The1814 campaign in north-east France wasNapoleon's final campaign of theWar of the Sixth Coalition. Following their victory atLeipzig in 1813, the Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and other German armies of the Sixth Coalition invaded France. Despite the disproportionate forces in favour of the Coalition, Napoleon managed to inflict several defeats, theSix Days' Campaign being the most well-known. However, the campaign ended in total defeat for Napoleon as the Coalition kept advancing towards Paris. Napoleon was out of position to defend the capital, which capitulated in late March 1814. When Napoleon proposed the army march on Paris, his Marshals decided to unanimously overrule Napoleon in order to save the city from further destruction. As a result, the victorious Coalition negotiated theTreaty of Paris, under which Napoleon was exiled to the island ofElba and the borders of France were returned to where they had been in 1792.
Following defeats in theWars of the Fourth andFifth Coalitions,Prussia andAustria were forcibly allied with France during theRussian Campaign. When this campaign resulted in the destruction of Napoleon'sGrande Armée, the two states took advantage of the situation by forming aSixth Coalition against France. The retreat from Russia led to aGerman campaign; following some early successes, Napoleon was decisively defeated atLeipzig and forced to retreat to France. Most European countries then turned against Napoleon and started to invade France.
When the last French troops had crossed west of theRhine, the Coalition members disagreed on the next action. Russian EmperorAlexander I wanted the Coalition armies to push on, but everyone was weary of the war, and many felt that it would be unwise to push Napoleon and the French nation to extremes. Hence there was a prolonged halt, while the Coalition tried to negotiate with Napoleon. During this period, the Coalition armies regrouped. Eventually the Coalition followed the lead of the militant "Young German" faction, led byMarshal Blücher and other fighting men of the Coalition armies and attacked.[2]
In late December 1813, three Coalition armies started to cross theRhine:[2]
To meet these forces, Napoleon, by thesenatus consultum of 9 October 1813,called up the conscript classes of 1814 and 1815. These very young and inexperienced recruits formed the bulk of the new French Army and were nicknamedmarie-louises, after the youngEmpress Marie-Louise.[5]
However, he could only collect about 200,000 men in all. Over 100,000 were engaged against Wellington's army on the Spanish frontier (seeInvasion of south-west France), and 20,000 more were set to guard the passes of the Alps. Hence less than 80,000 remained available for the east and north-eastern frontier. However, while Napoleon was weak in numbers, he was now again operating in a friendly country, able to forage food almost everywhere, and benefitted from secure lines of communication.[2]
Napoleon attempted to counter the incursion of the Army of Silesia shortly after their crossing but arrived too late, and engaged in pursuit.[6] On 25 January Blücher enteredNancy, and, moving rapidly up the valley of theMoselle, was in communication with the Austrian advanced guard nearLa Rothière on the afternoon 28 January.[2]
On 29 January Napoleon caught up with Blücher and attacked. Blücher's headquarters were surprised and he himself nearly captured by a sudden rush of French troops (Battle of Brienne), learning at the same time that the emperor in person was at hand. Blücher accordingly fell back a few miles next morning to a strong position covering the exits from theBar-sur-Aube defile. There he was joined by the Austrian advance guard and together they decided to accept battle—indeed they had no alternative, as the roads in rear were so choked with traffic that retreat was out of the question. About noon on 2 February Napoleon engaged them inBattle of La Rothière; but the weather was terrible, and the ground so heavy that his favourite artillery, the mainstay of his whole system of warfare, was useless and in the drifts of snow which at intervals swept across the field, the columns lost their direction and many were severely handled by the Cossacks. At nightfall the fighting ceased and the emperor retired to Lesmont, and thence toTroyes, MarshalMarmont being left to observe the enemy.[2]
Owing to the state of the roads, or perhaps to the extraordinary lethargy which always characterised Schwarzenberg's headquarters, no pursuit was attempted. But on 4 February Blücher, chafing at this inaction, obtained the permission of his own sovereign,Frederick William III of Prussia, to transfer his line of operations to the valley of theMarne;Pahlen's corps of Cossacks were assigned to him to cover his left and maintain communication with the Austrians.[2]
Believing himself secure behind this screen, he advanced from Vitry along the roads leading down the valley of the Marne, with his columns widely separated for convenience of subsistence and shelter the latter being almost essential in the terrible weather prevailing. Blücher himself on the night of 7/8 February was atSézanne, on the exposed flank so as to be nearer to his sources of intelligence, and the rest of his army were distributed in four small corps at or nearÉpernay,Montmirail andÉtoges; reinforcements also were on their way to join him and were then about Vitry.[2]
In the night his headquarters were again surprised, and Blücher learnt that Napoleon himself with his main body was in full march to fall on his scattered detachments. At the same time he heard that Pahlen's Cossacks had been withdrawn forty-eight hours previously, thus completely exposing his flank. He himself retreated towards Étoges endeavouring to rally his scattered detachments.[2]
Napoleon was too quick for Blücher: he decimated Lieutenant General Olssufiev's Russian IX Corps at theBattle of Champaubert (10 February).[7] This placed his army between Blücher's vanguard and his main body.[8] Napoleon turned his attention to the vanguard and defeatedOsten-Sacken andYorck atMontmirail on 11 February;[8] and attacked and defeated them again the next day at theBattle of Château-Thierry.[9] Napoleon then turned on the main body of the Army of Silesia and on 14 February defeated Blücher inBattle of Vauchamps nearÉtoges, pursuing the latter towardsVertus. These disasters compelled the retreat of the whole Silesian army, and Napoleon, leaving detachments with marshalsMortier and Marmont to deal with them, hurried back to Troyes.[2]
Napoleon with his main body struck at the flank of Schwarzenberg's Austrian army, which had meanwhile begun its leisurely advance, and again atMormant (17 February),Montereau (18 February) andMéry-sur-Seine (21 February). He inflicted such heavy punishment upon his adversaries thatthey fell back precipitately to Bar-sur-Aube.[2]
In the meantime Blücher had rallied his scattered forces and was driving Marmont and Mortier before him. Napoleon, as soon as he had neutralised Schwarzenberg, counter-marched his main body. Moving again by Sézanne, he fell upon Blücher's left and drove him back upon Soissons. The French garrison there had capitulated only twenty-four hours beforehand, a fact of which Napoleon was unaware. The Silesian army was thus able to escape, and marching northwards combined with Bernadotte's Army of the North at Laon. This reinforcement brought the forces at Blücher's disposal up to over 100,000 men.[2]
On 7 March, Napoleon fell upon the advance guard of this force at theBattle of Craonne and drove it back upon Laon, where theBattle of Laon took place on 9 March. Napoleon was here defeated, and with only 30,000 men at his back,[2] retreated to Soissons.[10] On hearing thatReims had fallen to a Coalition corps under the command of the Russian GeneralSaint-Priest, Napoleon crossed in front of Blücher's force. On 13 March Napoleonretook Reims; Saint-Priest was mortally wounded in the battle.[10]
On 14 March, Schwarzenberg, becoming aware of Napoleon's presence in Reims, began again his advance and his advanced guard had reachedArcis-sur-Aube, when Napoleon intercepted it on 20 March. At the start of theBattle of Arcis-sur-Aube, the Austrians were about 21,000 strong while the French fielded 20,000, however during the night of 20/21 both sides received reinforcements. On the second day of the battle while French strength was about 28,000 the Austrians now deployed 80,000. This forced the issue and while French losses were less than the Austrians, Napoleon was forced to withdraw eastwards and Schwarzenberg was free to advance west.[10]
Thus after six weeks fighting the Coalition armies had hardly gained any ground. The Coalition generals still hoped to bring Napoleon to battle against their combined forces. However, after Arcis-sur-Aube, Napoleon realised that he could no longer continue with his current strategy of defeating the Coalition armies in detail and decided to change his tactics. He had two options: he could fall back on Paris and hope that the Coalition members would come to terms, as capturing Paris with a French army under his command would be difficult and time-consuming; or he could copy the Russians and leave Paris to his enemies (as they had left Moscow to him two years earlier). He decided to move eastward toSaint-Dizier, rally what garrisons he could find, and raise the whole country against the invaders. He had actually started on the execution of this plan when a letter toEmpress Marie-Louise outlining his intention to move on the Coalition lines of communications was intercepted by Cossacks in Blücher's army on 22 March and hence his projects were exposed to his enemies.[11][12]
The Coalition commanders held a council of war atPougy on the 23 March and initially decided to follow Napoleon, but the next day TsarAlexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia along with their advisers reconsidered, and realising the weakness of their opponent (and perhaps actuated by the fear thatDuke of Wellington from Toulouse might, after all, reach Paris first), decided to march to Paris (then anopen city), and let Napoleon do his worst to their lines of communications.[11][13]
The Coalition armies marched straight for the capital. Marmont and Mortier with what troops they could rally took up a position onMontmartre heights to oppose them. TheBattle of Paris ended when the French commanders, seeing further resistance to be hopeless, surrendered the city on 31 March, just as Napoleon, with the wreck of the Guards and a mere handful of other detachments, was hurrying across the rear of the Austrians towardsFontainebleau to join them.[11]
On 2 April, theFrench Senate agreed to the Coalition's terms and passed a resolution deposing Napoleon (Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur).[14] They also passed a decree dated 5 April, justifying their actions.[15] Napoleon was out of position to defend Paris, and had only advanced as far asFontainebleau when he learned that Paris had surrendered. When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his marshals decided to overrule Napoleon in order to save Paris from destruction.[16] On 4 April, Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son, with Marie-Louise as regent.[17] However, the Coalition refused to accept this. Napoleon was then forced to announce his unconditional abdication only two days later and sign theTreaty of Fontainebleau.[18][19]
Napoleon was sent into exile on the island ofElba[19] and the monarchy underLouis XVIII was restored.[20] TheTreaty of Paris, signed by representatives of the French monarchy and the Coalition powers, formally ended theWar of the Sixth Coalition on 30 May 1814, returning France to its 1792 boundaries in advance of theCongress of Vienna.[20] Napoleon escaped from Elba the following year leading to theHundred Days; he was eventuallydefeated at Waterloo by theSeventh Coalition.[21][22]
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Maude, Frederic Natusch (1911). "Napoleonic Campaigns". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 212–236.
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