Germany Under Napoleon
(1806--1814.)
Napoleon's personal Policy. --The "Rhine-Bund." --French Tyranny.
--Prussia declares War. --Battles of Jena and Auerstaedt. --Napoleon
in Berlin. --Prussia and Russia allied. --Battle of Friedland.
--Interviews of the Sovereigns. --Losses of Prussia. --Kingdom of
Westphalia. --Frederick William III.'s Weakness. --Congress at
Erfurt. --Patriotic Movements. --Revolt of the
yrolese. --Napoleon
marches on Vienna. --Schill's Movement in Prussia. --Battles of
Aspera and Wagram. --The Peace of Vienna. --Fate of Andreas Hofer.
--The Duke of Brunswick's Attempt. --Napoleon's Rule in Germany.
--Secret Resistance in Prussia. --War with Russia. --The March to
Moscow. --The Retreat. --York's Measures. --Rising of Prussia.
--Division of Germany. --Battle of Luetzen. --Napoleon in Dresden.
--The Armistice. --Austria joins the Allies. --Victories of Bluecher
and Buelow. --Napoleon's Hesitation. --The Battle of Leipzig.
--Napoleon's Retreat from Germany. --Cowardice of the allied
Monarchs. --Bluecher crosses the Rhine.
[Sidenote: 1806.]
After the peace of Presburg there was nothing to prevent Napoleon from
carrying out his plan of dividing the greater part of Europe among the
members of his own family, and the Marshals of his armies. He gave the
kingdom of Naples to his brother Joseph; appointed his step-son Eugene
Beauharnais Viceroy of Italy, and married him to the daughter of
Maximilian I. (formerly Elector, now King) of Bavaria; made a Kingdom of
Holland, and gave it to his brother Louis; gave the Duchy of Juelich,
Cleves and Berg to Murat, and married Stephanie Beauharnais, the niece
of the Empress Josephine, to the son of the Grand-Duke of Baden. There
was no longer any thought of disputing his will in any of the smaller
German States: the princes were as submissive as he could have desired,
and the people had been too long powerless to dream of resistance.
[Sidenote: 1806. THE "RHINE-BUND."]
The "Rhine-Bund," therefore, was constructed just as France desired.
Bavaria, Wuertemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt and Nassau united with
twelve small principalities--the whole embracing a population of
thirteen millions--in a Confederation, which accepted Napoleon as
Protector, and agreed to maintain an army of 63,000 men, at the disposal
of France. This arrangement divided the German Empire into three parts,
one of which (Austria) had just been conquered, while another (Prussia)
had lost all its former prestige by its weak and cowardly policy.
Napoleon was now the recognized master of the third portion, the action
of which was regulated by a Diet held at Frankfort. In order to make the
Union simpler and more manageable, all the independent countships and
baronies within its limits were abolished, and the seventeen States were
thus increased by an aggregate territory of about 12,000 square miles.
Bavaria took possession, without more ado, of the free cities of
Nuremberg and Augsburg.
Prussia, by this time, had agreed with Napoleon to give up Anspach and
Bayreuth to Bavaria, and receive Hannover instead. This provoked the
enmity of England, the only remaining nation which was friendly to
Prussia. The French armies were still quartered in Southern Germany,
violating at will not only the laws of the land, but the laws of
nations. A bookseller named Palm, in Nuremberg, who had in his
possession some pamphlets opposing Napoleon's schemes, was seized by
order of the latter, tried by court-martial and shot. This brutal and
despotic act was not resented by the German princes, but it aroused the
slumbering spirit of the people. The Prussians, especially, began to
grow very impatient of their pusillanimous government; but Frederick
William III. did nothing, until in August, 1806, he discovered that
Napoleon was trying to purchase peace with England and Russia by
offering Hannover to the former and Prussian Poland to the latter. Then
he decided for war, at the very time when he was compelled to meet the
victorious power of France alone!
Napoleon, as usual, was on the march before his enemy was even properly
organized. He was already in Franconia, and in a few days stood at the
head of an army of 200,000 men, part of whom were furnished by the
Rhine-Bund. Prussia, assisted only by Saxony and Weimar, had 150,000,
commanded by Prince Hohenlohe and the Duke of Brunswick, who hardly
reached the bases of the Thuringian Mountains when they were met by the
French and hurled back. On the table-land near Jena and Auerstaedt a
double battle was fought on the 14th of October, 1806. In the first
(Jena) Napoleon simply crushed and scattered to the winds the army of
Prince Hohenlohe; in the second (Auerstaedt) Marshal Davoust, after some
heavy fighting, defeated the Duke of Brunswick, who was mortally
wounded. Then followed a season of panic and cowardice which now seems
incredible: the French overwhelmed Prussia, and almost every defence
fell without resistance as they approached. The strong fortress of
Erfurt, with 10,000 men, surrendered the day after the battle of Jena;
the still stronger fortress-city of Magdeburg, with 24,000 men, opened
its gates before a gun was fired! Spandau capitulated as soon as asked,
on the 24th of October, and Davoust entered Berlin the same day. Only
General Bluecher, more than sixty years old, cut his way through the
French with 10,000 men, and for a time gallantly held them at bay in
Luebeck; and the young officers, Gneisenau and Schill, kept the fortress
of Colberg, on the Baltic, where they were steadily besieged until the
war was over.
[Sidenote: 1806.]
When Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph, on the 27th of November, he
found nearly the whole population completely cowed, and ready to
acknowledge his authority; seven Ministers of the Prussian Government
took the oath of allegiance to him, and agreed, at once, to give up all
of the kingdom west of the Elbe for the sake of peace! Frederick William
III., who had fled to Koenigsberg, refused to confirm their action, and
entered into an alliance with Alexander I. of Russia, to continue the
war. Napoleon, meanwhile, had made peace with Saxony, which, after
paying heavy contributions and joining the Rhine-Bund, was raised by him
to the rank of a kingdom. At the same time he encouraged a revolt in
Prussian Poland, got possession of Silesia, and kept Austria neutral by
skilful diplomacy. England had the power, by prompt and energetic
action, of changing the face of affairs, but her government did nothing.
Pressing eastward during the winter, the French army, 140,000 strong,
met the Russians and Prussians on the 8th of February, 1807, in the
murderous battle of Eylau, after which, because its result was
undecided, Napoleon concluded a truce of several months. Frederick
William appointed a new Ministry, with the fearless and patriotic
statesmen, Hardenberg and Stein, who formed a fresh alliance with
Russia, which was soon joined by England and Sweden. Nevertheless, it
was almost impossible to reinforce the Prussian army, and Alexander I.
made no great exertions to increase the Russian, while Napoleon, with
all Prussia in his rear, was constantly receiving fresh troops. Early in
June he resumed hostilities, and on the 14th, with a much superior
force, so completely defeated the Allies in the battle of Friedland,
that they were driven over the river Memel into Russian territory.
[Sidenote: 1807. THE PEACE OF TILSIT.]
The Russians immediately concluded an armistice: Napoleon had an
interview with Alexander I. on a raft in the river Memel, and acquired
such an immediate influence over the enthusiastic, fantastic nature of
the latter, that he became a friend and practically an ally. The next
day, there was another interview, at which Frederick William III. was
also present: the Queen, Louise of Mecklenburg, a woman of noble and
heroic character, whom Napoleon had vilely slandered, was persuaded to
accompany him, but only subjected herself to new humiliation. (She died
in 1810, during Germany's deepest degradation, but her son, William I.,
became German Emperor in 1871.) The Peace of Tilsit was declared on the
9th of July, 1807, according to Napoleon's single will. Hardenberg had
been dismissed from the Prussian Ministry, and Talleyrand gave his
successor a completed document, to be signed without discussion.
Prussia lost very nearly the half of her territory: her population was
diminished from 9,743,000 to 4,938,000. A new "Grand-Duchy of Warsaw"
was formed by Napoleon out of her Polish acquisitions. The contributions
which had been levied and which Prussia was still forced to pay amounted
to a total sum of three hundred million thalers, and she was obliged to
maintain a French army in her diminished territory until the last
farthing should be paid over. Russia, on the other hand, lost nothing,
but received a part of Polish Prussia. A new Kingdom of Westphalia was
formed out of Brunswick, and parts of Prussia and Hannover, and
Napoleon's brother, Jerome, was made king. The latter, whose wife was an
American lady, Miss Patterson of Baltimore, was compelled to renounce
her, and marry the daughter of the new king of Wuertemberg, although, as
a Catholic, he could not do this without a special dispensation from the
Pope, and Pius VII. refused to give one. Thus he became a bigamist,
according to the laws of the Roman Church. Jerome was a weak and
licentious individual, and made himself heartily hated by his two
millions of German subjects during his six years' rule in Cassel.
[Sidenote: 1808.]
Frederick William III. was at last stung by his misfortunes into the
adoption of another and manlier policy. He called Stein to the head of
his Ministry, and allowed the latter to introduce reforms for the
purpose of assisting, strengthening and developing the character of the
people. But 150,000 French troops still fed like locusts upon the
substance of Prussia, and there was an immense amount of poverty and
suffering. The French commanders plundered so outrageously and acted
with such shameless brutality, that even the slow German nature became
heated with a hate so intense that it is not yet wholly extinguished.
But this was not the end of the degradation. Napoleon, at the climax of
his power, having (without exaggeration) the whole Continent of Europe
under his feet, demanded that Prussia should join the Rhine-Bund, reduce
her standing army to 42,000 men, and, in case of necessity, furnish
France with troops against Austria. The temporary courage of the king
dissolved: he signed a treaty on the 8th of September, 1808, without the
knowledge of Stein, granting nearly everything Napoleon claimed,--thus
compelling the patriotic statesman to resign, and making what was left
of Prussia tributary to the designs of France.
At the same time Napoleon held a so-called Congress at Erfurt, at which
all the German rulers (except Austria) were present, but the decisions
were made by himself, with the connivance of Alexander I. of Russia. The
latter received Finland and the Danubian Principalities. Napoleon simply
carried out his own personal policy. He made his brother Joseph king of
Spain, gave Naples to his brother-in-law, Murat, and soon afterwards
annexed the States of the Church, in Italy, to France, abolishing the
temporal sovereignty of the Pope. Every one of the smaller German States
had already joined the Rhine-Bund, and the Diet by which they were
governed abjectly obeyed his will. Princes, nobles, officials, and
authors vied with each other in doing homage to him. Even the battles of
Jena and Friedland were celebrated by popular festivals in the capitals
of the other States: the people of Southern Germany, especially,
rejoiced over the shame and suffering of their brethren in the North.
Ninety German authors dedicated books to Napoleon, and the newspapers
became contemptible in their servile praises of his rule.
[Sidenote: 1809. REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.]
Austria, always energetic at the wrong time and weak when energy was
necessary, prepared for war, relying on the help of Prussia and possibly
of Russia. Napoleon had been called to Spain, where a part of the
people, supported by Wellington, with an English force, in Portugal, was
making a gallant resistance to the French rule. A few patriotic and
courageous men, all over Germany, began to consult together concerning
the best means for the liberation of the country. The Prussian
Ex-minister, Baron Stein, the philosopher Fichte, the statesman and poet
Arndt, the Generals Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, the historian Niebuhr,
and also the Austrian minister, Count Stadion, used every effort to
increase and extend this movement; but there was no German prince,
except the young Duke of Brunswick, ready or willing to act.
The Tyrolese, who are still the most Austrian of Austrians, and the most
Catholic of Catholics, organized a revolt against the French-Bavarian
rule, early in 1809. This was the first purely popular movement in
Germany, which had occurred since the revolt of the Austrian peasants
against Ferdinand II. nearly two hundred years before. The Tyrolese
leaders were Andreas Hofer, a hunter named Speckbacher and a monk named
Haspinger; their troops were peasants and mountaineers. The plot was so
well organized that the Alps were speedily cleared of the enemy, and on
the 13th of April, Hofer captured Innsbruck, which he held for Austria.
When the French and Bavarian troops entered the mountain-passes, they
were picked off by skilful riflemen or crushed by rocks and trees rolled
down upon them. The daring of the Tyrolese produced a stirring effect
throughout Austria; for the first time, the people came forward as
volunteers, to be enrolled in the army, and the Archduke Karl, in a
short time, had a force of 300,000 men at his disposal.
Napoleon returned from Spain at the first news of the impending war. As
the Rhine-Bund did not dream of disobedience, as Prussia was crippled,
and the sentimental friendship of Alexander I. had not yet grown cold,
he raised an army of 180,000 men and entered Bavaria by the 9th of
April. The Archduke was not prepared: his large force had been divided
and stationed according to a plan which might have been very successful,
if Napoleon had been willing to respect it. He lost three battles in
succession, the last, at Eckmuehl on the 22d of April, obliging him to
give up Ratisbon, and retreat into Bohemia. The second Austrian army,
which had been victorious over the Viceroy Eugene, in Italy, was
instantly recalled, but it was too late: there were only 30,000 men on
the southern bank of the Danube, between the French and Vienna.
[Sidenote: 1809.]
The movement in Tyrol was imitated in Prussia by Major Schill, one of
the defenders of Colberg in 1807. His heroism had given him great
popularity, and he was untiring in his efforts to incite the people to
revolt. The secret association of patriotic men, already referred to,
which was called the Tugendbund, or "League of Virtue," encouraged him
so far as it was able; and when he entered Berlin at the head of four
squadrons of hussars, immediately after the news of Hofer's success, he
was received with such enthusiasm that he imagined the moment had come
for arousing Prussia. Marching out of the city, as if for the usual
cavalry exercise, he addressed his troops in a fiery speech, revealed to
them his plans and inspired them with equal confidence. With his little
band he took Halle, besieged Bernburg, was victorious in a number of
small battles against the increasing forces of the French, but at the
end of a month was compelled to retreat to Stralsund. The city was
stormed, and he fell in resisting the assault; the French captured and
shot twelve of his officers. The fame of his exploits helped to fire the
German heart; the courage of the people returned, and they began to grow
restless and indignant under their shame.
By the 13th of May, Napoleon had entered Vienna and taken up his
quarters in the palace of Schoenbrunn. The Archduke Karl was at the same
time rapidly approaching with an army of 75,000 men, and Napoleon, who
had 90,000, hastened to throw a bridge across the Danube, below the
city, in order to meet him before he could be reinforced. On the 21st,
however, the Archduke began the attack before the whole French army had
crossed, and the desperate battle of Aspern followed. After two days of
bloody fighting, the French fell back upon the island of Lobau, and
their bridge was destroyed. This was Napoleon's first defeat in Germany,
but it was dearly purchased: the loss on each side was about 24,000.
Napoleon issued flaming bulletins of victory which deceived the German
people for a time, meanwhile ordering new troops to be forwarded with
all possible haste. He deceived the Archduke by a heavy cannonade,
rapidly constructed six bridges further down the river, crossed with his
whole army, and on the 6th of July fought the battle of Wagram, which
ended with the defeat and retreat of the Austrians.
[Sidenote: 1809. THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK'S ATTEMPT.]
An armistice followed, and the war was concluded on the 14th of October
by the Peace of Vienna. Francis II. was compelled to give up Salzburg
and some adjoining territory to Bavaria; Galicia to Russia and the
Grand-Duchy of Warsaw; and Carniola, Croatia and Dalmatia with Trieste
to the kingdom of Italy,--a total loss of 3,500,000 of population. He
further agreed to pay a contribution of eighty-five millions of francs
to France, and was persuaded, shortly afterwards, to give the hand of
his daughter, Maria Louisa, to Napoleon, who had meanwhile divorced
himself from the Empress Josephine. The Tyrolese, who had been
encouraged by promises of help from Vienna, refused to believe that they
were betrayed and given up. Hofer continued his struggle with success
after the conclusion of peace, until near the close of the year, when
the French and Bavarians returned in force, and the movement was
crushed. He hid for two months among the mountains, then was betrayed by
a monk, captured, and carried in chains to Mantua. Here he was tried by
a French court-martial and shot on the 20th of February, 1810. Francis
II. might have saved his life, but he made no attempt to do it. Thus, in
North and South, Schill and Hofer perished, unsustained by their kings;
yet their deeds remained, as an inspiration to the whole German people.
During the summer of 1809, the Duke of Brunswick, whose land Napoleon
had added to Jerome's kingdom of Westphalia, made a daring attempt to
drive the French from Northern Germany. He had joined a small Austrian
army, sent to operate in Saxony, and when it was recalled after the
battle of Eckmuehl, he made a desperate effort to reconquer Brunswick
with a force of only 2,000 volunteers. The latter dressed in black, and
wore a skull and cross-bones on their caps. The Duke took Halberstadt,
reached Brunswick, then cut his way through the German-French forces
closing in upon him, and came to the shore of the North Sea, where, it
was expected, an English army would land. He and his troops escaped in
small vessels: the English, 40,000 strong, landed on the island of
Walcheren (on the coast of Belgium), where they lay idle until driven
home by sickness.
[Sidenote: 1810.]
For three years after the peace of Vienna, Napoleon was all-powerful in
Germany. He was married to Maria Louisa on the 2d of April, 1810; his
son, the King of Rome, was born the following March, and Austria, where
Metternich was now Minister instead of Count Stadion, followed the
policy of France. All Germany accepted the "Continental Blockade," which
cut off its commerce with England: the standing armies of Austria and
Prussia were reduced to one-fourth of their ordinary strength; the king
of Prussia, who had lived for two years in Koenigsberg, was ordered to
return to Berlin, and the French ministers at all the smaller Courts
became the practical rulers of the States. In 1810, the kingdom of
Holland was taken from Louis Bonaparte and annexed to the French Empire;
then Northern Germany, with Bremen, Hamburg and Luebeck, was annexed in
like manner, and the same fate was evidently intended for the States of
the Rhine-Bund, if the despotic selfishness of Napoleon had not put an
end to his marvellous success. The king of Prussia was next compelled to
suppress the "League of Virtue": Germany was filled with French spies
(many of them native Germans), and every expression of patriotic
sentiment was reported as treason to France.
In the territory of the Rhine-Bund, there was, however, very little real
patriotism among the people: in Austria the latter were still kept down
by the Jesuitic rule of the Hapsburgs: only in the smaller Saxon
Duchies, and in Prussia, the idea of resistance was fostered, though in
spite of Frederick William III. Indeed, the temporary removal of the
king was for awhile secretly advocated. Hardenberg and Scharnhorst did
their utmost to prepare the people for the struggle which they knew
would come: the former introduced new laws, based on the principle of
the equality of all citizens before the law, their equal right to
development, protection and official service. Scharnhorst, the son of a
peasant, trained the people for military duty, in defiance of France: he
kept the number of soldiers at 42,000, in accordance with the treaty,
but as fast as they were well-drilled, he sent them home and put fresh
recruits in their place. In this manner he gradually prepared 150,000
men for the army.
[Sidenote: 1811.]
Alexander I. of Russia had by this time lost his sentimental friendship
for Napoleon. The seizure by the latter of the territory of the Duke of
Oldenburg, who was his near relation, greatly offended him: he grew
tired of submitting to the Continental Blockade, and in 1811 adopted
commercial laws which amounted to its abandonment. Then Napoleon showed
his own overwhelming arrogance; and his course once more illustrated the
abject condition of Germany. Every ruler saw that a great war was
coming, and had nearly a year's time for decision; but all submitted!
Early in 1812 the colossal plan was put into action: Prussia agreed to
furnish 20,000 soldiers, Austria 30,000, and the Rhine-Bund, which
comprised the rest of Germany, was called upon for 150,000. France
furnished more than 300,000, and this enormous military force was set in
motion against Russia, which was at the time unable to raise half that
number of troops. In May Napoleon and Maria Louisa held a grand Court in
Dresden, which a crowd of reigning princes attended, and where even
Francis I. and Frederick William III. were treated rather as vassals
than as equals. This was the climax of Napoleon's success. Regardless of
distance, climate, lack of supplies and all the other impediments to his
will, he pushed forward with an army greater than Europe had seen since
the days of Attila, but from which only one man, horse and cannon out of
every ten returned.
After holding a grand review on the battle-field of Friedland, he
crossed the Niemen and entered Russia on the 24th of June, met the
Russians in battle at Smolensk on the 16th and 17th of August, and after
great losses continued his march towards Moscow through a country which
had been purposely laid waste, and where great numbers of his soldiers
perished from hunger and fatigue. On the 7th of September, the Russian
army of 120,000 men met him on the field of Borodino, where occurred the
most desperate battle of all his wars. At the close of the fight 80,000
dead and wounded (about an equal number on each side) lay upon the
plain. The Russians retreated, repulsed but not conquered, and on the
14th of September Napoleon entered Moscow. The city was deserted by its
inhabitants: all goods and treasures which could be speedily removed
had been taken away, and the next evening flames broke out in a number
of places. The conflagration spread so that within a week four-fifths of
the city were destroyed: Napoleon was forced to leave the Kremlin and
escape through burning streets; and thus the French army was left
without winter-quarters and provisions.
[Sidenote: 1812. THE RETREAT FROM RUSSIA.]
After offering terms of peace in vain, and losing a month of precious
time in waiting, nothing was left for Napoleon but to commence his
disastrous retreat. Cut off from the warmer southern route by the
Russians on the 24th of October, his army, diminishing day by day,
endured all the horrors of the Northern winter, and lost so many in the
fearful passage of the Beresina and from the constant attacks of the
Cossacks, that not more than 30,000 men, famished, frozen and mostly
without arms, crossed the Prussian frontier about the middle of
December. After reaching Wilna, Napoleon had hurried on alone, in
advance: his passage through Germany was like a flight, and he was safe
in Paris before the terrible failure of his campaign was generally known
throughout Europe.
When Frederick William III. agreed to furnish 20,000 troops to France,
his best generals--Bluecher, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau--and three hundred
officers resigned. The command of the Prussian contingent was given to
General York, who was sent to Riga during the march to Moscow, and
escaped the horrors of the retreat. When the fate of the campaign was
decided, he left the French with his remaining 17,000 Prussian soldiers,
concluded a treaty of neutrality with the Russian general Diebitsch,
called an assembly of the people together in Koenigsberg, and boldly
ordered that all men capable of bearing arms should be mustered into the
army. Frederick William, in Berlin, disavowed this act, but the Prussian
people were ready for it. The excitement became so great, that the men
who had influence with the king succeeded in having his Court removed to
Breslau, where an alliance was entered into with Alexander I., and on
the 17th of March, 1813, an address was issued in the king's name,
calling upon the people to choose between victory and ruin. The measures
which York had adopted were proclaimed for all Prussia, and the
patriotic schemes of Stein and Hardenberg, so long thwarted by the
king's weakness, were thus suddenly carried into action.
[Sidenote: 1813.]
The effect was astonishing, when we consider how little real liberty
the people had enjoyed. But they had been educated in patriotic
sentiments by another power than the Government. For years, the works of
the great German authors had become familiar to them: Klopstock taught
them to be proud of their race and name; Schiller taught them resistance
to oppression; Arndt and Koerner gave them songs which stirred them more
than the sound of drum and trumpet, and thousands of high-hearted young
men mingled with them and inspired them with new courage and new hopes.
Within five months Prussia had 270,000 soldiers under arms, part of whom
were organized to repel the coming armies of Napoleon, while the
remainder undertook the siege of the many Prussian fortresses which were
still garrisoned by the French. All classes of the people took part in
this uprising: the professors followed the students, the educated men
stood side by side with the peasants, mothers gave their only sons, and
the women sent all their gold and jewels to the treasury and wore
ornaments of iron. The young poet, Theodor Koerner, not only aroused the
people with his fiery songs, but fought in the "free corps" of Luetzow,
and finally gave his life for his country: the Turner, or gymnasts,
inspired by their teacher Jahn, went as a body into the ranks, and even
many women disguised themselves and enlisted as soldiers.
With the exception of Mecklenburg and Dessau, the States of the
Rhine-Bund still held to France: Saxony and Bavaria especially
distinguished themselves by their abject fidelity to Napoleon. Austria
remained neutral, and whatever influence she exercised was against
Prussia. But Sweden, under the Crown Prince Bernadotte (Napoleon's
former Marshal) joined the movement, with the condition of obtaining
Norway in case of success. The operations were delayed by the slowness
of the Russians, and the disagreement, or perhaps jealousy, of the
various generals; and Napoleon made good use of the time to prepare
himself for the coming struggle. Although France was already exhausted,
he enforced a merciless conscription, taking young boys and old men,
until, with the German soldiers still at his disposal, he had a force of
nearly 500,000 men.
The campaign opened well for Prussia. Hamburg and Luebeck were delivered
from the French, and on the 5th of April the Viceroy Eugene was defeated
at Moeckern (near Leipzig) with heavy losses. The first great battle was
fought at Luetzen, on the 2d of May, on the same field where Gustavus
Adolphus fell in 1632. The Russians and Prussians, with 95,000 men, held
Napoleon, with 120,000, at bay for a whole day, and then fell back in
good order, after a defeat which encouraged instead of dispiriting the
people. The greatest loss was the death of Scharnhorst. Shortly
afterwards Napoleon occupied Dresden, and it became evident that Saxony
would be the principal theatre of war. A second battle of two days took
place on the 20th and 21st of May, in which, although the French
outnumbered the Germans and Russians two to one, they barely achieved a
victory. The courage and patriotism of the people were now beginning to
tell, especially as Napoleon's troops were mostly young, physically
weak, and inexperienced. In order to give them rest he offered an
armistice on the 4th of June, an act which he afterwards declared to
have been the greatest mistake of his life. It was prolonged until the
10th of August, and gave the Germans time both to rest and recruit, and
to strengthen themselves by an alliance with Austria.
[Sidenote: 1813. ALLIANCE OF AUSTRIA.]
Francis II. judged that the time had come to recover what he had lost,
especially as England formally joined Prussia and Russia on the 14th of
June. A fortnight afterwards an agreement was entered into between the
two latter powers and Austria, that peace should be offered to Napoleon
provided he would give up Northern Germany, the Dalmatian provinces and
the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw. He rejected the offer, and so insulted
Metternich during an interview in Dresden, that the latter became his
bitter enemy thenceforth. The end of all the negotiations was that
Austria declared war on the 12th of August, and both sides prepared at
once for a final and desperate struggle. The Allies now had 800,000 men,
divided into three armies, one under Schwarzenberg confronting the
French centre in Saxony, one under Bluecher in Silesia, and a third in
the North under Bernadotte. The last of these generals seemed reluctant
to act against his former leader, and his participation was of little
real service. Napoleon had 550,000 men, less scattered than the Germans,
and all under the government of his single will. He was still,
therefore, a formidable foe.
[Sidenote: 1813.]
Just sixteen days after the armistice came to an end, the old Bluecher
won a victory as splendid as many of Napoleon's. He met Marshal
Macdonald on the banks of a stream called the Katzbach, in Silesia, and
defeated him with the loss of 12,000 killed and wounded, 18,000
prisoners and 103 cannon. From the circumstance of his having cried out
to his men: "Forwards! forwards!" in the crisis of the battle, Bluecher
was thenceforth called "Marshal Forwards" by the soldiers. Five days
before this the Prussian general Buelow was victorious over Oudinot at
Grossbeeren, within ten miles of Berlin; and four days afterwards the
French general Vandamme, with 40,000 men, was cut to pieces by the
Austrians and Prussians, at Kulm on the southern frontier of Saxony.
Thus, within a month, Napoleon lost one-fourth of his whole force, while
the fresh hope and enthusiasm of the German people immediately supplied
the losses on their side. It is true that Schwarzenberg had been
severely repulsed in an attack on Dresden, on the 27th of August, but
this had been so speedily followed by Vandamme's defeat, that it
produced no discouragement.
The month of September opened with another Prussian victory. On the 6th,
Buelow defeated Ney at Dennewitz, taking 15,000 prisoners and 80 cannon.
This change of fortune seems to have bewildered Napoleon: instead of his
former promptness and rapidity, he spent a month in Dresden, alternately
trying to entice Bluecher or Schwarzenberg to give battle. The latter
two, meanwhile, were gradually drawing nearer to each other and to
Bernadotte, and their final junction was effected without any serious
movement to prevent it on Napoleon's part. Bluecher's passage of the Elbe
on the 3d of October compelled him to leave Dresden with his army and
take up a new position in Leipzig, where he arrived on the 13th. The
Allies instantly closed in upon him: there was a fierce but indecisive
cavalry fight on the 14th, the 15th was spent in preparations on both
sides, and on the 16th the great battle began.
Napoleon had about 190,000 men, the Allies 300,000: both were posted
along lines many miles in extent, stretching over the open plain, from
the north and east around to the south of Leipzig. The first day's fight
really comprised three distinct battles, two of which were won by the
French and one by Bluecher. During the afternoon a terrific charge of
cavalry under Murat broke the centre of the Allies, and Frederick
William and Alexander I. narrowly escaped capture: Schwarzenberg, at the
head of a body of Cossacks and Austrian hussars, repulsed the charge,
and night came without any positive result. Napoleon sent offers of
peace, but they were not answered, and the Allies thereby gained a day
for reinforcements. On the morning of the 18th the battle was resumed:
all day long the earth trembled under the discharge of more than a
thousand cannon, the flames of nine or ten burning villages heated the
air, and from dawn until sunset the immense hosts carried on a number of
separate and desperate battles at different points along the line.
Napoleon had his station on a mound near a windmill: his centre held its
position, in spite of terrible losses, but both his wings were driven
back. Bernadotte did not appear on the field until four in the
afternoon, but about 4,000 Saxons and other Germans went over from the
French to the Allies during the day, and the demoralizing effect of this
desertion probably influenced Napoleon quite as much as his material
losses. He gave orders for an instant retreat, which was commenced on
the night of the 18th. His army was reduced to 100,000 men: the Allies
had lost, in killed and wounded, about 50,000.
[Sidenote: 1813. THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.]
All Germany was electrified by this victory; from the Baltic to the
Alps, the land rang with rejoicings. The people considered, and justly
so, that they had won this great battle: the reigning princes, as later
events proved, held a different opinion. But, from that day to this, it
is called in Germany "the Battle of the Peoples": it was as crushing a
blow for France as Jena had been to Prussia or Austerlitz to Austria. On
the morning of the 19th of October the Allies began a storm upon
Leipzig, which was still held by Marshal Macdonald and Prince
Poniatowsky to cover Napoleon's retreat. By noon the city was entered at
several gates; the French, in their haste, blew up the bridge over the
Elster river before a great part of their own troops had crossed, and
Poniatowsky, with hundreds of others, was drowned in attempting to
escape. Among the prisoners was the king of Saxony, who had stood by
Napoleon until the last moment. In the afternoon Alexander I. and
Frederick William entered Leipzig, and were received as deliverers by
the people.
The two monarchs, nevertheless, owed their success entirely to the
devotion of the German people, and not at all to their own energy and
military talent. In spite of the great forces still at their disposal,
they interfered with the plans of Bluecher and other generals who
insisted on a rapid and vigorous pursuit, and were at any time ready to
accept peace on terms which would have ruined Germany, if Napoleon had
not been insane enough to reject them. The latter continued his march
towards France, by way of Naumburg, Erfurt and Fulda, losing thousands
by desertion and disease, but without any serious interference until he
reached Hanau, near Frankfort. At almost the last moment (October 14),
Maximilian I. of Bavaria had deserted France and joined the Allies: one
of his generals, Wrede, with about 55,000 Bavarians and Austrians,
marched northward, and at Hanau intercepted the French. Napoleon, not
caring to engage in a battle, contented himself with cutting his way
through Wrede's army, on the 25th of October. He crossed the Rhine and
reached France with less than 70,000 men, without encountering further
resistance.
[Sidenote: 1814.]
Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia immediately after
the battle of Leipzig: Wuertemberg joined the Allies, the Rhine-Bund
dissolved, and the artificial structure which Napoleon had created fell
to pieces. Even then, Prussia, Russia and Austria wished to discontinue
the war: the popular enthusiasm in Germany was taking a national
character, the people were beginning to feel their own power, and this
was very disagreeable to Alexander I. and Metternich. The Rhine was
offered as a boundary to Napoleon: yet, although Wellington was by this
time victorious in Spain and was about to cross the Pyrenees, the French
Emperor refused and the Allies were reluctantly obliged to resume
hostilities. They had already wasted much valuable time: they now
adopted a plan which was sure to fail, if the energies of France had not
been so utterly exhausted.
Three armies were formed: one, under Buelow, was sent into Holland to
overthrow the French rule there; another, under Schwarzenberg, marched
through Switzerland into Burgundy, about the end of December, hoping to
meet with Wellington somewhere in Central France; and the third under
Bluecher, which had been delayed longest by the doubt and hesitation of
the sovereigns, crossed the Rhine at three points, from Coblentz to
Mannheim, on the night of New-Year, 1814. The subjection of Germany to
France was over: only the garrisons of a number of fortresses remained,
but these were already besieged, and they surrendered one by one, in the
course of the next few months.