2 May 1813
Battle of Leipzig
The Confederation dissolves after Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig. Reinforcements fail to arrive & the Saxons change sides. Napoleon flees into the city having lost 60,000 men
Historical place archive
Browse historical events and people recorded at Leipzig in France. The records below are rendered directly from the World History Database into this page's initial HTML.
The Confederation dissolves after Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig. Reinforcements fail to arrive & the Saxons change sides. Napoleon flees into the city having lost 60,000 men
Napoleon arranges his army around Leipzig, but concentrates his force from Taucha through Stātteritz (where Napoleon placed his command), The Prussians advance from Wartenberg, the Austrians & Russians from Dresden & the Swedish force from the north. Defeated by the 4th Coalition
This record states: In total, the French have around 190,000 soldiers and the Allies almost 330,000 with both sides having significant artillery, there were over two and a half thousand pieces of ordnance on the field.
This record states: The Battle beginswith an attack by 78,000 Allied troops from the south and 54,000 from the north, with Napoleon using the bulk of his army in the south.
This record states: The allied offensives achieve little and are soon forced back, but Napoleon's outnumbered forces are unable to break the allied lines, resulting in a hard fought stalemate.
Blucher gains ground in the North but is stopped short of blocking the French retreat route, a number of Saxon and Wurttemberger units defect to the Coalition
The 6th Coalition is arranged with Field Marshal Blucher (Prussian) & Crown Prince Carl Johan of Sweden to the north, Generals Barclay De Tolly, Bennigsen (Russian) & Prince von Hessen-Homburg (Austrian) to the south & Gyulay (Austrian) to the north
The Allies launch a huge assault from all sides, in over nine hours of fighting, in which both sides suffer heavy casualties, the French troops prevent a breakthrough but are slowly forced back towards Leipzig
During the fighting, 5,400 Saxons of Jean Reyniers VII Corps defect to the Allies, Napoleon sees that the battle is a lost cause and on the night of the 18th-19th he begins to withdraw the majority of his army across the river Elster
During the fighting, 5,400 Saxons of Jean Reyniers VII Corps defect to the Allies, Napoleon sees that the battle is a lost cause and on the night of the 18th-19th he begins to withdraw the majority of his army across the river Elster
Provenance
These entries are generated from stored World History Database records whose country and place fields match France and Leipzig. Names, dates, event labels and descriptions are reviewed and normalised as the database develops. Historical place names may not match modern administrative boundaries.
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