Fall of Berlin (1806)

Fall of Berlin
Part of the War of the Fourth Coalition
Entry of Napoleon into Berlin by Charles Meynier. Napoleon entering Berlin with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.
Date 24 October 1806[1] Location Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia 52°31′12″N 13°24′18″E / 52.52000°N 13.40500°E / 52.52000; 13.40500 Result French victory
Belligerents
First French Empire	Kingdom of Prussia
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon	Frederick William III of Prussia
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

War of the Fourth Coalition

200km
125miles

Friedland

27

26

25

24

23

22

21

Eylau

20

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

Berlin

7

6

5

4

Jena–Auerstedt

3

2

1

  

⬤ current battle

⬤ Napoleon not in command

⬤ Napoleon in command

The fall of Berlin took place on 24 October 1806 when the Prussian capital of Berlin was captured by French forces in the aftermath of the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. Berlin fell 15 days after the beginning of the war. The French Emperor Napoleon entered the city after three days, from which he issued his Berlin Decree implementing his Continental System. Large-scale plundering of Berlin took place.^[2]

Aftermath

The subsequent

Although Berlin had previously briefly been raided two times (in 1757 and 1760) during the Seven Years' War, its occupation was a major blow to the Prussian leadership. It destroyed the reputation the Prussian Army had gained during the days of Frederick the Great. After arriving in Berlin, Napoleon visited the tomb of Frederick and is reported to have said to his marshals "Hats off gentlemen, if he were alive we wouldn’t be here today". This became an iconic scene in German culture, portrayed in Prussian films such as Old Fritz (1927) and Kolberg (1945).^[3]

In the wake of the fall of Berlin, a major reform movement was launched to restore the fighting effectiveness of the Prussian Army and renew the nation at large in order to plan a war of revenge against France.^[4] The reformed Prussian forces playing a key role in the subsequent French retreat from Germany in 1813–14, and during Napoleon's final defeat during the Waterloo campaign in 1815.

Notes

References

• Carr, William; Hearder, Harry (2014). The Wars of German Unification 1864–1871. Routledge.
• Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.
  ISBN 978-0-7864-7470-7
  .
• Leggiere, Michael V. (2002). Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813. University of Oklahoma Press.
• Schulte-Sasse, Linda (1996). Entertaining the Third Reich: Illusions of Wholeness in Nazi Cinema. Duke University Press.

• Chandler, David (1993). Jena 1806: Napoleon destroys Prussia. Bloomsbury.
• Roberts, Andrew (2014). Napoleon the Great. Penguin.

External links

• Media related to Fall of Berlin (1806) at Wikimedia Commons