Battle of Lützen

In the Battle of Lützen (May 2, 1813), Napoleon lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked Napoleon's advance column near Lützen, Germany. After a day of heavy fighting, the combined Prussian and Russian force retreated, but without cavalry th... more

In the Battle of Lützen (May 2, 1813), Napoleon lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked Napoleon's advance column near Lützen, Germany. After a day of heavy fighting, the combined Prussian and Russian force retreated, but without cavalry the French were unable to follow their defeated enemy. Following the disaster of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, a new Coalition formed against Napoleon I of France. In response to this, he hastily assembled an army of just over 200,000 comprised largely of inexperienced, barely trained recruits and severely short of horses (a consequence of the Russian invasion, where most of his veteran troops and horses had perished). He crossed the Rhine into Germany to link up with remnants of his old Grande Armée, and to quickly defeat this new... less