Leipzig 1813: The Battle Of The Nations, by Peter Hofshroer

The Leipzig campaign of 1813 marks a decisive turning point in Napoleon’s fortunes as a general. While the invasion of Russia in 1812 was a disaster and French recruits were being pushed heavily into an army to change the fortunes of the French army afterwards, in 1813 there was still hope that Napoleon could through victory against his rising and somewhat opportunistic enemies maintain hold over much of Europe, even if Russia and England were now beyond the reach of his armies. After 1813, Napoleon was firmly on the defensive and limited to fighting in the immediate area of Paris against overwhelming numbers. What was it about Leipzig that brought Napoleon down? This book is not about the larger aims of the Napoleonic wars, although it does talk about the goals of each power and the way that those goals–particularly for the Austrian Empire–put them in an ambivalent position. Leipzig is an example of the difficulty of keeping coalitions together and an example of how this can be done successfully even if not always very efficiently or gloriously.

This book is a bit less than 100 pages and it consists of varied contents, though the sort one ought to expect from Osprey Publishing. After a short introduction the first part of the book looks at the various armies that were involved in the Leipzig Campaign, starting with the French and their difficulties in training, then the Russians, Austrians, Prussians, Swedes, Anglo-German forces, and the Mecklenburg contingent. The second part of the book deals with the campaign that led up to the battle of Leipzig, which includes the French and allied strategies for the campaign, which are ably described, and a more detailed account of various battles, such as Grossbeeren, Dresden, the Katzbach, Kulm, Dennewitz, and Wartenberg, and what led the armies to converge on Leipzig. The next part of the book discusses the five day battle of Leipzig, including several separate engagements that are part of the overall battle as a whole, as each side sought to gain an advantage in what was widely viewed as a decisive conflict. After this is discussed, closing with the battle for the city itself as Napoleon retreated on October 19, 1813, the author discusses the battlefield today, gives a chronology and suggestions for further reading, and provides some discussion on wargaming the battle as well as an index. Throughout the book, it should be noted, there are bountiful maps as well as images of various leaders and common soldiers in their uniforms.

What one gains in looking at Leipzig not only as a massive battle–which it was–but as a campaign as a whole, is the complexity of getting people to work together. The coalition that rose up in the aftermath of the failed invasion of Russia, which ended up being the victorious coalition of the Napoleonic Wars as a whole, was composed of a variety of nations with different goals and aims. Russia was determined to crush France. Prussia was seeking revenge for the humiliation of 1806. Austria and England wished to preserve a balance of power that allowed them room to operate. Sweden sought to maintain its own influence within Europe despite the losses it had suffered in 1809. Various petty German states sought to retain the royal titles they had received from Napoleon in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. The end result of all of these complexities and machinations was a lot of bloodshed and ultimately defeat for Napoleon, who found himself failed by his marshals in that no one besides himself seemed capable of leading French armies to victory, as other French marshals found themselves defeated by the spirited resistance of the Russians, Prussians, Swedes, and Austrians, or in one case found their corps to be completely annihilated. The end result was a battered French army retreating from Saxony while everyone else scrambled to be on the right side of history, as is often the case.