In the Battle of Lützen (German: ''Schlacht von Großgörschen'', 2 May 1813),
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
defeated an allied army of the
Sixth Coalition
Sixth is the ordinal form of the number six.
* The Sixth Amendment, to the U.S. Constitution
* A keg of beer, equal to 5 U.S. gallons or barrel
* The fraction
Music
* Sixth interval (music)s:
** major sixth, a musical interval
** minor six ...
.
The
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
commander, Prince
Peter Wittgenstein
, title = 1st Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg-Berleburg
, image = Pjotr-christianowitsch-wittgenstein.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = Portrait by George Dawe
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pereias ...
, attempting to forestall Napoleon's capture of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, attacked the French right wing near
Lützen
is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Geography
Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bundesstraße 8 ...
,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, surprising Napoleon. Quickly recovering, he ordered a double envelopment of the allies. After a day of heavy fighting, the imminent encirclement of his army prompted Wittgenstein to retreat. Due to a shortage of
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
, the French did not pursue.
The next battle would be fought at
Bautzen
Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...
three weeks later.
Prelude
Following the disaster of
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
in 1812, a new Coalition consisting of Britain, Sweden, Prussia and Russia formed against France. In response to this, Napoleon hastily assembled an army of just over 200,000 which included inexperienced recruits, troops from Spain and garrison battalions but was severely short of horses (a consequence of the Russian invasion, where most of his veteran troops and horses had perished). He crossed the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
into Germany to link up with remnants of his old
Grande Armée under the command of Prince
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Through the second marr ...
, and to quickly defeat this new alliance before it became too strong.
On the 30 April Napoleon crossed the river
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, ...
, advancing on Leipzig from the west and southwest in three columns led by the V Corps under General
Jacques Lauriston
Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, marquis de Lauriston (1 February 1768 – 12 June 1828) was a French soldier and diplomat of Scottish descent, and a general officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in Pondicherry in Fren ...
. His intention was to work his way into the Coalition's interior lines, dividing their forces and defeating them in detail before they could combine. But due to the lack of cavalrymen and faulty reconnaissance, he was unaware of the Russo-Prussian army under Wittgenstein and
Graf
(feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...
(
Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
)
von Blücher concentrating on his right flank to the southeast. Prussian scouts reported that the French army was stretched between Naumberg and Leipzig. Wittgenstein's plan was to attack towards Lützen and split Napoleon's forces in two. He was hoping to inflict serious casualties on Napoleon and score a victory that could possibly be used to bring Austria into the Coalition. On the eve of the battle, one of Napoleon's marshals,
Jean-Baptiste Bessières
Jean-Baptiste Bessières (; 6 August 1768 – 1 May 1813), 1st Duke of Istria (''Duc d'Istrie''), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. His younge ...
, was killed by a stray cannonball while reconnoitering near
Rippach.
Marshal
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
Ney's III Corps was to hold the right flank around Lützen in support of the forces marching towards Leipzig and was caught by surprise. The
III Corps consisted of five infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade. Three of these divisions were situated around Lützen, one division in the four villages to the southeast (Kaja, Kleingörschen, Großgörschen and Rahna) and one division a mile to the west of these in Starsiedel. The French
VI Corps 6 Corps, 6th Corps, Sixth Corps, or VI Corps may refer to:
France
* VI Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry formation of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars
* VI Corps (Grande Armée), a formation of the Imperial French army du ...
under Marshal Marmont was at Rippach to the west, Bertrand's
IV Corps was south of Weissenfels (
Weißenfels
Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle.
History
Perhaps the fir ...
) where the
Imperial Guard
An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the Emperor or Empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial forces, i ...
was also located. Macdonald's
XI Corps 11 Corps, 11th Corps, Eleventh Corps, or XI Corps may refer to:
* 11th Army Corps (France)
* XI Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* XI Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army
* ...
and the
I Cavalry Corps were situated to the north of Lützen.
Battle
The Prussian attack started off late with Blücher leading with his corps about 11:30am. As they approached Großgörschen, he was only expecting a couple thousand French instead of the full division that he found. Blücher paused the attack, called up his artillery and started an artillery bombardment at about noon. Marmont to the west heard the sound of the cannon and moved his corps towards Starsiedel. After a 40 minute bombardment, Blücher sent in one brigade that drove the French out of Großgörschen then followed up with another brigade and cavalry that captured Kleingörschen and Rahna. Ney put himself at the head of one of his divisions moving south from Lützen and counterattacked, retaking Kleingörschen and Rahna. Blücher committed his last brigade about 2:00pm, which forced the French out of Kleingörschen and then advanced to Kaja. Blücher was wounded, leaving the Prussian forces to the command of General von Yorck.
Napoleon was visiting the
1632 battlefield, playing tour guide with his staff by pointing to the sites and describing the events of 1632, in detail from memory, when he heard the sound of cannon. He immediately cut the tour short and rode off towards the direction of the artillery fire. Arriving on the scene about 2:00pm, he quickly sized up the situation and sent orders to concentrate his forces. He sent Ney a steady stream of reinforcements which would take up positions in and around the villages south of Lützen. Yorck committed the recently arrived Prussian reserves about 4:00pm. Wittgenstein and Yorck continued to press Ney in the center; control of the villages switched hands multiple times as troops were committed from both sides. The King of Prussia personally led a charge of the Prussian Guard that took the village of Rahna. By 5:30pm, the Coalition held all of the villages except for Kaja, which was still contested. Once Bertrand's IV Corps approached the battlefield from his right and Macdonald's XI Corps from his left, Napoleon no longer needed to worry about his flanks.
Once the Coalition's advance had been halted, with the perfect timing of old, Napoleon struck. While he had been reinforcing Ney, he had also reinforced the guns of the III Corps and VI Corps located between Starsiedel and Rahna with the Guard's cannons. General
Drouot concentrated these into a great mass of artillery of about 100 guns (
''Grande Batterie'') that unleashed a devastating barrage on Wittgenstein's center. Napoleon had collected his
Imperial Guard
An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the Emperor or Empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial forces, i ...
behind these guns and sent them in a counter assault led by Marshal Mortier into the allied center at about 6:00pm, which cleared the Coalition forces from the villages. A Prussian cavalry attack, and encroaching darkness, slowed the French offensive, allowing the main Coalition army to retreat in good order to regroup south of the villages. The lack of French cavalry prevented pursuit. Napoleon lost 19,655 men, including 2,757 killed and 16,898 wounded, while the Prussians lost at least 8,500 men killed or wounded and the Russians lost 3,500 men killed, wounded or missing, although casualties may have been much higher. By nightfall, the Tsar and Wittgenstein were hardly convinced that they had lost the battle. They retreated, however, after hearing that Leipzig had fallen, leaving Napoleon in control of Lützen and the field.
Aftermath
![Frühjahrsfeldzug 1813](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Fr%C3%BChjahrsfeldzug_1813.png)
Napoleon demonstrated his usual prowess in driving back the Russo-Prussian force at Lützen, but the costliness of his victory had a major impact on the war. Lützen was followed by the
Battle of Bautzen eighteen days later, where Napoleon was again victorious but with the loss of another 22,000 men, twice as many as the Russo-Prussian army. The ferocity of these two battles prompted Napoleon to accept a temporary armistice on the 4 June with Tsar Alexander and King Frederick William III. This agreement provided the allies the respite to organise and re-equip their armies and, perhaps more importantly, encouraged Britain to provide Russia and Prussia with war subsidies totalling seven million pounds. The financial security offered by this agreement was a major boon to the war effort against Napoleon. Another important result of the battle was that it encouraged
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
to join the allied coalition upon the armistice's expiration, shifting the balance of power dramatically in the coalition's favor. Due to these developments, Napoleon later regarded the June 4 truce, bought at Lützen and Bautzen, as the undoing of his power in Germany.
During the battle of Lützen,
Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst (12 November 1755 – 28 June 1813) was a Hanoverian-born general in Prussian service from 1801. As the first Chief of the Prussian General Staff, he was noted for his military theories, his reforms of the Pr ...
, one of the brightest and most able Prussian generals, was wounded while serving as Wittgenstein's Chief of Staff. Although his wound was minor, the hasty retreat prevented proper treatment, allowing a fatal infection to set in.
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
A shorter account of Lützen at napoleonguide.com*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutzen 1813, Battle of
Battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition
Battles of the Napoleonic Wars
Battles inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe
Battles involving France
Battles involving Prussia
Battles involving Russia
Conflicts in 1813
May 1813 events
Battle of Lutzen (1813)
Battles in Saxony-Anhalt
Lützen (1813)