Napoleonic Wars
- Period
- May 1803 – November 1815
- Sides
- French Empire & allies vs Coalition powers
- Battles
- 119
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a global series of conflicts fought by a fluctuating array of European coalitions against the French First Republic (1803–1804) under the First Consul followed by the First French Empire (1804–1815) under the Emperor of the French, Napoleon. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over continental Europe. The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition, War of the Fourth Coalition, War of the Fifth Coalition, War of the Sixth Coalition, War of the Seventh Coalition, the Peninsular War, and the French invasion of Russia.
Sources: Wikipedia — Napoleonic Wars · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 119
July 1805
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies. In the ensuing battle the British captured two Spanish ships of the line, but failed to prevent the joining of French Vice-admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve's fleet to the squadron of Ferrol and to strike the shattering blow that would have freed Great Britain from the danger of an invasion. Calder was later court-martialled and severely reprimanded for his failure and for avoiding the renewal of the engagement on 23 and 24 July. At the same time, in the aftermath Villeneuve elected not to continue on to Brest, where his fleet could have joined with other French ships to clear the English Channel for an invasion of Great Britain.
October 1805
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a fleet action which took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French and Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, the French and Spanish navies planned to take control of the English Channel and provide the French invasion army with safe passage to Britain. The allied fleet, under the command of French Vice-admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, sailed from the port of Cádiz in southern Spain on 18 October 1805. It encountered a British fleet under Vice-Admiral of the White Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson in the Atlantic Ocean along the southwest coast of Spain off Cape Trafalgar.
October 1805
Battle of Ulm
The Battle of Ulm on 16–20 October 1805 was a series of skirmishes, at the end of the Ulm campaign, which allowed Napoleon I to trap an entire Austrian army under the command of Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich with minimal losses and to force its surrender near Ulm in the Electorate of Bavaria.
October 1805
Battle of Elchingen
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France while other formations fled to the east. Soon afterward, the Austrians trapped in Ulm surrendered and the French mopped up most of the remaining Austrian forces, bringing the Ulm Campaign to a close.
October 1805
Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
The Battle of Haslach-Jungingen, also known as the Battle of Albeck, fought on 11 October 1805 at Ulm-Jungingen north of Ulm at the Danube between French and Austrian forces, was part of the Ulm campaign during the War of the Third Coalition, which was a part of the greater Napoleonic Wars. The Austrians, despite their numerical advantage, were unable to make good use of it due to indecision resulting from an overestimation of the French numbers and the local terrain. The outcome of this battle was a French victory.
October 1805
Battle of Caldiero (1805)
The Battle of Caldiero took place on 30 October 1805, pitting the French Armée d'Italie under Marshal André Masséna against an Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The French engaged only some of their forces, around 33,000 men, but Archduke Charles engaged the bulk of his army, 49,000 men, leaving out Paul Davidovich's corps to defend the lower Adige and Franz Seraph of Orsini-Rosenberg's corps to cover the Austrian right against any flanking maneuvers. The fighting took place at Caldiero, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Verona, during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
October 1805
Battle of Wertingen
In the Battle of Wertingen Imperial French forces led by Marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes attacked a small Austrian corps commanded by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Xaver von Auffenberg. This action, the first battle of the Ulm Campaign, resulted in a clear French victory. Wertingen lies 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Augsburg. The combat was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
November 1805
Battle of Dürenstein
The Battle of Dürenstein or the Battle of Krems, on 11 November 1805, was an engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition. Dürenstein, Austria, is located in the Wachau valley, on the river Danube, 73 kilometers (45 mi) upstream from Vienna, Austria. The river makes a crescent-shaped curve between Dürnstein and nearby Krems an der Donau, and the battle was fought in the flood plain between the river and the mountains.
November 1805
Battle of Schöngrabern
The Battle of Schöngrabern, also known as the Battle of Hollabrunn, was an engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition, fought on 16 November 1805 near Hollabrunn in Lower Austria, four weeks after the Battle of Ulm and two weeks before the Battle of Austerlitz.
November 1805
Battle of Cape Ortegal
The Battle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of the Trafalgar campaign, and was fought between a squadron of the Royal Navy and a remnant of the French fleet that had been defeated earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar. It took place on 4 November 1805 off Cape Ortegal, in north-west Spain and saw Captain Sir Richard Strachan defeat and capture a French squadron under Counter-admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. It is sometimes referred to as Strachan's Action.
November 1805
Battle of Amstetten
The Battle of Amstetten was a minor engagement during the War of the Third Coalition between the First French Empire and the alliance of Austria and Russia. It occurred on 5 November 1805, when the retreating Russo-Austrian troops, led by Mikhail Kutuzov, were intercepted by Marshal Joachim Murat's cavalry and a portion of Marshal Jean Lannes' corps. Pyotr Bagration's rearguard defended against the advancing French troops and allowed the Russian troops to retreat. This was the first fight in which a major part of the Russian Army opposed a significant number of French troops in the open. The rearguard also consisted of Michael von Kienmayer's Austrians. The total number of Russo-Austrian troops was around 6,700, while the French troops numbered roughly 10,000 troops. The Russo-Austrian forces suffered more casualties but were still able to successfully retreat.
December 1805
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz was fought on Monday 2 December 1805, near Austerlitz, being the decisive engagement of the War of the Third Coalition. The Grande Armée under the command of Emperor Napoleon I defeated a combined Russo-Austrian army. One force was an imperial Russian army under the command of Tsar Alexander I and General Mikhail Kutuzov, while the other comprised an imperial Austrian army under the command of Emperor Francis II. The battle was known contemporaneously as the Battle of the Three Emperors.
March 1806
Battle of Campo Tenese
The Battle of Campo Tenese saw two divisions of the French Army of Naples led by Jean Reynier attack the left wing of the Royal Neapolitan Army under Roger de Damas. Though the defenders were protected by field fortifications, a French frontal attack combined with a turning movement rapidly overran the position and routed the Neapolitans with heavy losses. The action occurred at Campotenese, a little mountain village in the municipality of Morano Calabro in the north of Calabria. The battle was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
July 1806
Battle of Maida
The Battle of Maida was fought on 4 July 1806 between the British and French armies outside Maida, Calabria during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led a British expeditionary force of 5,236 troops to victory over a force of approximately 5,400 French troops under Jean Reynier, inflicting heavy losses while incurring light casualties. The battle demonstrated the effectiveness of the double-line formation employed by Stuart against the triple line used by Reynier; two ranks in linear formation allowed the British to stretch a longer line and deliver more powerful volleys.
October 1806
Battle of Jena–Auerstedt
The Battle of Jena–Auerstedt was fought on Tuesday 14 October 1806, near Jena and Auerstedt, being the decisive engagement of the War of the Fourth Coalition. The Grande Armée under the command of Emperor Napoleon I defeated a combined Prussian and Saxon army. One force was an imperial French force under the command of Napoleon I at Jena, while the other comprised an imperial French corps under the command of Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout at Auerstedt. The opposing forces consisted of a Prussian army under the command of Prince Hohenlohe at Jena, and the main Prussian army under the command of Duke Charles William Ferdinand and King Frederick William III at Auerstedt.
October 1806
Battle of Saalfeld
The Battle of Saalfeld took place on 10 October 1806, at which a French force of 12,800 men commanded by Marshal Jean Lannes defeated a Prussian-Saxon force of 8,300 men under Prince Louis Ferdinand. The battle took place in Thuringia in what was the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The battle was the second clash in the Prussian Campaign of the War of the Fourth Coalition.
October 1806
Battle of Schleiz
The Battle of Schleiz took place on 9 October 1806 in Schleiz, Germany between a Prussian-Saxon division under Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien and a part of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps under the command of Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon. It was the first clash of the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. As Emperor Napoleon I of France's Grande Armée advanced north through the Franconian Forest it struck the left wing of the armies belonging to the Kingdom of Prussia and the Electorate of Saxony, which were deployed on a long front. Schleiz is located 30 kilometers north of Hof and 145 kilometers southwest of Dresden at the intersection of Routes 2 and 94.
November 1806
Battle of Lübeck
The Battle of Lübeck took place on 6 November 1806 in Lübeck, Germany between soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, who were retreating from defeat at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt, and troops of the First French Empire under Marshals Murat, Bernadotte, and Soult, who were pursuing them. In this War of the Fourth Coalition action, the French inflicted a severe defeat on the Prussians, driving them from the neutral city. Lübeck is an old Baltic Sea port approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Hamburg.
December 1806
Battle of Pułtusk (1806)
The Battle of Pułtusk took place on 26 December 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition near Pultusk, Prussia. Despite their strong numerical superiority and artillery, the Russians under the lead of General of Cavalry Levin von Benningsen underwent heavy French attacks by Marshal Jean Lannes, before retiring the next day having suffered great losses like the French, disorganizing their army for the rest of the year.
December 1806
Battle of Golymin
The Battle of Golymin took place on 26 December 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition at Gołymin, Poland, between around 22,000 Russian soldiers with 28 guns under Prince Golitsyn and 38,000 French soldiers under Marshal Murat. The Russian forces disengaged successfully from the superior French forces. The battle took place on the same day as the Battle of Pułtusk.
December 1806
Battle of Czarnowo
The Battle of Czarnowo on the night of 23–24 December 1806 saw troops of the First French Empire under the eye of Emperor Napoleon I launch an evening assault crossing of the Wkra River against Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy's defending Russian Empire forces. The attackers, part of Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps, succeeded in crossing the Wkra at its mouth and pressed eastward to the village of Czarnowo. After an all-night struggle, the Russian commander withdrew his troops to the east, ending this War of the Fourth Coalition action. Czarnowo is located on the north bank of the Narew River 33 kilometres (21 mi) north-northwest of Warsaw, Poland.
January 1807 – August 1807
Siege of Stralsund (1807)
The siege of Stralsund lasted from 24 July to 24 August, 1807, and saw troops from the First French Empire twice attempt to capture the port city from Lieutenant General Hans Henric von Essen's 15,000-man Swedish garrison. Early that year, Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier blockaded the city for two months before he was called elsewhere. In his absence, the Swedes drove back the inferior blockading force. After Mortier returned and pushed Essen's troops back in turn, the two sides quickly concluded an armistice. The truce was later repudiated by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, and Marshal Guillaume Marie Anne Brune then led 40,000 French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch soldiers against the fortress. Fearfully outnumbered, the Swedes abandoned the Baltic Sea port of Stralsund to the Franco-Allies in the action during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a consequence, Sweden also lost the nearby island of Rügen.
February 1807
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau was a bloody and strategically inconclusive battle on 7 and 8 February [O.S. 26 and 27 Jan.] 1807 between Napoleon's Grande Armée and the Imperial Russian Army under the command of General Levin August von Bennigsen near the town of Preussisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians received timely reinforcements from a Prussian division of von L'Estocq. After 1945, the town was renamed Bagrationovsk as part of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The engagement was fought during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
March 1807 – May 1807
Siege of Danzig (1807)
The siege of Danzig was the French encirclement and capture of Danzig during the War of the Fourth Coalition. On 19 March 1807, around 27,000 French troops under Marshal Lefebvre besieged around 14,400 Prussian troops under Marshal Kalckreuth garrisoning the city of Danzig.
March 1807 – July 1807
Siege of Kolberg (1807)
The siege of Kolberg took place from March to 2 July 1807 during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. An army of the First French Empire and several foreign troops of France besieged the fortified town of Kolberg, the only remaining Prussian-held fortress in the Province of Pomerania. The siege was unsuccessful and was lifted upon the announcement of the Peace of Tilsit.
June 1807
Battle of Friedland
The Battle of Friedland was a major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars between the armies of the French Empire and the Russian Empire, led by Napoleon I and General Levin August von Bennigsen respectively. Napoleon and the French obtained a decisive victory that routed much of the Russian army, which retreated chaotically over the Alle river by the end of the fighting. The battlefield is located in modern-day Kaliningrad Oblast, near the town of Pravdinsk, Russia.
June 1807
Battle of Heilsberg
The Battle of Heilsberg took place on 10 June [O.S. 29 May] 1807 off the town of Heilsberg, during the Napoleonic Wars. In it, Joachim Murat's French troops began the offensive on Leonty (Levin) Bennigsen's Russian force ahead of schedule. The opponents fought until nightfall, by which time the French attacks had produced no results. They concluded an operational armistice. Napoleon, French supreme commander, intended to bring up more forces and continue the encounter, but Bennigsen eluded this, heading towards Königsberg. Due to Bennigsen's illness, corps-level commander Andrei Gorchakov temporarily replaced him during the action until the very end of it. Napoleon also arrived on the battlefield, but it was Murat who initiated the battle.
July 1807
Battle of Athos
The Battle of Athos took place on 1–2 July 1807New Style as a part of the Napoleonic Wars during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812. The Russian squadron under Vice Admiral Dmitry Senyavin defeated Kapudan Pasha Seydi Ali's Ottoman Turkish squadron.
August 1807 – September 1807
Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
The Battle of Copenhagen occurred between 16 August and 7 September 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. British forces bombarded the Danish capital of Copenhagen in order to capture or destroy the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. Following the Danish surrender, most of their navy was seized by the British and taken to England. The battle led to the outbreak of the Anglo-Danish Gunboat War, and the Anglo-Russian War of 1807–1812.
June 1808
Battles of El Bruch
The two battles of the Bruch were engagements fought successively, at El Bruc, near Barcelona, Catalonia, on 6 and 14 June 1808, during the Peninsular War, by French troops commanded by Brigadier General François de Schwarz and General of Division Joseph Chabran against Spanish volunteers and mercenaries led by General Antoni Franch i Estalella and Joan Baget.
June 1808
Battle of Cabezón
The Battle of Cabezón was an engagement early in the Peninsular War on 12 June 1808 between Spain's Army of Castile, under Cuesta, based at Valladolid, and detachments of Marshal Bessières' French Army Corps under generals General Lasalle and Merle. Lasalle occupied Valladolid without opposition that same evening.
June 1808 – August 1808
Siege of Zaragoza (1808)
The siege of Zaragoza was a bloody struggle in the Peninsular War. A French army under General Lefebvre-Desnouettes and subsequently commanded by General Jean-Antoine Verdier besieged, repeatedly stormed, and was repulsed from the Spanish city of Zaragoza in the summer of 1808.
June 1808
First Siege of Girona (Peninsular War)
The first siege of Girona during the Peninsular War, also called the battle of Gerona, took place from 20 to 21 June 1808, when an Imperial French division led by Guillaume Philibert Duhesme try to overrun a Spanish garrison commanded by Lieutenant Colonels O'Donovan and O'Daly. The French assault failed and the attackers withdrew.
July 1808
Battle of Bailén
The Battle of Bailén was fought in 1808 between the Spanish Army's Army of Andalusia, under General Francisco Javier Castaños and the French Imperial Army's 2nd Gironde Observational Corps under Divisional-General Pierre Dupont de l'Étang. The first open-field defeat of a Napoleonic army, the battle's heaviest fighting took place near Bailén, a village by the Guadalquivir river in the Jaén province of southern Spain.
July 1808
Battle of Medina de Rioseco
The Battle of Medina de Rioseco, also known as the Battle of Moclín, was fought during the Peninsular War on 14 July 1808 when a combined body of Spanish militia and regulars moved to rupture the French line of communications to Madrid. General Joaquín Blake's Army of Galicia, under joint command with General Gregorio de la Cuesta, was routed by Marshal Bessières after a badly coordinated but stubborn fight against the French corps north of Valladolid.
August 1808
Battle of Vimeiro
In the Battle of Vimeiro on 21 August 1808, the British under General Arthur Wellesley defeated the French under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, near Lisbon, Portugal, during the Peninsular War. This battle put an end to the first French invasion of Portugal.
August 1808
Battle of Roliça
At the Battle of Roliça, the first battle fought by the British army during the Peninsular War, an Anglo-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated an outnumbered Imperial French division under General of Division Henri François Delaborde, near the village of Roliça in Portugal. The French retired in good order.
November 1808
Battle of Somosierra
The Battle of Somosierra took place on 30 November 1808, during the Peninsular War, when a combined Franco-Napoleonic Spanish-Polish force under the direct command of Napoleon I forced a passage through a Spanish division stationed at the Sierra de Guadarrama, which shielded Madrid from direct French attack. At the Somosierra mountain pass, 60 miles (97 km) north of Madrid, a heavily outnumbered Spanish detachment of regulars, volunteers and artillery under Benito de San Juan attempted to block Napoleon's advance onto Madrid. Napoleon overwhelmed the Spanish positions in a combined arms attack, sending the Polish Chevau-légers of the Imperial Guard at the Spanish guns while French infantry advanced up the slopes. The victory removed the last obstacle barring the road to Madrid, which fell a few days later.
November 1808
Battle of Tudela
The Battle of Tudela saw an Imperial French army led by Marshal Jean Lannes attack a Spanish army under General Castaños. The battle resulted in the complete victory of the Imperial forces over their adversaries. The combat occurred near Tudela in Navarre, Spain during the Peninsular War, part of a wider conflict known as the Napoleonic Wars.
November 1808
Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros
The Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros took place during the Napoleonic Wars, on 10 and 11 November 1808 at the village of Espinosa de los Monteros in the Cantabrian Mountains. It resulted in a French victory under Marshal Victor against Lieutenant General Joaquín Blake's Army of Galicia.
November 1808
Battle of Valmaseda
The Battle of Valmaseda took place on 5 November 1808, during Lieutenant-General Blake's retreat from superior French armies in northern Spain. Reinforced by veteran regular infantry from General La Romana's Division of the North, Blake's force suddenly turned on its pursuers and ambushed Marshal Victor's errant vanguard under Général de division Villatte.
November 1808
Battle of Gamonal
The Battle of Gamonal was fought on 10 November 1808, during the Peninsular War in the village of Gamonal near Burgos, Spain. A French army under Soult overwhelmed the outnumbered Spanish troops under General Belvedere, opening central Spain, including Madrid, to invasion.
December 1808 – February 1809
Siege of Zaragoza (1809)
The siege of Zaragoza was the French capture of the Spanish city of Zaragoza in 1809 during the Peninsular War. It was particularly noted for its brutality. The city was heavily outnumbered against the French. Afterwards, a great part of the city lay in ruins, and the garrison had suffered 24,000 deaths along with 30,000 civilians deaths.
December 1808
Battle of Molins de Rei
The Battle of Molins de Rei or Battle of Molins de Rey or Battle of Molins del Rey saw an Imperial French corps led by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr attack a Spanish army temporarily led by Theodor von Reding and the Conde de Caldagues because its commander Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu was absent. Saint-Cyr outmaneuvered his opponents, distracting them with a false attack in front while sending the bulk of his force across Llobregat River in a turning movement around the Spanish right flank. The Spanish defensive lines crumbled and the French captured 1,200 soldiers, all the Spanish artillery and Caldagues himself. The Peninsular War engagement was fought near Molins de Rei, located 15 kilometres (9 mi) west of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
December 1808
Battle of Sahagún
The Battle of Sahagún was fought on 21 December 1808 during the Peninsular War. 400 hussars of the British Army under Lieutenant-general Lord Paget defeated 800 French Imperial Army cavalrymen led by Brigade-general César Alexandre Debelle at the town of Sahagún, Spain. The battle was fought as part of the entry into Spain of a British army under Lieutenant-general Sir John Moore. Paget's force suffered four killed and 21 wounded while Debelle's suffered 20 killed or wounded and more than 313 captured.
January 1809
Battle of Corunna
The Battle of Corunna, in Spain known as Battle of Elviña, took place on 16 January 1809, when a French corps under Marshal of the Empire Jean de Dieu Soult attacked a British army under Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore. The battle took place during the Peninsular War, which was part of the wider Napoleonic Wars.
March 1809
Battle of Medellín
In the Peninsular War, the Battle of Medellín was fought on 28 March 1809 and resulted in a victory of the French under Marshal Victor against the Spanish under General Don Gregorio Garcia de la Cuesta. The battle marked the first major effort by the French to occupy Southern Spain, a feat mostly completed with the victory at the Battle of Ocaña later in the year.
April 1809
Battle of Abensberg
The Battle of Abensberg took place on 20 April 1809 between a Franco-German force under the command of Emperor Napoleon I of France and a reinforced Austrian corps led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Archduke Louis of Austria. As the day wore on, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller arrived with reinforcements to take command of the three corps that formed the Austrian left wing. The action ended in a complete Franco-German victory. The battlefield was southeast of Abensberg and included clashes at Offenstetten, Biburg-Siegenburg, Rohr in Niederbayern, and Rottenburg an der Laaber. On the same day, the French garrison of Regensburg capitulated.
April 1809
Battle of Raszyn (1809)
The Battle of Raszyn was fought on 19 April 1809 between armies of the Austrian Empire under Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este and the Duchy of Warsaw under Józef Antoni Poniatowski, as part of the War of the Fifth Coalition in the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was not decisive, but it did result in the Austrians obtaining their goal by capturing the Polish capital Warsaw.
April 1809
Battle of Ratisbon
The Battle of Ratisbon, also called the Battle of Regensburg, was a meeting engagement fought on 23 April 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, between the army of the French Empire, led by Napoleon I, and that of the Austrian Empire, led by Archduke Charles. Scene of the last engagement of the Bavaria phase of the campaign of 1809, the brief defense of the city and installation of a pontoon bridge to the east enabled the retreating Austrian army to escape into Bohemia. During the assault, Marshal Jean Lannes led his troops up ladders onto the walls, and Napoleon was wounded in his ankle by a small artillery round. The shot had been fired at great distance and did not severely hurt the Emperor, but caused a contusion.
April 1809
Battle of Landshut (1809)
The Battle of Landshut took place on 21 April 1809 between the French, Württembergers and Bavarians under Napoleon which numbered about 60,000 strong, and 40,000 Austrians under the General Johann von Hiller. The Austrians, though outnumbered, fought hard until Napoleon arrived, when the battle subsequently became a clear French victory. This battle was preceded by the first battle of Landshut between Archduke Louis's vanguard under Joseph Radetzky and Bernhard Deroy's Bavarian III Division, in which the Austrians forced the Bavarians to retreat, with little loss on both sides.
April 1809
Battle of Sacile
The Battle of Sacile on 16 April 1809 and its companion Clash at Pordenone on 15 April saw an Austrian army commanded by Archduke John of Austria defeat a Franco-Italian army led by Eugène de Beauharnais and force it to retreat. Sacile proved to be the most notable victory of John's career. The action took place east of the Livenza River near Sacile in modern-day Italy during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
April 1809
Battle of Teugen–Hausen
The Battle of Teugen–Hausen or the Battle of Thann was an engagement that occurred during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was fought on 19 April 1809 between the French III Corps led by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and the Austrian III Armeekorps commanded by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. When the Austrians withdrew that evening, the French won a hard-fought victory over their opponents. The site of the battle is a wooded height approximately halfway between the villages of Teugn and Hausen in Lower Bavaria, part of modern-day Germany.
April 1809
Battle of the Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads, was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in the narrow Basque Roads at the mouth of the Charente River on the Biscay coast of France. The battle, which lasted from 11 to 24 April 1809, was unusual in that it pitted a hastily assembled squadron of small and unorthodox British Royal Navy warships against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet. The circumstances were dictated by the cramped, shallow coastal waters in which the battle was fought. The battle is also notorious for its controversial political aftermath in both Britain and France.
May 1809
Battle of Aspern–Essling
In the Battle of Aspern–Essling, Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon had been personally defeated in a major battle, as well as his first battle defeat in 10 years since the siege of Acre, and his first battle defeat as head of state, although he did suffer a tactical defeat in the Battle of Caldiero and in the Second Battle of Bassano. Archduke Charles drove out the French but fell short of destroying their army. The French lost approximately 23,000 men, including one of Napoleon's ablest field commanders and closest friends, Marshal Jean Lannes.
May 1809
Battle of Piave River (1809)
The Battle of Piave River was fought on 8 May 1809 between the Franco-Italian army under the command of Eugène de Beauharnais and an Austrian army led by Archduke John of Austria. The Austrian commander made a stand behind the Piave River but he suffered a defeat at the hands of his numerically superior foes. The combat took place near Nervesa della Battaglia, Italy during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
May 1809
Battle of Ebelsberg
The Battle of Ebelsberg, known in French accounts as the Battle of Ebersberg, was fought on 3 May 1809 during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The Austrian left wing under the command of Johann von Hiller took up positions at Ebersberg on the Traun river. The French under André Masséna attacked, crossing a heavily defended 550-meter-long bridge and subsequently conquering the local castle, thus forcing Hiller to withdraw. Ebelsberg is now a southern suburb of Linz, situated on the south bank of the Traun, a short distance above the place where that stream flows into the Danube River.
May 1809
Second Battle of Porto
The Second Battle of Porto, also known as the Battle of the Douro or the Crossing of the Douro, took place on 12 May 1809. General Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese Army defeated Marshal Soult's French troops and took back the city of Porto. After taking command of the British troops in Portugal on 22 April, Wellesley immediately advanced on Porto and made a surprise crossing of the Douro River, approaching Porto where its defences were weak. Soult's late attempts to muster a defence were in vain. The French quickly abandoned the city in a disorderly retreat.This battle ended the Second French invasion of Portugal. Soult soon found his retreat route to the east blocked and was forced to destroy his guns and burn his baggage train. Wellesley pursued the French army, but Soult's army escaped annihilation by fleeing through the mountains.
May 1809 – December 1809
Third siege of Girona (Peninsular War)
The third siege of Girona occurred in northern Catalonia, Spain from 6 May to 12 December 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars. A significant event of the Peninsular War, France's Grande Armée lay siege to the town of Girona for seven months. Girona was strategically important because it controlled the main road between France and Spain.
June 1809
Battle of Raab (1809)
The Battle of Raab or Battle of Győr was fought on 14 June 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars, between Franco-Italian forces and Habsburg forces. Most of the Habsburg army consisted of poorly trained Landwehr and militia. The battle was fought near Győr, Kingdom of Hungary, and ended in a Franco-Italian victory. The victory prevented Archduke John of Austria from bringing any significant force to the Battle of Wagram, while Prince Eugène de Beauharnais's force was able to link up with Emperor Napoleon at Vienna in time to fight at Wagram. Napoleon referred to the battle as "a granddaughter of Marengo and Friedland", as it fell on the anniversary of those two battles.
July 1809
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was a military engagement of the Napoleonic Wars that ended in a costly but decisive victory for Emperor Napoleon's French and allied army against the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles of Austria-Teschen. The battle led to the breakup of the Fifth Coalition, the Austrian and British-led alliance against France. Wagram was the largest battle in European history up to that time.
July 1809
Battle of Talavera
The Battle of Talavera was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Gregorio García de la Cuesta fought in operations against French-occupied Madrid. At nightfall, the French army withdrew a short distance after several of its attacks had been repulsed; the allies, having suffered comparable casualties to the French, made no attempt to pursue.
July 1809
Battle of Znaim
Following defeat at the Battle of Wagram, Archduke Charles retreated north into Bohemia hoping to regroup his battered forces. The French army had also suffered in the battle and did not give immediate pursuit. But two days after the battle, Napoleon ordered his troops north intending to defeat the Austrians once and for all. The French eventually caught up the Austrians at Znaim on 10 July 1809. Realising they were in no position to give battle, the Austrians proposed a ceasefire as Archduke Charles went to begin peace negotiations with Napoleon.
August 1809
Battle of Almonacid
The Battle of Almonacid was fought on 11 August 1809 during the Peninsular War between Sébastiani's IV Corps of the French Peninsular Army, which King Joseph of Spain had withdrawn from the Battle of Talavera to defend Madrid, and the Spanish Army of La Mancha under General Venegas. After the decisive charges of Polish uhlans, the battle resulted in a French victory.
November 1809
Battle of Ocaña
The Battle of Ocaña was fought on 19 November 1809 between French forces under Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult against the Spanish army under General Juan Carlos Aréizaga, which suffered its greatest single defeat in the Peninsular War.
February 1810 – August 1812
Siege of Cádiz
The French army besieged the large Spanish naval base of Cádiz from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812 during the Peninsular War. Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish seat of power, and was targeted by 70,000 French troops under the command of the Marshals Claude Victor and Jean-de-Dieu Soult for one of the most important sieges of the war. Defending the city were 2,000 Spanish troops who, as the siege progressed, received aid from 10,000 Spanish reinforcements as well as British and Portuguese troops.
September 1810
Battle of Bussaco
The Battle of Buçaco or Bussaco was fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulting in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Having occupied the heights of Bussaco with a total of 26,843 British and 25,429 Portuguese troops, Wellington was attacked five times successively by invasion force of 65,050 French under Marshal André Masséna. Masséna was uncertain as to the disposition and strength of the opposing forces because Wellington had deployed them on the reverse slope of the ridge, where they could neither be easily seen nor easily softened up with artillery.
February 1811
Battle of the Gebora
The Battle of the Gebora took place during the Peninsular War between Spanish and French armies on 19 February 1811, northwest of Badajoz, Spain. An outnumbered French force routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish Army of Extremadura.
March 1811
Battle of Lissa (1811)
The Battle of Lissa, also known as the Battle of Vis, was a naval action fought between a British frigate squadron and a much larger squadron of French and Italian frigates and smaller vessels on Wednesday, 13 March 1811 during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was fought in the Adriatic Sea for possession of the strategically important Croatian island of Vis, from which the British squadron had been disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic. The French needed to control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian Provinces and consequently dispatched an invasion force in March 1811 consisting of six frigates, numerous smaller craft and a battalion of Italian troops.
March 1811
Battle of Barrosa
The Battle of Barrosa was part of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by an Anglo-Iberian force to break the French siege of Cádiz during the Peninsular War. During the battle, a single British division defeated two French divisions and captured a regimental eagle.
May 1811
Battle of Albuera
The Battle of Albuera was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.
May 1811
Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro
The Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro was a military engagement that took place from 3–5 May 1811 during the Peninsular War. An Anglo-Portuguese Army under Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida. The French defeat at Fuentes de Oñoro, in addition to the steadfastness of the allies and the formidable high ground and fortified position held by Wellesley, was further facilitated by the poor cooperation between Masséna and his subordinates. As Wellington stated, if Napoleon had been at Fuentes, "we should have been beat."
January 1812
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)
The siege of Ciudad Rodrigo was the successful investment of the French-occupied city of Ciudad Rodrigo by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army from 7–20 January 1812. Wellington's army, which numbered up to 40,000 men, faced a small French garrison of 1,800 troops under the command of Jean Léonard Barrié. After two breaches were blasted in the city's walls by heavy artillery units of the Royal Artillery, the successful storming of Ciudad Rodrigo was conducted by British troops on the evening of 19 January. After overcoming the French defenders, the attacking troops went on a rampage for several hours before order was restored. The Anglo-Portuguese Army suffered casualties of about 1,700 men, including two generals killed. Strategically, the fall of the city opened the northern gateway into French-occupied Spain from Portugal.
February 1812
Battle of Pirano
The Battle of Pirano on 22 February 1812 was a minor naval action of the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars fought between a British and a French ship of the line in the vicinity of the towns of Pirano and Grado in Adriatic Sea. The French Rivoli, named for Napoleon's victory 15 years earlier, had been recently completed at Venice. The French naval authorities intended her to bolster French forces in the Adriatic, following a succession of defeats in the preceding year.
March 1812 – April 1812
Siege of Badajoz (1812)
In the siege of Badajoz, also called the third siege of Badajoz, an Anglo-Portuguese Army under the command of the Arthur Wellesley, the Earl of Wellington besieged Badajoz, Spain, and forced the surrender of the French garrison. The siege was one of the bloodiest in the Napoleonic Wars and was considered a costly victory by the British, with some 4,800 Allied soldiers killed or wounded in a few short hours of intense fighting during the storming of the breaches as the siege drew to an end. Enraged at the huge number of casualties they suffered in seizing the city, the troops broke into houses and stores consuming vast quantities of alcohol with many of them then going on a rampage, threatening their officers and ignoring their commands to desist, and even killing several. It took three days before the men were brought back into order. When order was restored, an estimated 200–300 civilians had been killed or injured.
July 1812
Battle of Salamanca
The Battle of Salamanca took place on 22 July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, south of Salamanca, Spain, during the Peninsular War. A Spanish division was also present but took no part in the battle.
July 1812
Battle of Saltanovka
The Battle of Saltanovka, also known as the Battle of Mogilev, took place on 23 July 1812 during the early stages of the 1812 French invasion of Russia.
July 1812
Battle of Mir (1812)
The Battle of Mir took place on 9 and 10 July 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Three Polish Lancers divisions battled against Russian cavalry, ending in the first major Russian victory in the war.
July 1812
Battle of Ostrovno
The Battle of Ostrovno was a military engagement that took place on 25 July 1812, between French forces under the command of King of Naples Joachim Murat and Russian forces under General Ostermann-Tolstoy and ended with the Russian forces retreating from the battlefield.
August 1812
Battle of Smolensk (1812)
The Battle of Smolensk was the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia. It took place on 16–18 August 1812 and involved about 45,000 men of the Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I against about 30,000 Russian troops under General Barclay de Tolly. Napoleon occupied Smolensk by driving out Prince Pyotr Bagration's Second Army. The French artillery bombardment burned the city to the ground. Of 2,250 buildings, 84% were destroyed with only 350 surviving intact. Of the city's 15,000 inhabitants, about 1,000 were left at the end of the battle inside the smoking ruins. With over 15,000 casualties, it was one of the bloodiest battles of the invasion.
August 1812
First Battle of Polotsk
In the First Battle of Polotsk, which took place on 17–18 August 1812, Russian troops under the command of Peter Wittgenstein fought French and Bavarian troops led by Nicolas Oudinot near the city of Polotsk, halting Oudinot's advance toward Saint Petersburg once more as at the Battle of Klyastitsy. It was a strategic Russian success, but tactically the battle ended in a draw. The First Battle of Polotsk should be distinguished from the Second Battle of Polotsk which took place during the same campaign two months later.
September 1812
Battle of Borodino
The Battle of Borodino or the Battle of the Moskva took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812, during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The Grande Armée fought against the Imperial Russian Army.
October 1812
Battle of Maloyaroslavets
The Battle of Maloyaroslavets took place on 24 October 1812 as part of the French invasion of Russia. Armies were evenly matched in the battle and suffered similar casualties, with a marginal edge going to the Franco-Italian army. It was Mikhail Kutuzov's decisive battle to force Napoleon to retreat northwest over Mozhaisk to Smolensk on the devastated route of his advance with a higher probability of starvation. Kutuzov's next attack against the remnants of the Grande Armée, the Battle of Krasnoi, began on 15 November 1812, three weeks later.
October 1812
Battle of Tarutino
The Battle of Tarutino was a part of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In the battle, Russian troops under the general command of Bennigsen, acting on instructions from Kutuzov and being part of his army, launched a surprise attack and defeated French troops under Murat's command. However, despite the pleas of Miloradovich and Yermolov, Kutuzov did not extend his own offensive, fearing to encounter Napoleon himself in battle, while Murat was not pursued as Bennigsen decided not to use the available forces for this purpose. The Russian infantry, stuffed with new recruits, performed heavy-handedly in this battle, and the Russians were also hampered by night delays. All this led to the Russians not being able to achieve greater success, despite their numerical superiority and surprise method. The Tarutino battle led to a breakdown in relations between Kutuzov and Bennigsen, who lost his influence in the army for certain time. In any event, the lost battle convinced Napoleon to commence the disastrous French retreat from Russia.
October 1812
Second Battle of Polotsk
The Second Battle of Polotsk took place during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In this encounter the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein attacked and defeated a Franco-Bavarian force under Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. In the aftermath of this success, the Russians took Polotsk and dismantled Napoleon's operations in Belarus. Wittgenstein's victory set the stage for the Battle of Berezina in November, in which three Russian armies converged on Napoleon from separate directions.
November 1812
Battle of Berezina
The Battle of (the) Berezina took place from 26 to 29 November 1812, between Napoleon's Grande Armée and the Imperial Russian Army under Field Marshal Wittgenstein and Admiral Chichagov. Napoleon was retreating toward Poland in chaos after the aborted occupation of Moscow and trying to cross the Berezina River at Borisov. The outcome of the battle was inconclusive as, despite heavy losses, Napoleon managed to cross the river and continue his retreat with the surviving remnants of his army.
November 1812
Battle of Krasnoi
The Battle of Krasnoi unfolded from 15 to 18 November 1812 marking a critical episode in Napoleon's arduous retreat from Moscow. Over the course of six skirmishes the Russian forces under Field Marshal Kutuzov inflicted significant blows from a prepared ambush upon the remnants of the Grande Armée, already severely weakened by attrition warfare. These confrontations, though not escalated into full-scale battles, led to substantial losses for the French due to their depleted weapons and horses.
November 1812
Battle of Vyazma
The Battle of Vyazma, occurred at the beginning of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. In this encounter, a Russian force commanded by General of the Infantry Miloradovich pressed and inflicted heavy losses on the rear guard of the Grande Armée. The Grande Armée was retreating back along the already devastated road, experiencing a shortage of food, a consequence of the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. Although the French thwarted Miloradovich's goal of encircling and destroying the corps of Marshal Davout, they withdrew in a partial state of disorder due to ongoing Russian harassment and heavy artillery bombardments, and the town of Vyazma itself was captured in heavy fighting by Miloradovich's troops, namely the 11th Infantry Division under the command of Major General P. Choglokov and the Cossacks of Ataman Platov. In addition to his four corps, Miloradovich also coordinated General Paskevich's 26th Division and those Cossacks around Vyazma. The French were driven out of all their defensive positions during the battle. The French reversal at Vyazma, although indecisive, was significant due to its damaging morale impact on several corps of Napoleon's retreating army, namely, the corps of Davout, Eugène, Marshal Ney, and Prince Poniatowski. From then on, Napoleon's rearguard withdrew in disarray.
April 1813 – November 1813
German campaign of 1813
The German campaign was fought in 1813. Members of the Sixth Coalition, including the German states of Austria and Prussia, plus Russia and Sweden, fought a series of battles in Germany against the French Emperor Napoleon, his marshals, and the armies of the Confederation of the Rhine – an alliance of most of the other German states, – which ended the domination of the First French Empire.
May 1813
Battle of Lützen (1813)
The Battle of Lützen, fought on 2 May 1813 near the town of Lützen in Saxony, was a major engagement during the War of the Sixth Coalition. It pitted Napoleon Bonaparte's French forces against a coalition army of Prussian and Russian troops commanded by Generals Wittgenstein and Blücher. The battle marked Napoleon's attempt to reassert dominance in Central Europe following his disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812. Although the Allies initially gained ground and inflicted significant damage on the French forces, Napoleon's tactical brilliance and use of concentrated reserves allowed him to turn the tide of the battle. The French ultimately secured a costly victory, forcing the Allies to retreat.
May 1813
Battle of Bautzen (1813)
In the Battle of Bautzen, a combined Prusso-Russian army, retreating after their defeat at Lützen and massively outnumbered, was pushed back by Napoleon but escaped destruction. Some sources claim that Marshal Michel Ney failed to block their retreat. The Prussians were led by General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, and the Russians by General Peter Wittgenstein.
June 1813
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria, a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leading to victory in the Peninsular War.
July 1813 – September 1813
Siege of San Sebastián
The siege of San Sebastián took place between 7 July and 8 September 1813, during the Peninsular War. Allied British and Portuguese forces under the command of Thomas Graham captured the city by assault after a lengthy siege, which followed a failed earlier siege and attack under the lead of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington. The successful assault carried out by Graham forced the surrender of the defending French garrison under Louis Emmanuel Rey. Having broken into the town during the final assault, the allied soldiers rampaged out of control through San Sebastián, abusing and murdering many of its civilian inhabitants and setting fire to many of the city's buildings.
August 1813
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, then the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony. With the recent addition of Austria, the Sixth Coalition felt emboldened in their quest to expel the French from Central Europe. Despite being heavily outnumbered, French forces under Napoleon scored a victory against the Army of Bohemia led by Generalissimo Karl von Schwarzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory did not lead to the collapse of the coalition, and the weather and the uncommitted Russian reserves who formed an effective rearguard precluded a major pursuit. Three days after the battle, the Coalition surrounded and destroyed a French corps advancing into their line of withdrawal at the Battle of Kulm.
August 1813
Battle of Kulm
The Battle of Kulm was fought 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. A French corps under General Dominique Vandamme attacked Alexander Osterman-Tolstoy's Russian corps on 29 August. The next day, Friedrich von Kleist's Prussian corps hit Vandamme in the rear while Russian and Austrian reinforcements attacked the French front and left. Vandamme was defeated with the loss of between 13,000 and 25,000 men and 82 guns. Frederick William created an award for those who distinguished themselves in battle, the Kulm Cross.
August 1813
Battle of Großbeeren
The Battle of Großbeeren occurred on 23 August 1813 in neighboring Blankenfelde and Sputendorf between the Prussian III Corps under Friedrich von Bülow and the Franco-Saxon VII Corps under Jean Reynier. Napoleon had hoped to drive the Prussians out of the Sixth Coalition by capturing their capital, but the swamps south of Berlin combined with rain and marshal Nicolas Oudinot's ill health all contributed to the French defeat.
August 1813
Battle of the Katzbach
The Battle of the Katzbach on 26 August 1813, was a major battle of the Napoleonic Wars between the forces of the First French Empire under Marshal MacDonald and a Russo-Prussian army of the Sixth Coalition under Prussian Marshal Graf (Count) von Blücher. It occurred during a heavy thunderstorm at the Katzbach river between Wahlstatt and Liegnitz in the Prussian province of Silesia. Taking place the same day as the Battle of Dresden, it resulted in a Coalition victory, with the French retreating to Saxony.
August 1813
Battle of San Marcial
The Battle of San Marcial took place on 31 August 1813 near Irún, close to the Franco-Spanish border, as part of the Peninsular War. The Spanish Army of Galicia under Manuel Freire de Andrade repulsed a French attack led by Jean-de-Dieu Soult. The battle was named after the heights of San Marcial which were held by the Spanish.
September 1813
Battle of Dennewitz
The Battle of Dennewitz took place on 6 September 1813 between French forces commanded by Marshal Michel Ney and the Sixth Coalition's Allied Army of the North commanded by Crown Prince Charles John of Sweden, Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow and Bogislav von Tauentzien. It occurred in Dennewitz, a village in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, near Jüterbog, 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Berlin. The battle marked a turning point in the German Campaign of 1813 as not only did the Allied victory end Napoleon's hopes of capturing Berlin and knocking Prussia out of the war, but the severity of the French defeat, inflicted by a primarily Prussian force, also led to the erosion of fidelity of German allies to the Napoleonic cause. The French losses, and consequent diplomatic reverses, that resulted from Dennewitz contributed greatly to Napoleon's defeat a month later at the Battle of Leipzig.
October 1813
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, Gebhard von Blücher and Swedish Crown Prince Charles John, decisively defeated the Grande Armée of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops, as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine. The battle was the culmination of the German campaign of 1813 and involved about 560,000 soldiers, 2,200 artillery pieces, the expenditure of 400,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, and 133,000 casualties. This made it the largest of the battles during the Napoleonic Wars and, arguably, the deciding battle of the wars.
October 1813
Battle of Hanau
The Battle of Hanau was fought from 30 to 31 October 1813 between Karl Philipp von Wrede's Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleons retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition. Following his defeat at the Battle of Leipzig earlier in October, Napoleon began to retreat from Germany into France in relative safety. Wrede attempted to block the French line of retreat at Hanau on 30 October. Napoleon arrived at Hanau with reinforcements and defeated Wrede's forces. On 31 October Hanau was in French control, opening Napoleon's line of retreat.
January 1814
Battle of Brienne
The Battle of Brienne saw an Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon attack Prussian and Russian forces commanded by Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. After heavy fighting that went on into the night, the French seized a château, nearly capturing Blücher. However, the French were unable to dislodge the Russians from the town of Brienne-le-Château. Napoleon himself, making his first appearance on a battlefield in 1814, was also nearly captured. Very early the next morning, Blücher's troops quietly abandoned the town and retreated to the south, conceding the field to the French.
February 1814
Battle of Champaubert
The Battle of Champaubert was the opening engagement of the Six Days' Campaign. It was fought between a French army led by Emperor Napoleon and a small Russian corps commanded by Lieutenant General Count Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev. After putting up a good fight, the Russian formation was destroyed; the survivors escaped into the woods while Olsufiev became a French prisoner.
February 1814
Battle of Château-Thierry (1814)
The Battle of Château-Thierry saw the Imperial French army commanded by Emperor Napoleon attempt to destroy a Prussian corps led by Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg and an Imperial Russian corps under Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken. The two Allied corps managed to escape across the Marne River, but suffered considerably heavier losses than the pursuing French. This action occurred during the Six Days' Campaign, a series of victories that Napoleon won over Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Army of Silesia. Château-Thierry lies about 75 kilometres (47 mi) northeast of Paris.
February 1814
Battle of La Rothière
The Battle of La Rothière saw the Coalition forces of the Austrian Empire, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Kingdom of Bavaria, and Kingdom of Württemberg attack a French army led by Emperor Napoleon. The main Coalition army was under the command of Field Marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg but Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was given tactical control of the fighting. The Allies defeated the outnumbered and overextended French during a snowfall.
February 1814
Battle of Montmirail
The Battle of Montmirail was fought between a French force led by Emperor Napoleon and two Allied corps commanded by Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken and Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg. In hard fighting that lasted until evening, French troops including the Imperial Guard defeated Sacken's Russian soldiers and compelled them to retreat to the north. Part of Yorck's Prussian I Corps tried to intervene in the struggle but it was also driven off. The battle occurred near Montmirail, France, during the Six Days Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. Montmirail is located 51 kilometres (32 mi) east of Meaux.
February 1814
Battle of Vauchamps
The Battle of Vauchamps was the final major engagement of the Six Days Campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition. It resulted in a part of the Grande Armée under Napoleon I defeating a superior Prussian and Russian force of the Army of Silesia under Field-marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. In the military career of Napoleon, this was one of his most outstanding tactical victories.
February 1814
Battle of Montereau
The Battle of Montereau was fought during the War of the Sixth Coalition between an Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon and a corps of Austrians and Württembergers commanded by Crown Prince Frederick William of Württemberg. While Napoleon's army mauled an Allied army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, the main Allied army commanded by Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, advanced to a position dangerously close to Paris. 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, but on 17 February saw his rear guards overrun or brushed aside.
March 1814
Battle of Paris (1814)
The Battle of Paris or the Storming of Paris saw the Allied forces of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Württemberg attack Paris defended by troops of the First French Empire under Joseph Bonaparte. The French soldiers put up a stout resistance at the capital's eastern suburbs on 30 March but were steadily driven back by the overwhelmingly superior Allied forces. Faced with a hopeless situation, Marshals Auguste de Marmont and Édouard Mortier agreed to a ceasefire with the Allies in the late afternoon. The French evacuated Paris on 31 March according to the terms of the convention reached with the Allied leaders Tsar Alexander I of Russia, King Frederick William III of Prussia, and Austrian Field Marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg. This defeat marked the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition and soon forced Emperor Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile.
March 1814
Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
The Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube saw an Imperial French army under Napoleon face a much larger Allied army led by Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg during the War of the Sixth Coalition. On the second day of fighting, Emperor Napoleon finally realized he had blundered into battle as he was massively outnumbered, and immediately ordered a masked retreat. By the time the Austrian Field Marshal Schwarzenberg realized Napoleon was retreating, most of the French had already disengaged and the Allied pursuit afterwards failed to prevent the remaining French army from safely withdrawing to the north. This was Napoleon's penultimate battle before his abdication and exile to Elba, the last being the Battle of Saint-Dizier.
March 1814
Battle of Laon
The Battle of Laon, fought on March 9–10, 1814, was a pivotal engagement during the waning months of the Napoleonic Wars. Blücher's Prusso-Russian force, occupying a tough defensive position at the town of Laon, repelled attacks by and successfully counterattacked French Emperor Napoleon and his subordinate corps commander, Marshal Marmont.
March 1814
Battle of Craonne
The Battle of Craonne was fought between an Imperial French army under Emperor Napoleon I opposing a combined army of Imperial Russians and Prussians led by Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. The War of the Sixth Coalition engagement began when the bulk of Napoleon's army tried to drive Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov's 22,000 Russians off the Chemin des Dames plateau to the west of Craonne. After a bitter struggle, Napoleon's attacks compelled Vorontsov's force to withdraw, but French casualties exceeded Russian losses. While the battle raged, Blücher's attempt to turn Napoleon's east flank ended in failure due to poor planning.
March 1814
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 first day, Saint-Priest's Russians and General Friedrich Wilhelm von Jagow's Prussians easily captured Reims from its French National Guard garrison, capturing or killing more than half of its defenders; this event is also mentioned as the storming of Reims. On the second day, an overconfident Saint-Priest carelessly deployed his forces west of the city, not grasping that Napoleon was approaching with 20,000 troops. Too late, Saint-Priest realized who he was fighting and tried to organize a retreat. In the battle that followed, the French army struck with crushing force and the Allies were routed with serious losses. During the fighting, Saint-Priest was struck by a howitzer shell and died two weeks later.
April 1814
Battle of Toulouse (1814)
The Battle of Toulouse took place on April 10, 1814, just four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the Sixth Coalition, marking one of the final conflicts of the Napoleonic Wars. Having pushed the demoralised and disintegrating French Imperial Army out of Spain in a difficult campaign the previous autumn, the Allied British-Portuguese and Spanish army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington pursued the war into southern France in the spring of 1814.
May 1815
Battle of Tolentino
The Battle of Tolentino was fought from 2–3 May 1815 near Tolentino, Kingdom of Naples in what is now Marche, Italy: it was the decisive battle in the Neapolitan War, fought by the Napoleonic King of Naples Joachim Murat to keep the throne after the Congress of Vienna. The battle occurred during the Hundred Days following Napoleon's return from exile and, like the Battle of Waterloo, resulted in a decisive victory for the Seventh Coalition, leading to the restoration of the previous Bourbon king, Ferdinand I.
June 1815
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, being the last engagement with Napoleon I. The French Imperial Army under the command of Napoleon I was defeated by two armies of the Seventh Coalition. One was a British-led force with units from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau, under the command of field marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. The other comprised three corps of the Prussian army under Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. The battle was known contemporaneously as the Battle of Mont Saint-Jean in France and La Belle Alliance in Prussia.
June 1815
Battle of Ligny
The Battle of Ligny, in which French troops of the Armée du Nord under the command of Napoleon I defeated part of a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, was fought on 16 June 1815 near Ligny in what is now Belgium. The result was a tactical victory for the French, but the bulk of the Prussian army survived the battle in good order, was reinforced by Prussian troops who had not fought at Ligny, and played a role two days later at the Battle of Waterloo. Ligny was the last victory in Napoleon's military career. In the culminating moment of this battle Blücher was wounded and carried off the battlefield, and was replaced by his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gneisenau.
June 1815
Battle of Quatre Bras
The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between elements of the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army and the left wing of Napoleon Bonaparte's French Armée du Nord under Marshal Michel Ney. The battle was a tactical victory for Wellington, but because Ney prevented him going to the aid of Blücher's Prussians who were fighting the French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte at Ligny it was a strategic victory for the French.
June 1815
Battle of Wavre
The Battle of Wavre was the final major military action of the Hundred Days campaign and the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on 18–19 June 1815 between the Prussian rearguard, consisting of the Prussian III Corps under the command of General Johann von Thielmann and three corps of the French army under the command of Marshal Grouchy. A blocking action, this battle kept 33,000 French soldiers from reaching the Battle of Waterloo and so helped in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
Earlier and later events nearby
- 1789Storming of the Bastille
- 1789–1799French Revolution
- 1796Jenner's smallpox vaccine
- May 1803 – November 1815Napoleonic WarsThis page
- 1815Battle of Waterloo
- 1830July Revolution
- 1830–1831Belgian Revolution
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.
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- 50 BCRoman Republic
- AD 1–250Roman Empire
- AD 275Gallic Empire
- AD 300–375Roman Empire
- AD 400–425Western Roman Empire
- AD 450–500Salian Franks
- AD 525–825Francia
- AD 850Lotharingia
- AD 875West Francia
- AD 900East Francia
- AD 925West Francia
- AD 950Kingdom of Germany
- AD 975–1240Holy Roman Empire
- 1260–1420Landgraviate of Brabant
- 1440–1480Duchy of Burgundy
- 1500Habsburg Austria
- 1510House of Habsburg
- 1520Spain
- 1530–1550Habsburg Austria
- 1560–1580Spain
- 1590–1630Iberian Union
- 1640–1700Spain
- 1710–1790Habsburg Austria
- 1800French ConsulateThis page
- 1805–1810First French Empire
- 1815–1825Netherlands
- 1830–1938Belgium
- 1940–1944Nazi Germany
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Other maps for this period
- War mapsAnglo-Maratha Wars
- War mapsSpanish American wars of independence
- War mapsWar of 1812
- Inventions mapSteam locomotive
- Inventions mapSteamboat