
westward to the Saale, in order to draw after him Bernadotte
and the Northern army. The plan was successful, and the united
armies took up a position behind the Saale, extending from
Merseburg to Alsleben, Bernadotte occupying the northern end
of the line next to the Elbe. Napoleon, disappointed in his
first effort, now formed a plan whose boldness astonished both
friend and foe. He resolved to cross the Elbe, to seize Berlin
and the Marches, now uncovered, and thus, supported by his
fortresses of Magdeburg, Stettin, Dantzic, and Hamburg, where
he still had bodies of troops and magazines, to give the war
an entirely new aspect. But the murmurs of his worn-out
troops, and even of his generals, compelled him to abandon
this plan, which was desperate, but might have been effectual.
The suggestion of it terrified Bernadotte, whose province of
Lower Pomerania would be threatened, and he would have
withdrawn in headlong haste across the Elbe had not Blücher
persisted in detaining him. Napoleon now resolved to march
against the Bohemian army at Leipsic. On October 14, on
approaching the city from the north, he heard cannon-shots on
the opposite side. It was the advanced guard of the main army,
which was descending from the Erz-Gebirge range, after a sharp
but indecisive cavalry battle with Murat at the village of
Liebertwolkwitz, south of Dresden.
{1528}
In the broad, thickly settled plains around Leipsic, the
armies of Europe now assembled for the final and decisive
conflict. Napoleon's command included Portuguese, Spaniards,
Neapolitans, and large contingents of Germans from the Rhine
League, as well as the flower of the French youth; while the
allies brought against him Cossacks and Calmucks, Swedes and
Magyars, besides all the resources of Prussian patriotism and
Austrian discipline. Never since the awful struggle at
Chalons, which saved Western civilization from Attila, had
there been a strife so well deserving the name of 'the battle
of the nations.' West of the city of Leipsic runs the Pleisse,
and flows into the Elster on the northwest side. Above their
junction, the two streams run for some distance near one
another, inclosing a sharp angle of swampy land. The great
highway to Lindenau from Leipsic crosses the Elster, and then
runs southwesterly to Lützen and Weissenfels. South of the
city and east of the Pleisse lie a number of villages, of
which Wachau, Liebertwolkwitz, and Probstheida, nearer the
city, were important points during the battle. The little
river Partha approaches the city on the east, and then runs
north, reaching the Elster at Gohlis. Napoleon occupied the
villages north, east and south of the city, in a small circle
around it."
_C. T. Lewis,
History of Germany,
chapter 30, sections 7-11._
ALSO IN:
_E. Baines,
History of the Wars of the French Revolution,
book 4, chapter 23 (volume 3)._
GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (October).
"The Battle of the Nations."
"The town of Leipsic has four sides and four gates. ... On the
south is the rising ground called the Swedish Camp; and
another called the Sheep-walk, bordering on the banks of the
Pleisse. To this quarter the Grand Army of the Allies was seen
advancing on the 15th of October. Buonaparte made his
arrangements accordingly. Bertrand and Poniatowski defended
Lindenau and the east side of the city, by which the French
must retreat. Augereau was posted farther to the left, on the
elevated plain of Wachau, and on the south, Victor, Lauriston,
and Macdonald confronted the advance of the Allies with the
Imperial Guards placed as a reserve. On the north, Marmont was
placed between Mœckern and Euterist, to make head against
Blücher, should he arrive in time to take part in the battle.
On the opposite quarter, the sentinels of the two armies were
within musket-shot of each other, when evening fell. ... The
number of men who engaged the next morning was estimated at
136,000 French, and 230,000 on the part of the Allies. ...
Napoleon remained all night in the rear of his own Guards,
behind the central position, facing a village called Gossa,
occupied by the Austrians. At daybreak on the 16th of October
the battle began, The French position was assailed along all
the southern front with the greatest fury. ... The Allies
having made six desperate attempts, ... all of them
unsuccessful, Napoleon in turn assumed the offensive. ... This
was about noon. The village of Gossa was carried by the
bayonet. Macdonald made himself master of the Swedish Camp;
and the eminence called the Sheep-walk was near being taken in
the same manner. The impetuosity of the French had fairly
broken through the centre of the Allies, and Napoleon sent the
tidings of his success to the King of Saxony, who ordered all
the bells in the city to be rung. ... The King of Naples, with
Latour-Maubourg and Kellermann, poured through the gap in the
enemy's centre at the head of the whole body of cavalry, and
thundered forward as far as Magdeburg, a village in the rear
of the Allies, bearing down General Rayefskoi with the
Grenadiers of the Russian reserve. At this moment, while the
French were disordered by their own success, Alexander, who
was present, ordered forward the Cossacks of his Guard, who,
with their long lances, bore back the dense body of cavalry
that had so nearly carried the day. Meantime, as had been
apprehended, Blücher arrived before the city, and suddenly
came into action with Marmont, being three times his numbers.
He in consequence obtained great and decided advantages; and
before night-fall had taken the village of Mœckern, together
with 20 pieces of artillery and 2,000 prisoners. But on the
south side the contest continued doubtful. Gossa was still
disputed. ... General Mehrfeldt fell into the hands of the
French. The battle raged till night-fall, when it ceased by
mutual consent. ... The armies slept on the ground they had
occupied during the day. The French on the southern side had
not relinquished one foot of their original position, though
attacked by such superior numbers. Marmont had indeed been
forced back by Blücher, and compelled to crowd his line of
defence nearer the walls of Leipsic. Thus pressed on all sides
with doubtful issues, Buonaparte availed himself of the
capture of General Mehrfeldt to demand an armistice and to
signify his acceptance of the terms proposed by the Allies,
but which were now found to be too moderate. ... Napoleon
received no answer till his troops had recrossed the Rhine;
and the reason assigned is, that the Allies had pledged
themselves solemnly to each other to enter into no treaty with
him 'while a single individual of the French army remained in
Germany.' ... The 17th was spent in preparations on both
sides, without any actual hostilities. At eight o'clock on the
morning of the 18th they were renewed with tenfold fury.
Napoleon had considerably contracted his circuit of defence,
and the French were posted on an inner line, nearer to
Leipsic, of which Probtsheyda was the central point. ...
Barclay, Wittgenstein, and Kleist advanced on Probtsheyda,
where they were opposed by Murat, Victor, Augereau, and
Lauriston, under the eye of Napoleon himself. On the left
Macdonald had drawn back his division to a village called
Stoetteritz. Along this whole line the contest was maintained
furiously on both sides; nor could the terrified spectators,
from the walls and steeples of Leipsic, perceive that it
either receded or advanced. About two o'clock the Allies
forced their way ... into Probtsheyda; the camp-followers
began to fly; the tumult was excessive. Napoleon ... placed
the reserve of the Old Guard in order, led them in person to
recover the village, and saw them force their entrance ere he
withdrew to the eminence from whence he watched the battle.
... The Allies, at length, felt themselves obliged to desist
from the murderous attacks on the villages which cost them so
dear; and, withdrawing their troops, kept up a dreadful fire
with their artillery.
{1529}
The French replied with equal spirit, though they had fewer
guns; and, besides, their ammunition was falling short. Still,
however, Napoleon completely maintained the day on the south
of Leipsic, where he commanded in person. On the northern
side, the yet greater superiority of numbers placed Ney in a
precarious situation; and, pressed hard both by Blücher and
the Crown-Prince, he was compelled to draw nearer the town,
and had made a stand on an eminence called Heiterblick, when
on a sudden the Saxons, who were stationed in that part of the
field, deserted from the French and went over to the enemy. In
consequence of this unexpected disaster, Ney was unable any
longer to defend himself. It was in vain that Buonaparte
dispatched his reserves of cavalry to·fill up the chasm that
had been made; and Ney drew up the remainder of his forces
close under the walls of Leipsic. The battle once more ceased
at all points. ... Although the French army had thus kept its
ground up to the last moment on these two days, yet there was
no prospect of their being able to hold out much longer at
Leipsic. ... All things counselled a retreat, which was
destined (like the rest of late) to be unfortunate. ... The
retreat was commenced in the night-time; and Napoleon spent a
third harassing night in giving the necessary orders for the
march. He appointed Macdonald and Poniatowski ... to defend
the rear. ... A temporary bridge which had been erected had
given way, and the old bridge on the road to Lindenau was the
only one that remained for the passage of the whole French
army. But the defence of the suburbs had been so gallant and
obstinate that time was allowed for this purpose. At length
the rear-guard itself was about to retreat, when, as they
approached the banks of the river, the bridge blew up by the
mistake of a sergeant of a company of sappers who ... set fire
to the mine of which he had charge before the proper moment.
This catastrophe effectually barred the escape of all those
who still remained on the Leipsic side of the river, except a
few who succeeded in swimming across, among whom was Marshal
Macdonald. Poniatowski ... was drowned in making the same
attempt. In him, it might be said, perished the last of the
Poles. About 25,000 French were made prisoners of war, with a
great quantity of artillery and baggage."
_W. Hazlitt,
Life of Napoleon,
chapter 50 (volume 3)._
"The battle of Leipsic was over. Already had the allied
sovereigns entered the town, and forcing, not without
difficulty, their way through the crowd, passed on to the
market-place. Here, the house in which the King of Saxony had
lodged was at once made known to them by the appearance of the
Saxon troops whom Napoleon had left to guard their master. ...
Moreover, the King himself ... stood bare-headed on the steps
of the stairs. But the Emperor of Russia, who appears at once
to have assumed the chief direction of affairs, took no notice
of the suppliants. ... The battle of Leipsic constitutes one
of those great hinges on which the fortunes of the world may
be said from time to time to turn. The importance of its
political consequence cannot be overestimated. ... As a great
military operation, the one feature which forces itself
prominently upon our notice is the enormous extent of the
means employed on both sides to accomplish an end. Never since
the days when Persia poured her millions into Greece had armies
so numerous been marshalled against each other. Nor does
history tell of trains of artillery so vast having been at any
time brought into action with more murderous effect. ... About
1,300 pieces, on the one side, were answered, during two days,
by little short of 1,000 on the other. ... We look in vain for
any manifestations of genius or military skill, either in the
combinations which rendered the battle of Leipsic inevitable,
or in the arrangements according to which the attack and
defence of the field were conducted. ... It was the triumph,
not of military skill, but of numbers."
_G. R. Gleig,
The Leipsic Campaign,
chapter 41._
"No more here than at Moscow must we seek in the failure of
the leader's talents the cause of such deplorable results,--
for he was never more fruitful in resource, more bold, more
resolute, nor more a soldier,--but in the illusions of pride,
in the wish to regain at a blow an immense fortune which he
had lost, in the difficulty of acknowledging to himself his
defeat in time, in a word, in all those errors which we may
discern in miniature and caricature in an ordinary gambler,
who madly risks riches acquired by folly; errors which are
found on a large and terrible scale in this gigantic gambler,
who plays with human blood as others play with money. As
gamblers lose their fortunes twice,--once from not knowing
where to stop, and a second time from wishing to restore it at
a single cast,--so Napoleon endangered his at Moscow by wishing
to make it exorbitantly large, and in the Dresden campaign by
seeking to restore it in its full extent. The cause was always
the same, the alteration not in the genius, but in the
character, by the deteriorating influence of unlimited power
and success."
_A. Thiers,
History of the Consulate and the Empire,
book 50 (volume 4)._
ALSO IN:
_Duke de Rovigo,
Memoirs,
volume 3, part 2, chapter 17._
_J. C. Ropes,
The First Napoleon._
_Baron de Marbot,
Memoirs,
volume 2, chapter 38-39._
GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (October-December).
Retreat of Napoleon beyond the Rhine.
Battle of Hanau.
Fall of the kingdom of Westphalia.
Surrender of French garrisons and forces.
Liberation achieved.
"Blucher, with Langeron and Sacken, moved in pursuit of the
French army, which, disorganised and dejected, was wending its
way towards the Rhine. At the passage of the Unstrutt, at
Freyberg, 1,000 prisoners and 18 guns were captured by the
Prussian hussars; but on the 23d the French reached Erfurth,
the citadels and magazines of which afforded them at once
security and relief from their privations. Here Napoleon
halted two days, employed in reorganising his army, the
thirteen corps of which were now formed into six, commanded by
Victor, Ney, Bertrand, Augereau, Marmont, and Macdonald, and
amounting in all to less than 90,000 men; while twice that
number were left blockaded in the fortresses on the Elbe, the
Oder, and the Vistula. On the 25th, after parting for the last
time with Murat, who here quitted him and returned to Naples,
he resumed his march, retreating with such rapidity through
the Thuringian forest, that the Cossacks alone of the pursuing
army could keep up with the retiring columns--while the men
dropped, exhausted by fatigue and hunger, or deserted their
ranks by hundreds; so that when the fugitive host approached
the Maine, not more than 50,000 remained effective round their
colours--10,000 had fallen or been made prisoners, and at
least 30,000 were straggling in the rear. But here fresh
dangers awaited them.
{1530}
After the treaty of the 8th October, by which Bavaria had
acceded to the grand alliance, an Austro-Bavarian force under
Marshal Wrede had moved in the direction of Frankfort, and was
posted, to the number of 45,000 men, in the oak forest near
Hanau across the great road to Mayence, and blocking up
entirely the French line of retreat. The battle commenced at
11 A. M. on the 30th; but the French van, under Victor and
Macdonald, after fighting its way through the forest, was
arrested, when attempting to issue from its skirts, by the
concentric fire of 70 pieces of cannon, and for four hours the
combat continued, till the arrival of the guards and main body
changed the aspect of affairs. Under cover of the terrible
fire of Drouot's artillery, Sebastiani and Nansouty charged
with the cavalry of the guard, and overthrew everything
opposed to them, and Wrede at length drew off his shattered
army behind the Kinzig. Hanau was bombarded and taken, and
Mortier and Marmont, with the rear divisions, cut their way
through on the following day, with considerable loss to their
opponents. The total losses of the Allies amounted to 10,900
men, of whom 4,000 were prisoners; and the victory threw a
parting ray of glory over the long career of the revolutionary
arms in Germany. On the 2d of November the French reached
Mayence, and Napoleon, after remaining there six days to
collect the remains of his army, set out for Paris, where he
arrived on the 9th; and thus the French eagles bade a final
adieu to the German plains. In the mean time, the Allied
troops, following closely on the footsteps of the retreating
French, poured in prodigious strength down the valley of the
Maine. On the 5th of November the Emperor Alexander entered
Frankfort in triumph, at the head of 20,000 horse; and on the
9th the fortified post of Hochheim, in advance of the
tête-du-pont of Mayence at Cassel, was stormed by Giulay. From
the heights beyond the town the victorious armies of Germany
beheld the winding stream of the Rhine; a shout of enthusiasm
ran from rank to rank as they saw the mighty river of the
Fatherland, which their arms had liberated; those in the rear
hurried to the front, and soon a hundred thousand voices
joined in the cheers which told the world that the war of
independence was ended and Germany delivered. Nothing now
remained but to reap the fruits of this mighty victory; yet so
vast was the ruin that even this was a task of time and
difficulty. The rickety kingdom of Westphalia fell at once,
never more to rise; the revolutionary dynasty in Berg followed
its fate; and the authority of the King of Britain was
re-established by acclamation in Hanover, at the first
appearance of Bernadotte and Benningsen. The reduction of
Davoust, who had been left in Hamburg with 25,000 French and
10,000 Danes, was an undertaking of more difficulty; and
against him Walmoden and Bernadotte moved with 40,000 men. The
French marshal had taken up a position on the Stecknitz; but,
fearful of being cut off from Hamburg, he retired behind the
Bille on the advance of the Allies, separating himself from
the Danes, who were compelled to capitulate. The operations of
the Crown-Prince against Denmark, the ancient rival of Sweden,
were now pushed with a vigour and activity strongly
contrasting with his luke-warmness in the general campaign;
and the court of Copenhagen, seeing its dominions on the point
of being overrun, signed an armistice on the 15th December, on
which was soon after based a permanent treaty [of Kiel]. ...
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1813-1814.
When Napoleon (Oct. 7) marched northwards from Dresden, he had
left St. Cyr in that city with 30,000 men, opposed only by a
newly-raised Russian corps under Tolstoi, which St. Cyr, by a
sudden attack, routed with the loss of 3,000 men and 10 guns.
But no sooner was the battle of Leipsic decided, than Dresden
was again blockaded by 50.000 men under Klenau and Tolstoi;
and St. Cyr, who was encumbered with a vast number of sick and
wounded, and was almost without provisions, was obliged, after
a fruitless sortie on the 6th November, to surrender on the
11th, on condition of being sent with his troops to France.
The capitulation, however, was disallowed by Schwartzenberg,
and the whole were made prisoners of war--a proceeding which
the French, not without some justice, declaim against as a
gross breach of faith--and thus no less than 32 generals,
1,795 officers, and 33,000 rank and file, with 240 pieces of
cannon, fell into the power of the Allies. The fall of Dresden
was soon followed by that of the other fortresses on the
Vistula and the Oder. Stettin, with 8,000 men and 350 guns,
surrendered on the 21st November; and Torgau, which contained
the military hospitals and reserve parks of artillery left by
the grand army on its retreat from the Elbe, yielded at
discretion to Tauenzein (December 26), after a siege of two
months. But such was the dreadful state of the garrison, from
the ravages of typhus fever, that the Allies dared not enter
this great pest-house till the 10th January; and the terrible
epidemic which issued, from its walls made the circuit, during
the four following years, of every country in Europe. Dantzic,
with its motley garrison of 35,000 men, had been blockaded
ever since the Moscow retreat; but the blockading corps, which
was not of greater strength, could not confine the French
within the walls; and Rapp made several sorties in force
during the spring and summer, by which he procured abundance
of provisions. It was not till after the termination of the
armistice of Pleswitz that the siege was commenced in form;
and after sustaining a severe bombardment, Rapp, deprived of
all hope by the battle of Leipsic, capitulated (November 29)
with his garrison, now reduced by the sword, sickness, and
desertion, to 16,000 men. Zamosc, with 3,000 men, surrendered
on the 22d December, and Modlin, with 1,200, on the 25th; and
at the close of the year, France retained beyond the Rhine
only Hamburg, Magdeburg, and Wittenberg, on the Elbe; Custrin
and Glogau on the Oder; and the citadels of Erfurth and
Würtzburg, which held out after the capitulation of the
towns."
_Epitome of Alison's History of Europe,
sections 737-742
(chapter 82, volume 17, in complete work)._
"The princes of the Confederation of the Rhine, with the
exception of the captive King of Saxony, and one or two minor
princes, deserted Napoleon, and entered into treaties with the
Allies."
_T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 4, page 538._
ALSO IN:
M. Bourrienne,
Private Memoirs of Napoleon,
volume 4, chapter 16.
The Year of Liberation: Journal of the Defence of Hamburgh.
_J. Philippart,
Campaign in Germany and France, 1813,
volume 1, pages 230-278._
GERMANY: A. D. 1814.
The Allies in France and in possession of Paris.
Fall of Napoleon.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH),
and (MARCH-APRIL).
{1531}
GERMANY: A. D. 1814 (May).
Readjustment of French boundaries by the Treaty of Paris.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (APRIL-JUNE).
GERMANY: A. D. 1814-1815.
The Congress of Vienna.
Its territorial and political readjustments.
See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.
GERMANY: A. D. 1814-1820.
Reconstruction of Germany.
The Germanic Confederation and its constitution.