Battle of Dresden

Battle of Dresden
	Part of the German campaign of the Sixth Coalition
	; Battle of Dresden by Carle Vernet and Jacques François Swebach
Date	26–27 August 1813
Location	Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony51°02′N 13°44′E / 51.033°N 13.733°E
Result	French victory
Belligerents
France; Kingdom of Saxony	Austria; Russia; Prussia
Commanders and leaders
Édouard Mortier	Jean Victor Moreau †; Francis II of Austria; Karl von Schwarzenberg; Ignác Gyulay; Johann von Klenau; Hesse-Homburg; Friedrich Graf Kleist; Frederick William III
Strength
100,000 ; 135,000	200,000 ; 215,000
Casualties and losses
10,000 killed or wounded	38,000; 14,000 killed or wounded, 24,000 captured, 40 guns
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Europe

German campaign

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125miles

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current battle

Napoleon in command

Napoleon not in command

The Battle of Dresden (26–27 August 1813) was a major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle took place around the city of Dresden in modern-day Germany. With the recent addition of Austria, the Sixth Coalition felt emboldened in their quest to expel the French from Central Europe. Despite being heavily outnumbered, French forces under Napoleon scored a victory against the Army of Bohemia led by Generalissimo Karl von Schwarzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory did not lead to the collapse of the coalition, and the weather and the uncommitted Russian reserves who formed an effective rear-guard precluded a major pursuit. Three days after the battle, the Allies surrounded and destroyed a French corps advancing into their line of withdrawal at the Battle of Kulm.

Prelude

On 16 August, Napoleon had sent

Cossack regiments, and 1,380 guns.^[3]

The Coalition avoided battle with Napoleon himself, choosing to attack his subordinate commanders as per the

Battle of Katzbach

.

Battle

On 25 August, the three monarchs—

Jean Victor Moreau, formerly a General of France and by 1813 an adviser to the Coalition, wanted to attack at once; Schwarzenberg wanted to wait until additional forces arrived.^[4]

The following day, 26 August,

Schwarzenberg himself and included the 9 divisions of infantry, 3 divisions of cavalry and 128 guns; the Right Wing consisted of Russians and Prussians under Wittgenstein and included 2 Russian infantry divisions and von Kleist's Prussian corps and 158 guns; the Reserves behind the center consisted of the best Russian and Prussian troops under Barclay de Tolly

and included 2 Russian grenadier divisions, 4 Russian Guard cavalry divisions, the Prussian Royal Guard and about 150 guns. The monarchs stayed with the reserves.

In Dresden,

Saint-Cyr's XIV Corps manned the various redoubts and defensive positions. From 6:00am to noon, the allies probed the French defenses. Napoleon arrived from the north about 10:00am with the Guard Infantry and Murat's I Cavalry Corps

arriving shortly afterwards, covering 140 kilometers (87 mi) in forced marches over three days. Napoleon's Guard consisted of 2 Young Guard Corps and the Old Guard Division.

Shortly after 11:00am, the Coalition monarchs noticed the stream of French troops hurrying into Dresden from the north. There was a lull in the battle between noon and 3:00pm while the French reinforcements took positions and the Coalition leaders pondered whether they should fight Napoleon or withdraw. The Coalition finally began a bombardment and general assault starting about 3:00pm against the southern suburbs of the city. As the Coalition forces made progress, Napoleon swiftly dispatched reinforcements to the threatened areas – the

Mortier

and the I Young Guard Corps to the French left. At 5:30pm, Napoleon launched his riposte. By nightfall, the French had regained almost all of Saint-Cyr's original positions. As night fell on 26 August, a torrential downpour started that lasted throughout the night. The streams became swollen with water and the ground turned to mud.

After being reinforced overnight with Victor's

dragoons

.

As the allied left wing was being disintegrated, the French attacked on the allied right wing with

Schwarzenberg

's powerful reserves had not been committed. That night, the Coalition decided that they have had enough and quietly withdrew south. Napoleon did not realize that they had left until the following morning.

An effective rear-guard and the weather allowed Schwarzenberg to withdraw and escape any attempt of encirclement or pursuit. The Coalition had lost some 38,000 men and 40 guns. French casualties totaled around 10,000. Some of Napoleon's officers noted he was "suffering from a violent colic, which had been brought on by the cold rain, to which he had been exposed during the whole 2nd day of the battle."^[8]

Aftermath

On 27 August,

Marshal MacDonald at the Battle of Katzbach

overshadowed Napoleon's victory at Dresden.

Napoleon's old rival Jean Victor Marie Moreau, who had only recently returned from his banishment from the United States, was talking to the Tsar (who wished to see Napoleon defeated) and was mortally wounded in the battle, dying later on 2 September in Louny.^[9]

Hoffman

The author and composer E. T. A. Hoffmann happened to be in Dresden during the battle, being at the time employed by a locally based orchestra. On 22 August, after the end of the armistice, the Hoffmann Family was forced to relocate from their pleasant house in the suburbs into the town. During the next few days, as the battle raged, they experienced the ongoing bombardments. As Hoffman later recounted, many people were killed by shells directly in front of him. After the main battle was over, he visited the gory battlefield. His account can be found in Vision auf dem Schlachtfeld bei Dresden.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bodart 1908, p. 455.
^ ^a ^b ^c Leggiere 2015, p. 9.
^ Maude 1908, pp. 148, 156.
^ Smith 2006, pp. 18–21.
^ Chandler 1966, pp. 910–911.
^ Marbot 2011.
^ Smith 2006, p. 445.
^ peterswald 2001.
^ Enno E. Kraehe, Metternich's German Policy; vol. 1: The Contest with Napoleon, 1799–1814, Princeton University Press, 1963, p. 192.

References

Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 4 June 2021.
Chandler, David (1966). The Campaigns of Napoleon. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
ISBN 9780025236608
. Retrieved 20 May 2021.

Leggiere, Michael V. (2015). Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813. Cambridge University Press.

Marbot, Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin (2011). "23". The Memoirs of General Baron de Marbot. Vol. II. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
Maude, Frederic Natusch (1908). The Leipzig Campaign, 1813. London: Swan Sonnenschein. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
peterswald (2001). "Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo". Peterswald. Archived from the original on 14 March 2001.
Smith, Digby (2006). 1813 Leipzig: Napoleon and the Battle of the Nations.

External links

Preceded by Battle of the Katzbach	Napoleonic Wars Battle of Dresden	Succeeded by Battle of Kulm

[FOOTNOTEBodart1908455-1] Bodart 1908, p. 455.

[FOOTNOTELeggiere20159-2] Leggiere 2015, p. 9.

[FOOTNOTEMaude1908148,_156-3] Maude 1908, pp. 148, 156.

[FOOTNOTESmith200618–21-4] Smith 2006, pp. 18–21.

[FOOTNOTEChandler1966910–911-5] Chandler 1966, pp. 910–911.

[FOOTNOTEMarbot2011-6] Marbot 2011.

[FOOTNOTESmith2006445-7] Smith 2006, p. 445.

[FOOTNOTEpeterswald2001-8] terswald 2001.

[9] Enno E. Kraehe, Metternich's German Policy; vol. 1: The Contest with Napoleon, 1799–1814, Princeton University Press, 1963, p. 192.

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