RUSSIAN-GERMAN WAK. 



But Napoleon had also received new forces from 

 the confederation of the Rhine and from France; 

 and thus began, May 19, the prelude to a second j 

 great battle, which was fought on the 20th and [ 

 21st, at and near Bautzen, and, the right wing of 

 the allies having been surrounded, terminated to 

 their disadvantage, so that the Prussians and Rus- 

 sians drew back towards Sdiwcidnitz, in Silesia, 

 mid the French advanced to Brtslau, though with 

 several K --< -, especially at Gorlitz, where Duroc 

 and two other generals fell, and at Hanau. A 

 truce, which was concluded June 4, under Austrian 

 mediation, at the village of Pliiswitz (in the circle 

 of Strigau), allowed the French to remain masters 

 of the Oder as far as its entrance into the Saxon 

 territory, and of the whole Elbe to its outlet, 

 while it also allowed the allies to procure reinforce- 

 ments, to await the arrival of the crown-prince of 

 Sweden, who took an active part against Napoleon, 

 and to give Austria time either to complete its 

 preparations and join the allies, or to negotiate a 

 peace, which was to be discussed in a congress to 

 be held at Prague. This truce was peculiarly dis- 

 advantageous to Napoleon. He derived no ad- 

 vantage from it, except that a number of bold 

 partisans, who swarmed in his rear, had to retire 

 over the Elbe till June 12, and that he could main- 

 tain Hamburg, which, supported by so many friends, 

 Danes, Swedes, Prussians, Russians, English- 

 men, and finally abandoned by all, had been al- 

 ready occupied by the French, June 2, through 

 Danish mediation. The congress of Prague began 

 its session at a late period, and led to nothing. 

 Russia and Prussia made such conditions as were 

 required by national honour and independence; the 

 mediation of Austria, and the neutrality which she 

 had observed, Napoleon regarded as infidelity to 

 the alliance of the previous year. Austria evidently 

 took part in the negotiations at Prague, without 

 a sincere wish for peace. August 17, the war be- 

 gan more fearfully than ever. The participation 

 of Austria in the war Napoleon had anticipated 

 after the battle of Liitzen, and he had, for that 

 cause, sent the viceroy with officers and subalterns 

 to Italy, to collect an army. For the same reason, 

 Bavaria had to draw out its forces on the Inn. 

 They were joined by a corp of chosen men, chiefly 

 cavalry, which had come from Spain. But the 

 main bodies on the side of Napoleon were stationed 

 on the Upper and Middle Elbe and at Hamburg; 

 those on the side of the allies, in Bohemia and 

 Silesia, with the exception of the great corps which 

 covered Berlin, and protected the Lower Oder 

 against Davoust. The allies had agreed, especially 

 since the convention at Trachenberg, on the 9th, 

 10th and llth July, to surround Napoleon's flank, 

 from Bohemia, his right in particular, and to cut 

 him off from his base of operations. For that pur- 

 pose, Bliicher immediately drew back as Napoleon 

 advanced against him, while the main army, under 

 the command of prince Schwartzenberg, entered 

 Saxony ; and Dresden, which had been fortified at 

 the time of the truce, had begun to cherish hopes, 

 when Napoleon's main forces arrived from Lusatia by 

 forced marches, and not only repulsed the assault on 

 Dresden (q. v.), but also (August 27) inflicted on the 

 alb'es a defeat, which, as they were cut off from the 

 main roads to Bohemia, and all the by-roads were des- 

 troyed, would have caused the annihilation of the 

 whole army, if from that moment Napoleon's star 

 had not set for ever. The victor at Dresden, on 

 the 26th and 27th August, where Moreau was 



mortally wounded, was stayed in his progress by 

 the defeat of Vandamme, at Culm, August, ;50; by 

 the simultaneous overthrow of his army in Silesia, 

 under Macdonald; by the hard-fought battles at 

 Gross-Beeren, August 23, at Belzig, August 27: 

 and by the defeat which Ney suffered at Dennc- 

 witz, September 6. In addition to these misfor- 

 tunes, want of all kinds prevailed in exhausted 

 Saxony, and lamentations in the hospitals, win-re 

 thousands perished of dysenteries and fevers. At 

 last, by some rapid, well-covered marches, Bliicher 

 formed a junction on the Elbe with the crown - 

 prince of Sweden, while he surprised a Freud: 

 corps under count Bertrand, watching the pa>s 

 at Wartenburg, and took up a position betweei 

 the Muldau and Elbe. As soon as he was advise 

 of this, -Napoleon started from Dresden, Octolv. 

 7, in the hopes of overpowering them both ser 

 rately. But they had already crossed the Muldau 

 to the Saale. The great Bohemian army had also 

 advanced on his right flank. These and Bliicher's 

 flying corps met in his rear, and general Thiele- 

 mann, who had exchanged the Saxon service for 

 the Russian, took whole troops of Frcndi fugitives, 

 and fought several battles between the Elster and 

 the Saale, almost all of which resulted to the dis- 

 advantage of the French. On the opposite side, 

 the bold Czernitschef pressed forward so rapidly 

 with his Cossacks to Cassel, that he was able, 

 October 1, to declare the kingdom of Westphalia 

 dissolved. After some movements on the right 

 bank of the Elbe, which seemed to threaten Berlin, 

 Napoleon proceeded with his main army to the 

 plains of Leipsic, at which he arrived with the 

 guards, October 14, when Schwartzenberg had 

 already commenced against the king of Naples, 

 who had commanded the left wing of Napoleon 

 from Dresden, a reconnoisance, which resulted in a 

 smart skirmish of the cavalry at Liebertwolkwitz. 

 Meanwhile, Augereau had brought up an excellent 

 corps de reserve: his army had also been reinforced 

 at Erfurt by 14,000 newly organized fugitives; 

 and, as he probably thought, that he had deceived 

 the crown-prince and Bliicher by movements made 

 on the other side of Wittenberg, and that he had 

 gained so much time, that he could meet the great 

 Bohemian army alone in a decisive engagement, he 

 did not delay to encounter it in the spacious plain 

 near Leipsic, between the Pleisse, Elster, and 

 Parthe. About nine o'clock in the morning of 

 October 16, the engagement commenced to the 

 south of Leipsic. Napoleon had rested his right 

 wing, under Poniatowski, on the Pleisse, and 

 strongly garrisoned all the villages from Konnewitz 

 to the river. His centre was stationed at Wachau. 

 The left wing was supported by the heights of the 

 Parthe. Prince Schwartzenberg sought to turn 

 the right wing; but all his efforts were vain, 

 because Napoleon made such progress in the centre, 

 that all the reserves destined for that manoeuvre 

 had to be used for the reinforcement of the centre. 

 After destructive attacks on both sides, Napoleon 

 had gained some ground in the centre and on the 

 left wing. Count Bertrand repelled an attempt of 

 the Bohemian army to gain possession of the defile 

 of Lindenau, and, at the same time, of Napoleon's 

 whole line of retreat, perhaps of the city of Leipsic 

 itself. But the duke of Ragusa was very unfortu- 

 nate at Mockern, where he occupied a wide line 

 to the north of Leipsic, and was unexpectedly 

 attacked by general Bliicher with the greatest im- 

 petuosity, totally defeated, after an obstinate resis- 





