The final stage of the war, the defence of France, saw the French Emperor temporarily regain his former mastery; he repulsed vastly superior armies in the
Six Days Campaign, which many[
who?] believe to be the most brilliant feat of generalship of his career. 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.
Seeing an opportunity in Napoleon's historic defeat, Prussia re-entered the war. 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 (2 May) and
Bautzen (20-21 May 1813). Both battles involved total forces of over 250,000 — making them some of the largest conflicts of the wars so far.
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, adding an additional 300,000 troops to the Allied armies in Germany. 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 (although only 250,000 were under his direct command, with another 120,000 under
Nicolas Charles Oudinot and 30,000 under Davout). The
Confederation of 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
Eugčne 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 (not including the strategic reserve being formed in Germany). The figures are however slightly misleading as most of the German troops fighting on the side of the French were unreliable at best and on the verge of defecting to the Allies.[
citation needed] It is reasonable to say that Napoleon could count on no more than 450,000 troops in Germany. Thus he was effectively outnumbered by about two to one.
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 Napoleon himself, lacking reliable and numerous cavalry, was unable to fully take advantage of his victory. 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 (16 October–19 1813) a French army, ultimately reinforced to 191,000, found itself faced by three Allied armies converging on it, ultimately totalling more than 330,000 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 a
Bavarian army at the
Battle of Hanau before pulling what was left of his forces back into France. Meanwhile Davout's corps continued in its
siege of Hamburg, where it became the last Imperial force east of the
Rhine.
Meanwhile,
Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington finally broke the French power in Spain and forced the French to retreat over the
Pyrenees and into France itself. 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. Wellesley 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. 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 severely repulsed by the Anglo-Portuguese, lost momentum, and finally fled after the allied victory at the
Battle of Sorauren (28 July and 30 July).
This week of campaigning, called the
Battle of the Pyrenees, is perhaps Wellington's finest.[
citation needed] The adversaries' numbers were balanced, he was fighting very far from his supply line, and yet, he won by a mixture of manoeuvre, shock, and fire, seldom equalled in the war. It was mountain warfare and at this moment, Wellington qualified the Portuguese Army as "
The fighting cocks of the (allied) Army".
On 7 October, after Wellington received news of the reopening of hostilities in Germany, the 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.
The Peninsular War went on through the allied victories of
Vera pass, the
Battle of Nivelle, the
Battle of Nive near
Bayonne (10 December–14 1813), the
Battle of Orthez (27 February 1814) and the
Battle of Toulouse (10 April). This last one was after Napoleon's abdication.
In Spain the French forces were harassed, hounded and repulsed constantly by a ruthless and merciless Spanish population. This guerrilla war played a large part in the disastrous Spanish campaign. The French forces, having to deal with this enemy, in-fighting among its marshallate, resistance from Spanish and Portuguese forces and the Duke of Wellington based in the Peninsula, eventually had to retreat into France, culminating in the abdication of Napoleon and his banishment to the
Isle of Elba.
Semisalis
N:TW timespan
I mean if it only covers the career of Napoleon there wont be much time for researching and building an empire. All there will be time for will be. . .
Protector Domesticus
TAR Local Moderator
Domesticus
Comes Limitis
Originally Posted by LestaT
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