When did the Battle of Brienne take place?
The Battle of Brienne was fought on the 29th of January 1814, during the War of the Sixth Coalition. It was Napoleon's first appearance on a battlefield in 1814.
Questions about Battle of Brienne
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who commanded the forces at the Battle of Brienne?
Emperor Napoleon led the Imperial French army. The opposing Allied force was commanded by Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, with Russian corps under Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev and Fabian Gottlieb von Osten-Sacken also engaged.
How many troops fought at the Battle of Brienne?
Estimates vary by historian. Gaston Bodart placed French strength at 36,000 men and Allied strength at 30,000. Digby Smith put Allied numbers at 28,000. Both sides suffered approximately 3,000 casualties, though some accounts place total combined losses at 6,000.
Was the Battle of Brienne a French victory?
Historians disagree. Gaston Bodart and Digby Smith called it a French victory because France held the field. David G. Chandler considered it inconclusive. Francis Loraine Petre called it scarcely a tactical victory and strategically little short of a defeat, because Blücher escaped to join Schwarzenberg.
Why did Napoleon attack at Brienne in 1814?
Napoleon hoped to destroy Blücher's army before it could unite with Schwarzenberg's larger force. He was familiar with Brienne from his youth; he had entered the Royal School of Brienne on the 23rd of April 1779 at age nine and studied there for five and a half years.
What happened to Blücher during the Battle of Brienne?
Blücher nearly became a prisoner twice. First, a group of Cossacks almost captured Napoleon himself. Then, 400 soldiers of the 37th and 56th Line Infantry Regiments, led by Louis Huguet-Chateau, seized the château where Blücher and his chief of staff August Neidhardt von Gneisenau were resting, nearly taking them prisoner.