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95-696: After the Armistice of Pläswitz After the Battle of Leipzig After 20 November 1813 [REDACTED] Netherlands After January 1814 [REDACTED] Denmark [REDACTED]   France Until January 1814 ( 1813–1814 ) 526,000 610,000 In the War of the Sixth Coalition ( French : Guerre de la Sixième Coalition ) (December 1812 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as

190-535: A scorched earth strategy, guerilla warfare by the Cossacks against French supplies and total war by the peasants against French foraging. This kind of war without major battles weakened the French army at its most vulnerable point: military logistics . On 19 October 1812 the French army, lacking provisions and being warned by the first snow, abandoned the city voluntarily. Regarding the state of Moscow itself,

285-516: A Danish declaration that they would hold the city for Napoleon, irrevocably binding Denmark to France, an action that would guarantee full Swedish cooperation in North Germany. The Swedish occupation of Hamburg came as welcome news to the Allies, insofar as holding a wealthy center of finance was a blow against Napoleon. However, Bernadotte's initial misgivings at extending his troops so far from

380-571: A French general as well as his familiarity with Napoleon. The result was the Trachenberg Plan , authored primarily by Carl Johan of Sweden and the Austrian Chief of Staff, Field-Marshal Lieutenant Joseph Radetzky , that sought to wear down the French using a Fabian strategy , avoiding direct combat with Napoleon, engaging and defeating his marshals whenever possible and slowly encircling the French with three independent armies until

475-527: A breakdown of communications, MacDonald's several corps found themselves isolated from one another with many bridges over the Katzback and Neisse rivers destroyed by surging waters. 200,000 Prussians and French collided in a confused battle that degenerated into hand-to-hand combat. However, Blücher and the Prussians rallied their scattered units and attacked an isolated French corps and pinned it against

570-749: A call to arms to his subjects, An Mein Volk . Prussia had declared war on France on 13 March, which was received by the French on 16 March. The first armed conflict occurred on 5 April in the Battle of Möckern , where combined Prusso-Russian forces defeated French troops. Meanwhile, Napoleon withdrew some 20,000 troops from the ongoing Peninsular War to reinforce his position in Central Europe, which left his Iberian forces weakened and vulnerable to Anglo–Spanish–Portuguese attacks. On 17 March 1813, his brother King Joseph Bonaparte of Spain withdrew from Madrid,

665-595: A clear sign of losing control. Wellington led a 123,000-strong army across northern Spain, taking Burgos in late May, and decisively defeating Jourdan at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June. Marshal Soult failed to turn the tide in his large-scale Battle of the Pyrenees (25 July to 2 August). In June, the United Kingdom formally entered the coalition. Initially, Austria remained loyal to France, and foreign minister Metternich aimed to mediate in good faith

760-644: A friendship with Alexander, and gave him moral support, strategic and tactical advice on how to defeat the French, as well as valuable insights on Napoleon himself (having had much contact with Napoleon as a member of the extended Imperial Family). However Russia bore the brunt of the French onslaught on her territory alone. After the French Grande Armée retreated from Moscow on 18/19 October 1812 and suffered heavy casualties due to extreme cold, food shortages and repeated Russian attacks, Napoleon did not seem to be as invincible as before. On 14 December,

855-646: A million Allied troops (not including the strategic reserve being formed in Germany). During the armistice, three Allied sovereigns, Alexander of Russia, Frederick William of Prussia, and Carl Johan of Sweden (by then Regent of the kingdom due to his adoptive father's illness) met at Trachenberg Castle in Silesia to coordinate the war effort. Allied staffs began creating a plan for the campaign wherein Bernadotte once again put to use his fifteen years of experience as

950-405: A new army as large as that he had sent into Russia, and quickly built up his forces in the east from 30,000 to 130,000 and eventually to 400,000. Napoleon inflicted 40,000 casualties on the Allies at Lützen (near Leipzig, 2 May) and Bautzen (20–21 May 1813) but his army lost about the same number of men during those encounters. Both battles involved total forces of over 250,000 – making them among

1045-480: A new coalition against France. Sweden then signed the secret Treaty of Saint Petersburg with Russia against France and Denmark–Norway on 5 April 1812. On 18 July 1812, the Treaty of Örebro formally ended the wars between Britain and Sweden and Britain and Russia , forming the basis of coalition between Russia, Britain, and Sweden, though the exact parameters of a military alliance remained in negotiation throughout

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1140-725: A peace between France and its continental enemies, but it became apparent that the price was to be the dismantling of the Confederation of the Rhine , the Napoleon-controlled union of all German states aside from Prussia and Austria, and the return to France's pre-Revolutionary borders. Napoleon was not interested in any such compromise that would in effect end his empire, so Austria joined the allies and declared war on France in August 1813. Napoleon vowed that he would create

1235-483: A period of reconstruction and recuperation" and Napoleon needed time to acquire horses for his depleted cavalry and bring up more reinforcements. Therefore, Napoleon was amiable to the armistice offered by the Allies despite the Allies being in a grave condition. During the armistice, a disastrous interview with Austrian Chancellor Metternich , in which Napoleon heaped recriminations on the Austrians and threw his hat to

1330-423: A soldier his duty was to break through, but as a Prussian patriot his position was more difficult. He had to judge whether the moment was favorable for starting a war of liberation; and, whatever might be the enthusiasm of his junior staff-officers, Yorck had no illusions as to the safety of his own head, and negotiated with Clausewitz. The Convention of Tauroggen armistice, signed by Diebitsch and Yorck, "neutralized"

1425-459: The Battle of Kulm (29–30 August 1813), losing 13,000 men further weakening his army. Realizing that the Allies would continue to defeat his subordinates, Napoleon began to consolidate his troops to force a decisive battle. The French then suffered another grievous loss at the hands of Bernadotte's army on 6 September at Dennewitz where Ney was now in command, with Oudinot now as his deputy. The French were once again attempting to capture Berlin,

1520-548: The German Quarter . Although Moscow had had a fire brigade, their equipment had previously either been removed or destroyed on Rostopchin's orders. The flames spread into the Kremlin's arsenal, and was put out by French Guardsmen. The burning of Moscow is reported to have been visible up to 215 km, or 133 miles, away. Tolstoy , in his book War and Peace , suggests that the fire was not deliberately set, either by

1615-475: The Imperial Russian Army . According to the Treaty of Tilsit (9 July 1807), Prussia had to support Napoleon's invasion of Russia. This resulted in some Prussians leaving their army to avoid serving the French, like Carl von Clausewitz , who joined Russian service. When Yorck's immediate French superior Marshal MacDonald , retreated before the corps of Diebitsch, Yorck found himself isolated. As

1710-581: The Rhineland (the west bank of the Rhine river), while giving up control of all the rest, including all of Poland, Spain and the Netherlands, and most of Italy and Germany. Metternich told Napoleon these were the best terms the Allies were likely to offer; after further victories, the terms would be harsher and harsher. Metternich aimed to maintain France as a balance against Russian threats, while ending

1805-634: The United Kingdom of the Netherlands in Brussels . 52°19′N 5°33′E  /  52.317°N 5.550°E  / 52.317; 5.550 Fire of Moscow (1812) During the French occupation of Moscow , a fire persisted from 14 to 18 September 1812 and all but destroyed the city. The Russian troops and most of the remaining civilians had abandoned the city on 14 September 1812 just ahead of French Emperor Napoleon 's troops entering

1900-450: The Wars of Liberation ( German : Befreiungskriege ), a coalition of Austria , Prussia , Russia , Spain , Great Britain , Portugal , Sweden , Sardinia , and a number of German States defeated France and drove Napoleon into exile on Elba . After the disastrous French invasion of Russia of 1812 in which they had been forced to support France, Prussia and Austria joined Russia,

1995-749: The 100,000 French troops still garrisoned in fortresses throughout northern Germany. Despite several attempts by the Russian General Bennigsen to storm the city, Marshal Davout held Hamburg for France until after Napoleon's abdication in April 1814. However, whilst Bernadotte cleared the Low Countries of the French in Spring 1814, the people of Norway objected to being bartered between kings, declared independence and adopted their own constitution on 17 May 1814. Even as fighting between

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2090-661: The Allied armies. In total the Allies now had around 800,000 frontline troops in the German theatre, with a strategic reserve of 350,000. As a consequence of the armistice, the French lost their initial advantage in numbers as the Austrians, and Russia's huge manpower reserves, were brought to the front. Napoleon succeeded in bringing the total imperial forces in the region up to around 650,000 (although only 250,000 were under his direct command, with another 120,000 under Nicolas Charles Oudinot and 30,000 under Davout). The Confederation of

2185-405: The Allied lines, with British General Hope calling Döbeln, who was later court-martialed for disobeying orders "the mad Swedish General," were validated when Marshal Davout approached Hamburg with a French force of 34,000, intent on retaking the city. The Swedes quietly withdrew on 26 May and Davout would occupy the city until after Napoleon's abdication in 1814. It would be the last major action of

2280-448: The Allies narrowly slipped the noose. So while Napoleon had struck a heavy blow against the Allies, several tactical errors had allowed the Allies to withdraw, thus ruining Napoleon's best chance at ending the war in a single battle. Nonetheless, Napoleon had once again inflicted a heavy loss on the primary Allied Army despite being outnumbered and for some weeks after Dresden Schwarzenberg declined to take offensive action. However at about

2375-545: The Allies. Napoleon turned the Allied Left Flank, and in skilful use of terrain, pinned it against the flooded Weißeritz river and isolated it from the rest of the Coalition Army. He then gave his famed cavalry commander, and King of Naples, Joachim Murat leave to destroy the surrounded Austrians. The day's torrential rain had dampened gunpowder, rendering the Austrians' muskets and cannon useless against

2470-463: The Austrians and this was provisionally instituted by the Allies in February 1814 as their military government. However, Austria itself expressed little interest in resuming its rule. Therefore, the Allies provisionally apportioned the country to the new Dutch state in the secret annexes to the Treaty of Chaumont . This was further formalised in the Treaty of Paris of 30 May 1814, in which Belgium on

2565-650: The Coalition and France ended with Napoleon's abdication, codified in the Treaty of Fontainbleau on 11 April 1814, Bernadotte found himself planning and leading yet another campaign to see the results of the Treaty of Kiel fully realized. It would be the final campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition. On 27 July 1814, Bernadotte, supported by the Swedish and British fleets, invaded Norway on two fronts, intending to envelop

2660-459: The Coalition. Napoleon withdrew with around 175,000 troops to Leipzig in Saxony where he thought he could fight a defensive action against the Allied armies converging on him. There, at the so-called Battle of Nations (16–19 October 1813) a French army, ultimately reinforced to 191,000, found itself faced by three Allied armies converging on it, ultimately totalling more than 430,000 troops. Over

2755-564: The Danish Auxiliary Corps scored a minor victory at Sehested . However, while the Danish victory managed to ensure the retreat of the main Danish army from immediate destruction, and brought about a three-week armistice, it could not change the course of war. Following a breakdown of negotiations, the armistice concluded and on 14 January 1814 Bernadotte invaded Schleswig , swiftly invested and reduced its fortresses and occupied

2850-589: The Dutch to invite William Frederick themselves rather than have him imposed by the Allies. After receiving an invitation from the Triumvirate, William Frederick returned from his exile in England. He disembarked from HMS Warrior and landed at Scheveningen beach on 30 November 1813. While the Triumvirate offered to make him king, William Frederick turned it down, instead proclaiming himself "Sovereign Prince" of

2945-634: The French Emperor could be cornered and brought to battle against vastly superior numbers. Following the conference, the Allies stood up their three armies: The Army of Silesia, with 95,000 Prussians and Russians, commanded by Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher ; the Army of the North, 120,000 Swedes, Russians, Prussians, and German troops from Mecklenburg , the Hanseatic cities and North Germany, under

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3040-455: The French in the abandoned city of Moscow with little food or shelter (large parts of Moscow had burned down ) and winter approaching. In these circumstances, and with no clear path to victory, Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow. So began the disastrous Great Retreat , during which the retreating army came under increasing pressure due to lack of food, desertions, and increasingly harsh winter weather, all while under continual attack by

3135-413: The French was mixed: According to a Russian source, they destroyed monasteries and blew up architectural monuments. Moscow churches were deliberately turned into stables and latrines. Priests who did not give up church shrines were murdered savagely, nuns were raped, and stoves were fired using ancient icons. On the other hand, Napoleon personally made sure that enough food was delivered to Moscow to feed all

3230-466: The Katzbach, annihilating it; forcing the French into the raging waters where many drowned. The French suffered 13,000 killed and wounded and 20,000 captured. The Prussians lost but 4,000 men. Napoleon himself, lacking reliable and numerous cavalry, was unable to prevent the destruction of a whole army corps, which had isolated itself pursuing the enemy following the Battle of Dresden without support, at

3325-595: The Kingdom of Norway was to be ceded to the King of Sweden. Believing his primary goal of detaching Norway from Denmark and binding it with Sweden had been fully achieved, Bernadotte and the Swedish and Russian corps of his Army of the North advanced into and occupied the Low Countries. Other elements of the Army of the North were also tasked with besieging Marshal Davout's 40,000 French and Danish troops in Hamburg, as well as

3420-543: The Low Countries. William Frederick subsequently tried to get the assent of the (carefully selected) representatives of the Belgian people to the Dutch constitution, but encountered opposition from those who were suspicious of designs to undermine the position of the Catholic Church in those provinces. Nonetheless, the reunification was finalised on 16 March 1815 when William Frederick was crowned King William I of

3515-508: The Norwegian forces with a combined Swedish army of 40,000 well-trained, well-equipped men, many of whom were veterans of the recent Leipzig and Danish Campaigns. Facing them were 30,000 Norwegian militia, who were short on equipment, training and munitions, but full of patriotic ardor and acquitted themselves well in the face of overwhelming odds. The Norwegians fought well, winning defensive battles at Lier and Matrand , but could not stop

3610-538: The Portuguese and Spanish in the Peninsular War for more than three years. Russia and Sweden, which had opposed Napoleon up to 1807 and 1810 respectively, had been forced to join his Continental System against Britain, but continued to trade secretly with her. On 9 January 1812, French troops suddenly occupied Swedish Pomerania , ostensibly to end the illegal trade with the United Kingdom from Sweden, which

3705-599: The Principality of the United Netherlands a day thereafter. It was a foregone conclusion that any new government would have to be headed by William Frederick , the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic , William V . Although many members of the provisional government had helped drive out William V eighteen years earlier, most of its leading members agreed that it would be better for

3800-604: The Prussian corps without consent of their king. The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm in Prussia, but the Prussian Court dared not yet throw off the mask, and an order was despatched suspending Yorck from his command pending a court-martial. Diebitsch refused to let the bearer pass through his lines, and the general was finally absolved when the Treaty of Kalisch (28 February 1813) definitely ranged Prussia on

3895-435: The Prussians and Russians, French losses had been heavy and a chronic lack of horses for his cavalry meant that Napoleon could not fully exploit his victories and inflict a decisive defeat in the same vein as Austerlitz or Friedland . Napoleon's new army was filled with fresh conscripts, lacked many necessities and was exhausted from their long march from France and Napoleon's rapid maneuvering. The French were "in dire need of

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3990-509: The Rhine furnished Napoleon with the bulk of the remainder of the forces, with Saxony and Bavaria as principal contributors. In addition, to the south, Murat's Kingdom of Naples and Eugène de Beauharnais 's Kingdom of Italy had a combined total of 100,000 men under arms. In Spain an additional 150–200,000 French troops were being steadily beaten back by Spanish and British forces numbering around 150,000. Thus in total around 900,000 French troops were opposed in all theatres by somewhere around

4085-634: The Russian army led by Commander-in-Chief Mikhail Kutuzov , and other militias. Total losses of the Grand Army were at least 370,000 casualties as a result of fighting, starvation and the freezing weather conditions, and 200,000 captured. By November, only 27,000 fit soldiers re-crossed the Berezina river. Napoleon now left his army to return to Paris and prepare a defence of the Duchy of Warsaw against

4180-592: The Russians left behind who were fed regardless of sex or age. Still, the remaining buildings had enough space for the French army. As General Marcellin Marbot reasoned: "It is often claimed that the fire of Moscow... was the principal cause of the failure of the 1812 campaign. This assertion seems to me to be contestable. To begin with, the destruction of Moscow was not so complete that there did not remain enough houses, palaces, churches, and barracks to accommodate

4275-426: The Russians or the French, but was the natural result of placing a deserted and mostly wooden city in the hands of invading troops. Before the invasion, fires would have started nearly every day even with the owners present and a fully functioning fire department, and the soldiers would start additional fires for their own needs, from smoking their pipes, cooking their food twice a day, and burning enemies' possessions in

4370-630: The Seventh Coalition was triggered in 1815 when Napoleon escaped from his captivity on Elba and returned to power in France. He was defeated again for the final time at Waterloo , ending the Napoleonic Wars . In June 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia to compel Emperor Alexander I to remain in the Continental System . The Grande Armée , consisting of as many as 650,000 men (roughly half of whom were French, with

4465-642: The Spring before the Armistice of Pläswitz . The belligerents declared an armistice from 4 June 1813 which lasted until 13 August, during which time both sides attempted to recover from approximately a quarter of a million losses since April. During this time Allied negotiations finally brought Austria out in open opposition to France (like Prussia, Austria had moved from nominal ally of France in 1812 to armed neutral in 1813). Two principal Austrian armies deployed in Bohemia and Northern Italy, adding 300,000 troops to

4560-540: The Swedish Crown Prince urging the Saxon Army (Bernadotte had commanded the Saxon Army at the Battle of Wagram and was well liked by them) to come over to the Allied cause, Saxon generals could no longer answer for the fidelity of their troops and the French now considered their remaining German allies unreliable. Later, on 8 October 1813, Bavaria officially ranged itself against Napoleon as a member of

4655-518: The United Kingdom, Sweden, and Portugal, and the rebels in Spain who were already at war with France. The War of the Sixth Coalition saw battles at Lützen , Bautzen , and Dresden . The even larger Battle of Leipzig (also known as the Battle of Nations) was the largest battle in European history before World War I . Ultimately, Napoleon's earlier setbacks in Spain, Portugal and Russia proved to be

4750-502: The United Netherlands After the liberation of the Netherlands from France by Prussian and Russian troops in 1813, a provisional government took over the country. It was headed by a triumvirate of Dutch noblemen, Frans Adam van der Duyn van Maasdam , Leopold of Limburg Stirum and Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp . This Triumvirate of 1813 formally took control over the liberated country on 20 November and declared

4845-518: The United Netherlands on 2 December. He also insisted on "a wise constitution" for the liberated country. Later that year, a commission seated by Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp was assembled and tasked with drafting a constitution. On 29 March 1814, a so-called "Assembly of Notables" met in Amsterdam to vote for the final draft. 474 of the 600 members of this assembly showed up to vote and only 26 of them, mostly Catholics, voted against it resulting in

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4940-506: The advancing Russians. The situation was not as dire as it might at first have seemed; the Russians had also lost around 400,000 men, and their army was similarly depleted. However, they had the advantage of shorter supply lines and were able to replenish their armies with greater speed than the French, especially because Napoleon's losses of cavalry and wagons were irreplaceable. At the beginning of 1812 Britain had already been at war with France for eight years, and had been fighting alongside

5035-610: The advancing Swedish columns. As a consequence, an armistice (the Convention of Moss ) was concluded on 14 August followed by swift negotiations. The terms of Union were generous to the Norwegians as Bernadotte and the Swedes had no wish to inaugurate the union of Sweden and Norway with further bloodshed. Norway agreed to enter into a personal union with Sweden as a separate state with its own constitution and institutions, except for

5130-430: The central position. Having lost the initiative, he was now forced to concentrate his army and seek a decisive battle at Leipzig . Compounding the heavy military losses suffered at Dennewitz, the French were now losing the support of their German vassal states as well. News of Bernadotte's victory at Dennewitz sent shock waves across Germany, where French rule had become unpopular, inducing Tyrol to rise in rebellion and

5225-435: The city after the Battle of Borodino . The Moscow military governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin , has often been considered responsible for organising the destruction of the sacred former capital to weaken the French army in the scorched city even more. After continuing Barclay 's "delaying operation" as part of his attrition warfare against Napoleon , Kutuzov used Rostopchin to burn most of Moscow's resources as part of

5320-444: The city on fire, after which he was bayonetted by guardsmen on the spot on the orders of a furious Napoleon. The sight of the fire deeply disturbed Napoleon who was horrified and intimidated at the Russian resolution to destroy their most sacred and beloved city before surrendering it. According to him most churches, monasteries and palaces survived as they were made out of stone. A witness records him as remaining transfixed watching

5415-418: The city was mostly deserted, at least in comparison to its normal levels of population: At the beginning of 1812 Moscow had around 270,184 inhabitants according to a contemporary police survey; of these, somewhere between 6,200 and 10,000 civilians chose to remain in the city after the arrival of the French, in addition to between 10,000 and 15,000 sick or wounded Russian soldiers. Search had been made for

5510-457: The common king and foreign service. The Union between Sweden and Norway was formally established on 4 November 1814, when the Storting adopted the necessary constitutional amendments, and elected Charles XIII of Sweden as King of Norway. The Convention of Moss, signed on 14 August 1814, concluded the last active campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Sovereign Principality of

5605-500: The draft being accepted by a vast majority. The constitution, which would be in force for over a year, introduced a centralised monarchy in which the prince held much power, although it did contain some democratic elements. A unicameral States General was introduced with its 55 members elected provincially by the States-Provincial . Those States were in turn elected by cities, countryside and nobility. The States General had

5700-400: The east and from Prussian recruiting depots. Many Russian officers yearned to return to Russia having achieved their goal of ridding Russia of the French. Frederick William of Prussia had always viewed a renewed war with France as dubious, and the two defeats at Lützen and Bautzen had led him to reconsider peace. Moreover, the Prussians and the Russians were hopeful of bringing the Austrians into

5795-476: The entire army [for a whole month]." The process of rebuilding after the fire under military governor Alexander Tormasov (1814–1819) and Dmitry Golitsyn (1820–ca 1840) was gradual, lasting well over a decade. Tolstoy portrays the decision-making after Borodino in the first four chapters of book 11 of War and Peace. This opens with an essay on the difficulty, or maybe even the impossibility, or determining cause and effect in history. He attacks, in particular,

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5890-402: The entire province. The Danes, heavily outnumbered, could not prevent an Allied advance on Jutland or Copenhagen , and sued for peace. It would be the final chapter in the long and bloody history of conflicts between Sweden and Denmark with the former definitively victorious. On 14 January 1814, the Treaty of Kiel was concluded between Sweden and Denmark–Norway . By the terms of the treaty,

5985-399: The field. Further losses occurred during the pursuit that evening, and into the following day, as the Swedish and Prussian cavalry took a further 13,000–14,000 French prisoners. Ney retreated to Wittenberg with the remains of his command and made no further attempt at capturing Berlin. Napoleon's bid to knock Prussia out of the war had failed; as had his operational plan to fight the battle of

6080-476: The fire from the Kremlin while saying: "What a terrible sight! And they did this themselves! So many palaces! What an incredible solution! What kind of people! These are Scythians !" The catastrophe started as many small fires, which promptly grew out of control and formed a massive blaze from the northeast, according to Larrey . The fires spread quickly since most buildings in Moscow were made of wood, except in

6175-485: The fire-engines since the previous day, but some of them had been taken away and the rest put out of action...The Poles reported that they had already caught some incendiaries and shot them, ...they had extracted the information that orders had been given by the Governor of the city and the police that the whole city should be burnt during the night. Before leaving Moscow, Count Rostopchin supposedly gave orders to

6270-442: The following days the battle resulted in a defeat for Napoleon, who however was still able to manage a relatively orderly retreat westwards. However, as the French forces were pulling across the White Elster , the bridge was prematurely blown and 30,000 troops were stranded to be taken prisoner by the Allied forces. Napoleon defeated an army of his former ally Bavaria at the Battle of Hanau (30–31 October 1813) before pulling what

6365-419: The ground and stamped it with his foot, ensured that Austria would join the coalition against France. Napoleon did not know it at the time, but the armistice would turn out to be a grave mistake as the Allies gained far more from the suspension of hostilities than he did. Meanwhile, on 21 May 1813, a Swedish corps of 15,000 commanded by General Döbeln occupied Hamburg without orders from Bernadotte, following

6460-459: The head of police (and released convicts) to have the Kremlin and major public buildings (including churches and monasteries) set on fire. During the following days, the fires spread. According to Germaine de Staël , who left the city a few weeks before Napoleon arrived, and afterward corresponded with Kutuzov, it was Rostopchin who ordered his own mansions to be set on fire, so no Frenchmen should lodge in it. The French actress Louise Fusil , who

6555-408: The highly destabilizing series of wars. Napoleon, expecting to win the war, delayed too long and lost this opportunity; by December the Allies had withdrawn the offer. When his back was to the wall in 1814 he tried to reopen peace negotiations on the basis of accepting the Frankfurt proposals. The Allies now had new, harsher terms that included the retreat of France to its 1791 boundaries, which meant

6650-467: The independent command of Sweden's Crown Prince Carl Johan; and the Army of Bohemia , the primary Allied force in the field, with which the Allied sovereigns Alexander, Francis and Frederick William oversaw the Campaign, numbering 225,000 Austrians, Russians, and Prussians commanded by Prince Karl von Schwarzenberg . Following the end of the armistice, Napoleon seemed to have regained the initiative at Dresden (26–27 August 1813), where he inflicted one of

6745-467: The invaders until giving battle at Borodino (7 September) where the two armies fought a devastating battle. Despite the fact that France won a tactical victory, the battle was inconclusive. Following the battle the Russians withdrew, thus opening the road to Moscow . By 14 September, the French had occupied Moscow but found the city practically empty. Alexander I (despite having almost lost the war by Western European standards) refused to capitulate, leaving

6840-482: The largest battles of the Napoleonic Wars to that point in time. The lack of horses for Napoleon's cavalry did not allow him to follow up his victories with a vigorous pursuit, robbing him of decisive results. Despite losing as many men as the Allies, Napoleon's victories had greatly demoralized the Prussians and Russians. Losses were heavy, and the Russian and Prussian forces were a shambles. Both Allied armies were in dire need of substantial reinforcements en route from

6935-541: The last French troops had left Russian soil, and Paris' allies were seriously considering rebellion and joining the Tsar's side. The Convention of Tauroggen was a truce signed 30 December 1812 at Tauroggen between Generalleutnant Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg on behalf of his Prussian troops (who had been compelled to augment the Grande Armée during the invasion of Russia), and by General Hans Karl von Diebitsch of

7030-464: The left bank of the river Meuse was apportioned to the (future) Netherlands, whereas the fate of the right bank was to be determined later. How this was to be structured was however still to be decided, while certain expectations had been raised by the representatives of the Belgian people at Chaumont in February that also needed to be honoured in some way. These "loose ends" were taken care of in

7125-492: The loss of Belgium and the Rhineland. Napoleon adamantly refused. Following the Battle of Leipzig , Bernadotte and his Army of the North parted ways with the rest of the Coalition armies, and liberated Bremen and Lübeck in late November 1813. In early December, Bernadotte launched his long projected invasion of Denmark to secure the Coalition's northern flank prior to the invasion of France scheduled for early 1814 and to see

7220-475: The loss of which Napoleon believed would knock Prussia out of the War. However, Ney blundered into a trap set by Bernadotte and was stopped cold by the Prussians, and then routed when the Crown Prince arrived with his Swedes and a Russian corps on their open flank. This second defeat at the hands of Napoleon's ex-Marshal was catastrophic for the French, with them losing 50 cannon, four Eagles and 10,000 men on

7315-585: The most lop-sided losses of the era on the Prussian-Russian-Austrian forces. On 26 August, the Allies under Prince von Schwarzenberg attacked the French garrison in Dresden. Napoleon arrived on the battlefield in the early hours of 27 August with the Guard and other reinforcements and despite being severely outnumbered having only 135,000 men to the Coalition's 215,000, Napoleon chose to attack

7410-467: The protocol that came to be known as the " Eight Articles of London ". Under this treaty signed on 21 June 1814, William Frederick was awarded with the former Austrian Netherlands. He became Governor-General of Belgium on 1 August, leading to personal union between Northern and Southern Netherlands. For all intents and purposes, William Frederick had completed the House of Orange 's three-century quest to unite

7505-572: The remainder coming from allies or subject areas), crossed the Neman river on 24 June 1812. Russia proclaimed a Patriotic War, while Napoleon proclaimed a " Second Polish War ". But against the expectations of the Poles, who supplied almost 100,000 troops for the invasion force, and having in mind further negotiations with Russia, he avoided restoring the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Russian forces fell back, destroying everything potentially of use to

7600-543: The right of initiative and had to approve or disapprove all proposed legislation. However, the prince could settle many affairs by decree, greatly limiting the say of the States General. The power of the provinces and cities was considerably limited compared to during the Dutch Republic . Several fundamental rights were adopted from the French period . The constitution included freedom of religion and there were provisions of law and criminal procedure. William Frederick

7695-473: The sabers and lances of Murat's Cuirassiers and Lancers who tore the Austrians to shreds, capturing 15 standards and forcing the balance of three divisions, 13,000 men, to surrender. The Allies were forced to retreat in some disorder having lost nearly 40,000 men to only 10,000 French. However, Napoleon's forces were also hampered by the weather and unable to close the encirclement the Emperor had planned before

7790-549: The same time the French sustained several serious defeats, first at the hands of Bernadotte's Army of the North on 23 August, with Oudinot's thrust towards Berlin beaten back by the Prussians, at Großbeeren . At the Katzbach the Prussians, commanded by Blücher, took advantage of Napoleon's march toward Dresden to attack Marshal MacDonald's Army of the Bober. During a torrential rainstorm on 26 August, and due to conflicting orders and

7885-481: The seeds of his undoing. With their armies reorganized, the allies drove Napoleon out of Germany in 1813 and invaded France in 1814. The Allies defeated the remaining French armies, occupied Paris, and forced Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile. The French monarchy was revived by the allies, who handed rule to the heir of the House of Bourbon in the Bourbon Restoration . The "Hundred Days" War of

7980-531: The side of the Allies. Meanwhile, Austria's alliance with France ended in February 1813, and Austria then moved to a position of armed neutrality. It would not declare war on France until half a year later, in August 1813. On 3 March 1813, after lengthy negotiations, the United Kingdom agreed to Swedish claims to Norway. Sweden entered a military alliance with the United Kingdom and declared war against France, liberating Swedish Pomerania shortly thereafter. On 17 March, King Frederick William III of Prussia published

8075-489: The streets. Some of those fires would inevitably get out of control, and without an efficient firefighting action, these individual building fires can spread to become neighborhood fires, and ultimately a citywide conflagration. Kutuzov's food supplies and reinforcements were mostly coming up through Kaluga from the fertile and populous southern provinces, his new deployment gave him every opportunity to feed his men and horses and rebuild their strength. He refused to attack; he

8170-634: The treaty guarantees over the Danish cession of Norway to Sweden enforced. Bernadotte's Army, now some 65,000, composed only of Swedish, North German and Russian troops following the secondment of the Prussian troops to Blücher's army, attacked the Royal Danish Army in Holstein . In a lightning campaign of only two weeks the Swedes subdued the Danes. General Anders Skjöldebrand defeated the Danes at Bornhöved on 7 December 1813. Three days later,

8265-405: The war and a break in the fighting would give them time to negotiate with Vienna. Another victory by Napoleon may very well have led to a favorable peace as not only were the Russians and Prussians at their nadir, but the Austrians, with their 150,000 troops would have seen a decisive French victory as ample proof that another war with France would be most undesirable. Despite the two victories over

8360-527: The winter of 1812-1813. When Napoleon marched on Moscow in June 1812, neither Britain nor Sweden was able to give direct military support to Russia, though that same month the British and Spanish armies had advanced into central Spain , defeating the French at Salamanca and capturing Madrid , tying down a French army of 230,000. Britain also helped subsidize the Russian war effort while Charles John had struck up

8455-470: Was damaged to some extent...the large number of churches that escaped total destruction by the flames is probably explained by the fact that altar implements and other paraphernalia were made of precious metals, which immediately attracted the attention of the looters. Indeed, Napoleon had a systematic sweep made for the church silver, which ended up in his war chest, the mobile treasury. The treatment of these Russians left behind, civilians or soldiers, by

8550-517: Was formally inaugurated as sovereign prince by the assembly in the New Church in Amsterdam on 30 March. In the former Austrian Netherlands , conquered by France in 1794 and annexed in 1795, the Allies made quick progress also. This presented the problem of what to do with this country. The thirty most prominent families of Brussels expressed the wish to restore the old Governorate-general of

8645-402: Was happy for Napoleon to stay in Moscow for as long as possible, avoiding complicated movements and maneuvers. ...In 1812, there had been approximately 4,000 stone structures and 8,000 wooden houses in Moscow. Of these, there remained after the fires only about 200 of the stone buildings and some 500 wooden houses along with about half of the 1,600 (?) churches, although nearly every church

8740-497: Was in violation of the Continental System. Swedish estates were confiscated and Swedish officers and soldiers were taken as prisoners. In response, Charles John, formerly French Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte , now the Crown Prince and Regent of Sweden, declared neutrality, and though Sweden was still at war with Britain, and Russia was its perennial enemy, he dispatched diplomats to London and St. Petersburg to create

8835-592: Was left of his forces back into France. Meanwhile, Davout's corps continued to hold out in its Siege of Hamburg , where it became the last Imperial field force east of the Rhine . The Allies offered peace terms in the Frankfurt proposals in November 1813. Napoleon would remain as Emperor of France, but it would be reduced to its "natural frontiers". That meant that France could retain control of Belgium , Savoy and

8930-426: Was living in Moscow, wrote that the fire started at Petrovka Street and offers more details in her memoires. Today, the majority of historians blame the initial fires on the Russian strategy of scorched earth . Furthermore, a Moscow police officer was captured trying to set the Kremlin on fire where Napoleon was staying at the time. Brought before Napoleon, the officer admitted he and others had been ordered to set

9025-416: Was the signal for the King of Bavaria to proclaim neutrality and begin negotiations with the Austrians (on the basis of territorial guarantees and Maximilian's retention of his crown) in preparation of joining the Allied cause. A body of Saxon troops had defected to Bernadotte's Army during the battle and Westphalian troops were now deserting King Jérôme 's army in large numbers. Following a proclamation by

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