Leipzig << LYP sihg >> , Battle of, was fought between French troops and the allied armies of Austria , Prussia , Russia , and Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815). The battle took place on Oct. 16-19, 1813, around the city of Leipzig in what is now eastern Germany . The massive battle ended in a decisive allied victory, ending French Emperor Napoleon I ’s remaining control of Germany. With some 600,000 soldiers involved, it was the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Leipzig is also called the Battle of the Nations.
Background.
The French Grande Armée (Great Army) was largely destroyed during Napoleon’s disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia. In 1813, sensing the possibility of France’s final defeat, Russia and the Germanic state of Prussia united to attack from the east. At the same time, the Grande Armée was also fighting British and Portuguese troops and Spanish rebels in the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. The fight there, known as the Peninsular War (1808-1814), was going badly for the French. Napoleon decided his best chance was to crush the eastern threat before concentrating on the allied armies to the south.
Napoleon scraped together a large army of young conscripts (involuntary recruits) and met the allied armies in Germany. The French won victories at Lützen on May 2, 1813, and Bautzen on May 20-21, but the exhaustion of the French and the allies made both sides desire peace. On June 4, France, Prussia, and Russia signed an armistice (agreement to stop fighting). Napoleon would not agree to the terms of a treaty, however, and hostilities resumed. By then, Austria and Sweden had joined the alliance against France, while the United Kingdom supplied it with money. The Grande Armée won a victory at Dresden on August 26-27, but constant fighting and exhaustion had worn Napoleon’s forces down to about to about 400,000 troops. The allied armies in Germany, with a steady stream of fresh reinforcements, were nearly 600,000-strong and growing.
After failed attempts by French forces to reach Berlin , Napoleon withdrew west across the Elbe River and gathered his immediate forces—about 200,000 troops—around Leipzig. Most of his troops were French, but there were also large numbers of Germans, Poles , and Italians . An Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish force of more than 360,000 soldiers approached Leipzig. On October 14, the opposing sides met in a preliminary battle south of Leipzig near Liebertwolkwitz. The fighting included a bloody clash between roughly 15,000 cavalry , making it one of the largest cavalry engagements in history.
Artillery played a huge role in the battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Heavy guns could turn the tide of a battle, and they caused horrific injuries. France eventually brought about 730 guns to the Leipzig battlefield. The allies had more than 1,300.
The combined allied effort against France in 1813 and 1814 is part of the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812-1814). France had defeated the previous five coalitions.
The battle.
On the morning of October 16, the allies launched major attacks on the French lines from both north and south of Leipzig. The attacks met stiff resistance and resulted in little progress. The next day saw small skirmishes as the allies regrouped and were strongly reinforced. A small number of French reinforcements also arrived that day.
The allies attacked again on October 18, this time in larger numbers and with greater coordination. After several hours of bloody combat, the allies finally overwhelmed the French lines. The French fell back into the suburbs near the Leipzig city walls, where street fighting erupted. Outnumbered and nearly entrapped, Napoleon ordered a general retreat west across the Elster River. With chaotic fighting spreading within Leipzig on October 19, demolition charges were mistakenly blown early, destroying the river’s only bridge while still crowded with French troops. The explosion killed many French troops and left thousands of soldiers trapped in Leipzig, where most became prisoners of war.
Aftermath.
The allies crushed the French at Leipzig and drove them from Germany, but at a significant cost. Over four days of fighting, about 55,000 allied soldiers were killed or wounded. The French suffered about 38,000 killed or wounded plus another 30,000 captured. Napoleon, however, escaped to France with the rest of his army.
In February 1814, Napoleon and the remaining troops of his Grande Armée fought a series of brilliant battles against the allies in northeastern France. They were drastically outnumbered, however, and France’s final defeat was near at hand. The allies took Paris at the end of March, while British forces closed from southern France. With no way out, Napoleon abdicated (gave up the throne) in April and surrendered to the allies. Napoleon went into forced exile on the small Mediterranean island of Elba . In less than a year, however, he returned to fight one last campaign. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in central Belgium in June 1815.
