In the War of the Sixth Coalition, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia,
the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States
finally defeated France and drove Napoleon into exile on Elba. After the
disastrous French invasion of Russia, the continental powers joined Russia,
the United Kingdom, Portugal and the rebels in Spain. With their armies
reorganized, they drove Napoleon out of Germany in 1813 and invaded France in
1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate and restoring the Bourbons.
The War of the Sixth Coalition included the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, Dresden
and the epic Battle of Leipzig, which was the largest battle in European
history before the First World War. Ultimately, Napoleon's earlier setbacks
in Russia and Germany proved to be the seeds of his undoing, and the Allies
occupied Paris, forcing his abdication. Invasion of Russia
In 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, crossed the Neman River on 23 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 any
concessions toward Poland. Russian forces fell back, destroying everything
potentially of use to the invaders until giving battle at Borodino where the two
great armies fought a devastating but inconclusive battle. 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 refused to capitulate, leaving the French in the abandoned city
of Moscow with little food, shelter 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 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 Poland against 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. Formation of the Sixth Coalition
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, and by General Hans Karl von Diebitsch of the Russian Army. According
to the Treaty of Tilsit, 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 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" 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 definitely ranged Prussia on the side of the Allies. Seeing an
opportunity in Napoleon's historic defeat, Prussia re-entered the war,
proclaiming a crusade of German Liberation against Napoleonic France.
On 9 January 1812, French troops occupied Swedish Pomerania to end the
illegal trade with the United Kingdom from Sweden, which was in violation of
the Continental System. Swedish estates were confiscated and Swedish officers
and soldiers were taken as prisoners. In response, Sweden declared neutrality and
signed a secret treaty with Russia against France and Denmark–Norway on 5
April. Later on 18 July, the Treaty of Örebro formally ended the wars between
the United Kingdom and Sweden and Russia. On 3 March 1813, after the
United Kingdom agreed to Swedish claims to Norway, Sweden entered an alliance
with the United Kingdom and declared war against France, and on June the same
year the former formally entered the coalition.
War in Germany Napoleon vowed that he would create 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 and Bautzen but he
himself lost about the same number of men during those encounters. Both
battles involved total forces of over 250,000 – making them some of the
largest battles of the Napoleonic Wars to that point in time.
The belligerents declared an armistice from 4 June 1813 and lasting until 13
August, during which time both sides attempted to recover from approximately
quarter of a million losses since April. During this time Allied negotiations
finally brought Austria out in open opposition to France. Two principal
Austrian armies were deployed in Bohemia and Northern Italy, adding 300,000
troops to 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.
Napoleon succeeded in bringing the total imperial forces in the region up to
around 650,000. The Confederation of 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 a million Allied troops. Following the end of the armistice
Napoleon seemed to have regained the initiative at Dresden, where he defeated
a numerically-superior allied army and inflicted enormous casualties, while
sustaining relatively few. However at about the same time Oudinot's thrust
towards Berlin was beaten back, and the French sustained several defeats in the
north at Grossbeeren, Katzbach and Dennewitz. Napoleon himself, lacking
reliable and numerous cavalry, was unable to fully take advantage of his
victory, and could not avoid the destruction of a whole army corps at the
Battle of Kulm, further weakening his army. He 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 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 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 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 before pulling what 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 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 the Rhineland, 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's motivation was to maintain
France as a balance against Russian threats, while ending 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 the loss of Belgium. Napoleon adamantly refused.
War in Denmark In December 1813, the Swedish army
attacked Danish troops in Holstein. General Anders Skjöldebrand defeated the
Danes at Bornhöved on 7 December 1813. Three days later, the Danish Auxiliary
Corps scored a victory over the Swedes at Sehested. However, the Danish victory
could not change the course of war. On 14 January 1814, the Treaty of Kiel
was concluded between Sweden and Denmark–Norway. By the terms of the
treaty, Norway was to be ceded to the king of Sweden. However, the Norwegians
rejected this, declaring independence and adopting their own constitution on
17 May. On 27 July, Swedish forces invaded Norway. After a short war, an
armistice was concluded on 14 August. Norway agreed to enter into a personal
union with Sweden as a separate state with its own constitution and
institutions, except for the common king and foreign service. The Union between
Sweden and Norway was formally established on 4 November 1814, when the
Parliament of Norway adopted the necessary constitutional amendments, and
elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway.
Peninsular War While events unfolded in the East, the
Peninsular War in Iberia continued to be Napoleon's "Spanish ulcer" tying down
hundred of thousands of French soldiers. Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington
finally broke the French power in Spain and forced the French to retreat. In a
strategic move, Wellington planned to move his supply base from Lisbon to
Santander. The Anglo-Portuguese forces swept northwards in late May and seized
Burgos; they then outflanked the French army, forcing Joseph Bonaparte into the
valley of the River Zadorra. At the Battle of Vitoria, 21 June, the 65,000
French under Joseph were routed by 53,000 British, 27,000 Portuguese and
19,000 Spaniards. Wellington pursued and dislodged the French from San Sebastián,
which was sacked and burnt. The allies chased the retreating French,
reaching the Pyrenees in early July. Marshal Soult was given command of the
French forces and began a counter-offensive, dealing the allied
generals two sharp defeats at the Battle of Maya and the Battle of Roncesvalles.
Yet, he was put again onto the defensive by the British army and its Portuguese
allies, lost momentum, and finally fled after the allied victory at the Battle
of Sorauren. The Battle of the Pyrenees saw
Wellington fighting very far from his supply line and winning by a mixture of
manoeuvre, shock and persistent hounding of the French forces.
On 7 October, after Wellington received news of the reopening of hostilities in
Germany, the Coalition allies finally crossed into France, fording the Bidasoa
river. On 11 December, a beleaguered and desperate Napoleon agreed to a separate
peace with Spain under the Treaty of Valençay, under which he would release
and recognize Ferdinand VII as King of Spain in exchange for a complete
cessation of hostilities. But the Spanish had no intention of trusting
Napoleon, and the fighting continued on into France.
War in France During the last months of 1813 and into
1814 Wellington led the Peninsular army into south-west France fight a number of
battles again Marshals Soult and Suchet. The Peninsular army gained victories at
Vera pass, the Battle of Nivelle, the Battle of Nive near Bayonne, the Battle
of Orthez and the Battle of Toulouse. After retreating from Germany, Napoleon
fought a series of battles, including the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube, in France,
but was steadily forced back against overwhelming odds. During the campaign
he had issued a decree for 900,000 fresh conscripts, but only a fraction of these
were ever raised. In early February Napoleon fought his Six Days' Campaign,
in which he won multiple battles against numerically superior enemy forces
marching on Paris. However, he fielded less than 80,000 soldiers during this
entire campaign against a Coalition force of between 370,000 and 405,000
engaged in the campaign. At the Treaty of Chaumont the Allies agreed to
preserve the Coalition until Napoleon's total defeat. The Allies entered Paris
on 30 March 1814 after a short battle. Abdication and peace
Napoleon was determined to fight on, proposing to march on Paris. His
soldiers and regimental officers were eager to fight on. But Napoleon's
marshals and senior officers mutinied. On 4 April, Napoleon was confronted by
his marshals and senior officers, led by Ney. They told the Emperor that they
refused to march. Napoleon asserted that the army would follow him. Ney replied,
'The army will follow its chiefs.' Napoleon abdicated on 11 April 1814 and
the war officially ended soon after, although some fighting continued until
May. The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed on 11 April 1814 between the
continental powers and Napoleon, followed by the Treaty of Paris on 30
May 1814 between France and the Great Powers including Britain. The victors
exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba, and restored the Bourbon monarchy in the
person of Louis XVIII. The Allied leaders attended Peace Celebrations in
England in June, before progressing to the Congress of Vienna, which was held
to redraw the map of Europe. See also
The Hundred Days or the War of the Seventh Coalition
Notes References
Ellis, Geoffrey, Napoleon: Profiles In Power, Routledge, p. 100, ISBN
9781317874706 Hodgson, William, The life of Napoleon
Bonaparte, once Emperor of the French, who died in exile, at St. Helena, after
a captivity of six years' duration, Orlando Hodgson
Merriman, John, A History Of Modern Europe, W.W. Norton Company, p. 579
Maude, Frederic Natusch, "Napoleonic Campaigns", in Chisholm, Hugh,
Encyclopædia Britannica 19, Cambridge University Press, pp. 212–236
Riley, J. P., Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition
Warfighting, Routledge, p. 206 Robinson, Charles Walker, "Peninsular
War", in Chisholm, Hugh, Encyclopædia Britannica 21, Cambridge University
Press Ross, Stephen T., European Diplomatic
History 1789-1815: France against Europe, pp. 342–344
Further reading Cate, Curtis, The War of the Two
Emperors: The Duel Between Napoleon and Alexander: Russia, 1812, Random house
Delderfield, Ronald Frederick, Imperial sunset: The fall of Napoleon, 1813-14,
Stein and Day Leggiere, Michael V., The Fall of
Napoleon: Volume 1, The Allied Invasion of France, 1813-1814 1, Cambridge
University Press Lüke, Martina, "Anti-Napoleonic Wars of
Liberation", in Ness, Immanuel, The International Encyclopedia of Revolution
and Protest: 1500–present, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 188–190, ISBN
9781405184649 Muir, Rory, Britain and the Defeat of
Napoleon, 1807–1815, Yale University Press
Riehn, Richard K, 1812: Napoleon's Russian campaign
Rothenberg, Gunther Erich, The Napoleonic Wars, London: Cassell, ISBN
0304359831 Riley, Jonathon P., Napoleon and the
world war of 1813: lessons in coalition warfighting, Psychology Press
Spring, Lawrence, 1812: Russia's Patriotic War
External links Napoleon, His Armies and Tactics
Collection of historical eBooks about the War of the Sixth Coalition