Six Days' Campaign

Six Days Campaign
Part of the 1814 campaign in north-east France

Napoleon I and his staff
Date10–15 February 1814
LocationNortheastern France
Result Tactical French victory; Strategically indecisive
Belligerents
France First French Empire Kingdom of Prussia Prussia
Russia Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon I of France Gebhard von Blücher
Zakhar Olsufiev
Strength
30,000

330,000

  • 120,000 under Blucher
  • 150,000 under Schwarzenberg
  • 60,000 in the Low Countries
Casualties and losses
3,400 17,750

The Six Days Campaign (10–15 February 1814) was a final series of victories by the forces of Napoleon I of France as the Sixth Coalition closed in on Paris.

With a Coalition army of only 70,000, the Emperor was faced with at least half a million troops advancing in several main armies commanded by Field Marshal Prince von Blücher and Field Marshal Prince zu Schwarzenberg amongst others. However, the main army, led by Schwarzenberg, was advancing slowly and with extreme caution. On the other hand, Blücher made a faster advance, but his Russo-Prussian troops were exhausted and many of his corps had scattered, which provided a good opportunity for a counterattack.

The Six Days Campaign was fought from 10 February to 15 February during which time Napoleon inflicted four defeats on Blücher's army in the Battle of Champaubert, the Battle of Montmirail, the Battle of Château-Thierry, and the Battle of Vauchamps. Napoleon managed to inflict 17,750 casualties on Blücher's force of 70,000 with his 40,000-man army.

However, the Emperor's victories were not significant enough to make any changes to the overall strategic picture, and Schwarzenberg's larger army still threatened Paris, which eventually fell in late March.

Battles of the Campaign

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic wars, Wordsworth editions, 1999, pp.87, 90, 286–87, 459.
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