He became Bonaparte again
12 failures of Napoleon Bonaparte. Opening the campaign in 1814, the 44-year-old emperor suggested to 56-year-old Marshal Augereau, his old comrade in arms, “to try on the boots of 1796” for a reason. In the French campaign, he himself seemed to have returned to the era of revolutionary wars, crushing the allied corps and armies in battles that literally followed one after another. But the hangover turned out to be all the more terrible.
The severe failure at Laon actually forced Napoleon to leave Blucher and try to strike at the Allied main army, which was almost three times as strong. As a result, almost immediately after Laon, another "almost defeat" will follow - in the battle of Arsy-sur-Aube - from the Main Army of the Allies. It will be the last for the emperor in the campaign of 1814, before his first abdication from the throne.
And in February 1814, after several rounds of negotiations in Chatillon did not produce any result, the allied forces nevertheless switched to more active actions. But only the Silesian army, led by Field Marshal Blucher, tried to hook the French wherever possible, eventually scattering their forces throughout Champagne. Napoleon soon took advantage of this.
At the same time, the main army of Schwarzenberg, which really threatened Paris, continued its almost serene stay on the banks of the Seine. There was no question of any accumulation of forces, although at the same time old regiments from Spain, tested in battles, were constantly being pulled up to the French.
And not only. By the summer Napoleon could well have used most of the 170 thousand young concripts called up at the turn of 1813 and 1814. Russian and Prussian historians unanimously condemn the Allied Commander-in-Chief Prince Schwarzenberg for inaction, but they forget the fact that even the Russian Emperor Alexander I did not rush him at all.
Among other things, the Allies hoped that Bernadotte's Northern Army would eventually join them. This former French marshal, who became the heir to the Swedish throne, very timely - on January 14, 1814, took Norway from Denmark under the Treaty of Kiel.
It is indicative that most of the participants in that campaign were much more tolerant of the Austrian field marshal, although many of them literally rushed into battle after the irrepressible Blucher. His Silesian army, part of its forces, managed to move to the north, towards the long-awaited reinforcements from the Swedish crown prince - the Russian corps Wintzingerode and the Prussian Bülow.
Upon learning of this, Napoleon immediately sent Caulaincourt an order to end the negotiations at Chatillon. More precisely, in his letter it was about how, for the sake of disguise, only to interrupt the discussion of the conditions of the future world. He announced to one of the adjutants: “Now we are not talking about peace. I'm going to smash Blucher."
Bonaparte's Six Day War
Napoleon knew perfectly well how things were going in the Main Army of the Allies, but he left a very strong barrier against it - almost 40 thousand in the corps of Oudinot and Victor and young regiments. They were ordered to defend the crossings on the Seine "to the last resort." There was no such rhetoric in the orders of the emperor for a very long time.
With an army of 30,000, the emperor actually rushed in pursuit of the departing columns of the Silesian army of Blucher. The old hussar hoped to cut off the route of retreat at La Ferte-sous-Joir for Marshal MacDonald, who was leading the artillery park of the Napoleonic army to Meaux. And at the same time he was waiting in Vertu for the approach of the Kleist and Kaptsevich corps.
Blucher was not worried about the left flank, believing that he was secured by the offensive of the Main Army. Napoleon, with the corps of Marmont, Ney and Mortier, the guard and most of the cavalry, rushed to Cezanne through Vilnox. The brilliant commander aimed to strike at the very center of the scattered Silesian army.
The first blow fell on the 6-thousandth Russian corps of Olsufiev, which was literally crushed in the battle at Champobert. The general himself was captured. Upon learning that the main forces of Blucher were still at Vertu, the emperor left Marshal Marmont with Lagrange's division and Pear's cavalry against him.
Napoleon threw the main forces on Saken to Montmirail. The very next day, the entire French army attacked the lonely Russian corps. Saken's soldiers fought desperately, but the only thing they succeeded in was, having lost 4 thousand men and 9 guns, retreat to join up with the Prussian corps of York, which had pulled up to Chateau Thierry.
At Chateau-Thierry, the French again attacked the positions of the allies, lined up right in the open field. An attempt to resist Napoleon in an open battle cost the Russians and Prussians three thousand killed, wounded and prisoners, as well as 6 guns. The enemy was thrown back by Napoleon to Ulchi-le-Chateau on the road to Soissons. The French army was ready to finish off the corps of Saken and York, but Blucher prevented the pursuit, who began to press Marmont. Marshal Mortier was thrown against the defeated, and Napoleon with the main forces rushed to the aid of Marmont.
At Voshan on February 13, Marshal Ney with his corps, along with the guards and cavalry of Lefebvre-Denouette, arranged a real drag for the Prussians. Blucher barely managed to break through the ranks of Pear's cavalry, leaving at the battle site and in the Etoges forest up to 6 thousand disabled and a dozen guns. As a result, the Silesian army, which had almost reached Meaux, where the road to Paris opened, was swept away by Napoleon's blows from Soissons to Chalon.
It turned out that there was no one to finish off the emperor - the prey would be too small. The main forces of the French are deployed against the Main Army of Schwarzenberg. The Silesian army from Mortier was saved by the Russian corps of Vintzingerode, which approached from the north, the vanguard of which, under the command of General Chernyshev, unexpectedly captured Soissons. From there, the remnants of the 7,000th garrison fled to Compiegne, and this made it possible for Blucher to unite with the broken corps of York and Saken. The field marshal immediately sent fresh forces to Vintzingerode to Reims, the coronation capital of old France.
All this time, the movement of the Main Army was extremely cautious, but it nevertheless approached Paris by four transitions, concentrating at Troyes. After a series of clashes, Victor and Oudinot withdrew their corps to Nanjis, where they were joined by MacDonald, who had returned from Moe. Despite the deteriorating weather again, Napoleon with his main forces began a march towards Chalon, which the Allies immediately took for a general offensive.
The main army was moving towards Arsy-sur-Aube, since the Russian emperor was not without reason worried about its rear and right wing. Blucher's Silesian army, having lost up to a third of its forces, barely escaped complete defeat, but the allied monarchs and the command finally resigned themselves to the idea that peace with Napoleon could not even be dreamed of.
Already in the 20th century, many military historians gladly, for well-known reasons, began to call this victorious baton of Napoleon the Six-Day War. Indeed, six days of victories by the French emperor almost brought the war to an end. The emperor himself rejected the very moderate peace proposals of the allies. In some ways, his successes were explained by the inaction of Schwarzenberg, as well as of the three allied sovereigns, to whom the Austrian field marshal obeyed unquestioningly.
Attempt number two
Fear of Napoleon's army was still one of the most important factors in the war. For a while forgetting about Blucher, against whom only Marmont and Mortier remained, the emperor already on February 16 led an army to Guin. He was joined by cavalry from Spain, which was rushing into battle, and to begin with, it swept away the Russian vanguard of Palen on the approaches to Provins with the loss of 9 guns and two thousand prisoners from the latter.
At this time, three corps of the Main Army of the Allies still managed to find themselves on the right bank of the Seine, which, however, immediately made them vulnerable to the main forces of Napoleon. He could well have continued to press on the right flank of Schwarzenberg, but even the prospect of cutting off Blucher thereby did not seduce him.
The brilliant commander preferred to solve a more urgent problem, he threw the corps of Eugene Virtemberg away from Montero and immediately forced the allies to abandon all the crossings across the Seine. In this situation, Schwarzenberg's slowness has fully justified itself. He managed to pull the main forces to Troyes, not even counting on the fact that Blucher would be able to join him.
However, the Prussian field marshal surprisingly quickly brought back up to 50 thousand troops of the Silesian army, with which he joined the right flank of the Main Army. Even the corps of Vorontsov and Stroganov, which seemed to be completely thrown back, managed to pull themselves up to Vintzingerode near Reims.
Napoleon was in no hurry to attack the main army, hoping that the same Marshal Augereau from Southern France would hit her in the rear, but the circumstances were different. At first, none other than the king of Naples Murat decided to go over to the side of the allies, which made Augereau's position hopeless. The aging marshal hesitated himself, never finding his "boots of 1796".
As a result, the battle at Troyes never took place, despite the fact that Blucher's Silesian army could not cross to the other side of the Seine, guarding communications with the rear and with the army of Bernadotte. In the event of a serious collision, in any case, she would lose a day on the crossing, for which Napoleon had the right to count on getting rid of Schwarzenberg.
First, Schwarzenberg's army went beyond the Seine, which caused terrible discontent among the troops. The French almost did not pursue the allies, and the rearguard matter was insignificant. The allies even intended to retreat to the Rhine, and then started negotiations with Napoleon, but the French emperor flatly refused the aide-de-camp of the Austrian commander-in-chief.
Only on February 23, the French approached Troyes and tried to storm the fortress without success. By morning, the garrison went to join the main forces in Bar-sur-Aube, and a day later at the military council it was decided not to retreat, which Schwarzenberg demanded, but again to give Blucher full freedom of action. Tom now had to reunite the Silesian army with the corps of Vorontsov, Bülow and Wintzingerode, which were stuck on the Marne against Mortier and Marmont.
From Craon to Laon
The main army of the allies crawled towards Chaumont and Langres, although it did not suffer a single serious defeat from Napoleon. And more than once the beaten old hussar Blucher actually again caused fire on himself. Even only his army was stronger than the army of Napoleon, although in the allied headquarters they did not want to believe it. But Blucher wanted to go straight to Paris.
In the last days of winter, separate corps of the Main Army inflicted defeat on Napoleon's marshals Oudinot and MacDonald at Bar and La Ferte, and only after that did they learn that Napoleon was again chasing Blucher. He with 50 thousand in the corps of York, Saken and Kleist immediately set out from Mary. The corps of Winzingerode and Bülow from the Northern Army were also sent to Paris - one through Reims, the other through Laon.
Blucher forced Mortier and Marmont to retreat to Meaux, where the first clash occurred, which was learned in Paris from the roar of artillery cannonade. The Parisians from Napoleon's bulletins believed the allies were in a complete retreat to the Rhine and the disappointment was terrible. On the banks of the Urk from the capital, the marshals were immediately sent to spare regiments, recruit depots and parts of the cadres.
Under Mo on March 1, Field Marshal Blucher received reports of the approach of Napoleon. His goal was achieved - the main army could attack again, and the old hussar with his army left the Parisian suburbs. The next day, Napoleon from the high banks of the Marne was already observing the rearguard columns of the Silesian army, but he could not yet hit them. The crossings across the Marne were burned by Russian sappers.
The emperor hoped to catch up with the Russian-Prussian forces a little further north - on the Aisne River, the stone bridge across which in Soissons was in the hands of the French. Having lost hope that Augereau would help from the south, Napoleon decided, after defeating Blucher, to advance into Holland to unblock the numerous garrisons of the local fortresses, which could give him an additional 100 thousand.
The first blow of Napoleon came on March 7 against the corps of Vorontsov and Stroganov, who defended the Kraonskie heights with forces of 16 thousand. They could only delay the offensive of the 40-thousandth mass of the French, especially since the roundabout maneuver of the cavalry undertaken by Blucher did not succeed due to the strong thaw.
Unable to withstand Kraon, Blucher, with the approach of corps from the Northern Army, was able to draw more than 100 thousand troops to Laon with 260 guns. Napoleon, having only 52 thousand soldiers with 180 guns, nevertheless decided to attack. But the Russian regiments withstood the attack of the main forces of the French in the right flank, and on the left flank the night counterstrike of the Allies caught the corps of Marmont by surprise.
His soldiers, settling down for the night, were already ready, together with their emperor, to resume the battle the next morning. Despite the complete defeat of Marmont, the emperor did not stop attacks and only on the night of March 11 retreated to the Seine. It was not possible to break through to the north, and Schwarzenberg again pressed on from the south. Napoleon will still try to settle accounts with him at Arsi on the southern bank of the Ob River, but this will be his last failure in the 1814 campaign.
