OPERATIONS OF ALLIED ARMIES IN 1813 and 1814

The operations described in this memoir were conducted by the Prussian armies of Prince Schwarzenberg and Marshal Blucher against Napoleon. They begin with the French advance into Germany and the Battle of Lutzen in May 1813, a French victory. But the Allies (Prussians, Russians, Austrians and Swedes) retaliated five months later at Leipzig in the three-day so-called ‘Battle of the Nations’ (16-18 October 1813). They inflicted a heavy defeat on Napoleon, forcing him back over the Rhine. Then followed the invasion of France, and a skilful defensive campaign by Napoleon. Eventually the French were defeated before Paris in March 1814 and the city was surrendered by Marshal Marmont, the French commander in the battle. Napoleon abdicated and went into exile. The author of this memoir was the British Ambassador at the Central Courts of Italy, accredited to Allied Army HQ during the years 1813-1814, thus in a good position to give an eyewitness account.