Battle of Leipzig
| Battle of the Nations | |||||||||
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| Part of the German campaign of the Sixth Coalition | |||||||||
Battle of Leipzig by Vladimir Moshkov (1815) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
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Army of Silesia Army of the North
Russo-Prussian Reserve
Southern Wing
Corps-Group Wittgenstein Army of Poland |
Northern Sector Lindenau Leipzig Sector Eastern Sector Southern Sector | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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16–17 October: |
16–17 October: | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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54,000–80,000 29 generals and 1,896 officers |
60,000–79,000
325 guns 66 generals and 2,414 officers | ||||||||
The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and Gebhard von Blücher decisively defeated the Grande Armée of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops, as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine (mainly Saxony and Württemberg). The battle was the culmination of the German campaign of 1813 and involved about 560,000 soldiers, 2,200 artillery pieces, the expenditure of 400,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, and 133,000 casualties, making it the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, and the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.
Decisively defeated, Napoleon was compelled to return to France while the Sixth Coalition kept up its momentum, dissolving the Confederation of the Rhine and invading France early the next year. Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba in May 1814.