1806: A Precis
The Lightning Campaign
by James Gaite, UK
 |
The Prussian Ultimatum By September 1806, Napoleon’s plans appeared to be in tatters. Peace talks with Britain and Russia had collapsed whilst, unbeknown to him, his Spanish ally had begun to conspire against him. His Mediterranean expeditions had been rebuffed; the Russians still held Cattaro, the British were firmly entrenched in Sicily and it would be another five months before the rebellious Neapolitan population would be brought under control. If that was not bad enough, his maritime forces had been smashed in successive encounters with the Royal Navy, and the British were now able to raid the coastline of France with impunity. Now, with autumn swiftly approaching, his one success of the year so far, the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, was threatening to drag France into war with Prussia. However, Napoleon did not believe Prussia would unilaterally confront the might of the French Grand Armée. Despite rumours of a secret Russo-Prussian pact and the growing antipathy of the Prussian Court, Napoleon believed that war could be avoided. Repeated entreaties were dispatched to Frederick William, proclaiming France’s support and love of peace, while also suggesting that he form a North German Federation from the nation states that were not included in the Rhenish Confederation. [10]
Napoleon was so complacent about the threat posed by Prussia that, as late as September, he granted permission for certain key Marshals, stationed with the Corps in Southern Germany, to return to France to visit their loved ones.
Napoleon had underestimated the strength of feeling in Prussia. The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine had evoked a panicked reaction in the Prussian Court and a leaked report from their ambassador in London averring that Napoleon had offered
Hanover to Britain in exchange for Sicily [11] , sent tempers racing. Cavalry officers sharpened their swords on the steps of the French embassy in Berlin and French dignitaries were snubbed and ostracised by the Prussian aristocracy. Baron de Marbot, in Berlin as an emissary of peace from Napoleon, recalls:
“At length, in the month of August, a general explosion against France broke out, and the Queen, Prince Lewis [Louis-Ferdinand], the nobility, the army, and the whole population cried out loudly for war…Before my departure from Berlin I had evidence of the frenzy to which their hatred of Napoleon carried the Prussian nation, usually so calm. The officers whom I knew ventured no longer to speak to me or salute me; many Frenchmen were insulted by the populace; the men-at-arms of the Noble Guard pushed their swagger to the point of whetting their sword-blades on the stone steps of the French ambassador’s house.” [12]
Finally, in September 1806, with the Court on the warpath, Count von Haugwitz, Frederick William’s trusty minister, and one of the architects of the “neutralist” stand that had served Prussia so well since 1795, advised the King that the time had come for war
with France. Unable to resist these frantic calls any longer, Frederick William finally issued orders for the mobilisation of the Prussian Army, while an urgent request for aid was dispatched to Tsar Alexander in St Petersburg.
Then, in late September, with Prussian mobilisation well on course and confirmation having been received from the Russian Emperor that his armies would march to succour him, Frederick William and his ministers drafted an ultimatum to be delivered to
Napoleon - France must return to her 1792 border along the Rhine and withdraw all her forces back inside French territory. Unlike the ultimatum issued after the Potsdam Agreement in November 1805, this one was strongly worded and designed to be refused -
Prussia wanted war.
Jena and Auerstädt
Napoleon was not in Paris when the ultimatum was delivered. Aware of Prussian mobilisation and in receipt of reports of Frederick William’s intentions, the French Emperor had decided upon a pre-emptive strike against the Prussian army gathering in
Saxony, before their Russian allies could take the field. Recalling his generals from France, Napoleon assembled his armies, currently in cantonment in Southern Germany, and, on the 6th October, marched north to battle.
The Prussian army he went to confront was in total disarray. Ineffective leadership by the Duke of Brunswick, the commander-in-chief, insubordinate army commanders, poor intelligence of the movements of the French army and no recognised plan of
action had left the army divided and vulnerable. When news reached Prussian headquarters of the action at Saalfeld and the death of Prince Louis Ferdinand, the darling of the Prussian army, panic ensued and orders were issued for an immediate withdrawal
behind the River Elbe. However, through contradictory orders and the sluggishness of Prussian organisation, by the evening of the 13th October, when Napoleon caught up with the Prussian forces, the retreat had not yet begun.
Napoleon speedily formed a plan of attack for the next morning. In the mistaken belief that he was facing the bulk of the Prussian army around Jena, he sent urgent orders for the majority of his Corps to mass in front of the town, while ordering Marshals Davout and Bernadotte to march via Auerstädt and Apolda, to take the enemy in the rear.
What Napoleon did not realise was that the Duke of Brunswick, with the main Prussian force, was preparing to withdraw along the very road that Davout and Bernadotte were ordered to take, while all Napoleon was facing at Jena was the Prussian rearguard under Prince Hohenlohe.
The morning of 14th October dawned and fog shrouded the countryside. Napoleon launched his assault on Hohenlohe’s position early in the morning and, with a steady stream of reinforcements arriving throughout the day, thoroughly routed his adversary, despite the arrival of the Prussian Reserves under General Rüchel late in the day. To the north, Marshal Davout was winning one of
the most astonishing victories of the entire Napoleonic Wars at Auerstädt. Outnumbered by odds approaching three-to-one, that valiant Marshal advanced upon his enemy and achieved steady progress against the main Prussian army under the Duke of
Brunswick. The end came with the fatal wounding of the Prussian commander-in-chief; the command structure of the Prussian army collapsed and, by late afternoon, the “invincible” army of Europe was streaming headlong from the field.
The Destruction of the Army of Frederick the Great
In a matter of hours, Napoleon had defeated the fabled army of Frederick the Great; all that now remained was to destroy it.
On the 15th October, the French Marshalate began a pursuit of terrifying rapidity, Marshal Bernadotte, disgraced on the 14th [13] , especially distinguishing himself. On 17th October, the Duke of Württemberg was defeated by Marshal Bernadotte at Halle and forced to surrender; Prince Hohenlohe was trapped at Prenzlau and yielded on 28th October; on 29th October General Lasalle tricked the fortress of Stettin into capitulating, despite having only a handful of cavalry under his command; a composite force under General Blücher, the only Prussian detachment to show any fight, was forced to lay down its arms at Lübeck on 7th November; [14] and finally, on 11th November, the fortress of Magdeburg fell into French hands.
The collapse of the Prussian Army in October and November 1806 is an event unparalleled during either the Napoleonic or Revolutionary Wars. In a period of only a month it had suffered roughly 45,000 men killed or wounded, while another 140,000 men, along with 250 standards and 2,000 cannon, had surrendered to the French. [15]
By mid-November, except for a few isolated garrisons and a small contingent under General L’Estocq in East Prussia, the Prussian army had ceased to exist.
The Belated Russian Arrival
From July 1806, with the signing of the Russo-Prussian pact, Alexander’s enthusiasm for renewed war with France increased rapidly. On receiving news of the issuing of the Prussian Ultimatum in September, he ordered the mobilisation of his forces and
nominated Marshal Kamenski as its Commander-in-Chief. From his rhetoric, he seemed resolute in carrying on the conflict to the bitter end. Accordingly, he ordered the Orthodox Church to issue rousing sermons from every pulpit, branding Napoleon as the “Anti-Christ” and the enemy of all Russians, while issuing directives for the formation of the opelchemie (militia), numbering over 600,000 men, to act as a reserve in case Prussia was lost and Russian territory threatened by Napoleon.
However, despite his own determination, he had to overcome increasing opposition from his own Court to his involvement in the Prussian conflict. This, combined with the laborious system of mobilisation resulted in the first Russian units only crossing the Prussian frontier in November, while the full Russian contingent was not ready for operations until January 1807. Even upon their eventual advent into the Prussian arena, there were still problems to be overcome.
Foremost amongst them was Marshal Kamenski - in his late seventies, he no longer believed he had the ability to lead a Russian army in the field and asked to be relieved; after some debate, Alexander consented and nominated General Benningsen as his replacement.
Yet, despite their belated arrival and sluggish progress, the advance Russian contingents played a crucial role in the dying months of the 1806 campaign. Napoleon, upon entering Berlin on 25th October, had dispatched Marshals Augereau, Davout and Lannes e astwards to stamp out the last embers of Prussian resistance. With the growing Russian presence in East Prussia and Prussian Poland, these forces were forced to check their advance and await the arrival of Napoleon and the remainder of the Grand Armée, although Davout did manage to occupy Warsaw in December 1806.
1806: A Precis
Prussians in 1806
|