The Battle of Nations & the Campaign for Germany Quiz

Answer: Lutzen

The Battle of Lutzen was the first major engagement of the 1813 campaign and was an early indication that the war would go on for some time - the battle was a slight French victory, although casualties were roughly even for both sides - 20,000.

Answer: Ney

The result of Bautzen was almost identical to that at Lutzen - 20,000 casualties a side and an inconclusive French victory. Ney's failure to properly position his troops on 20 May cost Napoleon a decisive victory and the war was once more prolonged.

Answer: Pleischwitz

Napoleon's goal with the armistice was to gain sufficient time in which to reinforce his armies in Germany and mobilize his allies. At the beginning of the campaign he had said that he wanted an army as large as the one he took into Russia although by June he was still well below that figure.

Although his armies did expand during the armistice to about 400,000, total Allied forces were approaching a million by the armistice's end (500,000 front line troops, 350,000 reserves).

Answer: Dresden

At Dresden Napoleon initially held off in excess of 150,000 Allied troops with his force of around 70,000. The emperor successfully halted the Allies until he had sufficient strength to defeat them, something which he did spectacularly. However, he lacked sufficient numbers of experienced cavalry to turn the Allied retreat into a rout in the days after the battle and the Allied army was not completely annihilated.

Answer: 16-19 October

The Battle of Leipzig was one of the longest major battles of the wars lasting more than three days - and this despite the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Allies!

Answer: True

The French battery at the Battle of Nations numbered about 700 guns - more than any army had had in any previous battle. Despite this the Allies still vastly outnumbered the French in these stakes with around 1500 pieces of ordnance.

Answer: Marmont

Marmont was a quietly competent marshal who lacked the obsession with show and glory that pervaded the careers of such men as Ney and Murat. At Leipzig he easily held off Blucher's superior numbers, despite the latter's reputation (only gained later after he won at Waterloo) for being an immensely skillful commander.

Answer: False

The second day saw a lull in the fighting during which both sides licked their wounds after the vicous combat of the previous day that resulted in tens of thousands of casualties. During this time the Allies received reinforcements of more than 150,000 men compared to only 14,000 troops under General Sebastiani that were received by Napoleon.

Answer: Carl Schwarzenberg

Carl Schwarzenberg, an Austrian aristocrat, had only the previous year served under Napoleon during the invasion of Russia, but following Austria's treacherous turn on Napoleon Schwarzenberg was placed in command of the largest of the Allied armies - well over 200,000 men.

Answer: Jozef Poniatowski

Prince Jozef Poniatowski had only received his marshal's baton a few days prior to his death. He held the distinction of being the only non-French officer ever to receive a promotion to the rank of Imperial Marshal and was the nephew of the last king of Poland Stanislaw August Poniatowski.

Following the retreat across the bridge of Lindenau Napoleon was forced back into France after defeating the Bavarians at Hanau when they tried to block his path back into France.

Leipzig was the single most decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars, making the French Emperor's eventual defeat inevitable. In all French losses there were 70,000 to 55,000 for the Allies. Around 650,000 men fought at Leipzig.