As outlined by the Trachenberg Plan, the Coalition armies would avoid battle with Napoleon, retreat whenever Napoleon himself advanced, and instead target the forces under the command of his marshals. A fourth army was constituted as the Army of Poland, initially 30,000 men, but expanding to 70,000 by year's end, under the command of Count Benningsen. In accordance with the Trachenberg Plan, three Coalition armies were formed, the Army of Silesia of 95,000 men under the command of Gebhard von BlГјcher, the Army of North Germany of 120,000 (including Swedish garrisons in Stralsund) under Crown Prince Charles John, and the Army of Bohemia, the primary allied army in the field with 225,000 men, under the command of Karl von Schwarzenberg.

During the armistice, the monarchs of Russia and Prussia met with Crown Prince Charles John of Sweden at Trachenberg Castle in Silesia where the former French Marshal outlined a strategy for defeating Napoleon that, with added details from the Austrians following their joining of the Coalition on 12 August 1813, became known as the Trachenberg Plan. These victories led to a brief armistice. Napoleon sought to regain the offensive by re-establishing his hold in Germany, winning two hard-fought tactical victories, at LГјtzen on 2 May and Bautzen on 20вЂ“21 May. Дespite opposition at home, Napoleon was able to rebuild his army, with the intention of either inducing a temporary alliance or at least cessation of hostilities, or knocking at least one of the Great Powers (Austria, Prussia, and Russia) out of the war. Napoleon hurried back to France and managed to mobilize another large army, but severe economic hardship and news of defeats had led to war-weariness and growing unrest among France's population. The allies regrouped as the Sixth Coalition, comprising Austria, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, as well as smaller German states whose citizens and leaders were no longer loyal to the French emperor. ДЄnti-French forces joined Russia as its troops pursued the remnants of the virtually destroyed Grande ArmГ©e across Central Europe. With this string of defeats, the French armies were in retreat on all fronts across Europe.

To make matters even worse for Napoleon, in June 1813, the combined armies of Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, had decisively routed the French at the Battle of Vitoria in the Peninsular War, and were now advancing towards the Pyrenees and into France itself. The campaign ended in complete disaster as Napoleon and his remaining forces retreated during the bitter Russian winter, with sickness, starvation, and the constant harrying of Russian Cossacks and partisans leaving the Grande ArmГ©e virtually destroyed by the time it returned from Russia. However, Alexander refused to surrender even as the French occupied the city, which was set on fire by the time of its occupation. The French Emperor Napoleon I attempted to force Emperor Alexander I of Russia into rejoining his unpopular Continental System by invading Russia on 24 June 1812В with around 685,000 troops, and eventually entered Moscow in late 1812, following the bloody, yet indecisive Battle of Borodino.

5.3.9 The Grande ArmГ©e begins to retreat.

5.3.8 Pro-Napoleonic Germans defect to the Coalition.

5.3.5 Actions at Paunsdorf and SchГ¶nefeld.

5.3.3 Actions at Wachau, LГ¶ssnig (LГ¶Гџnig), and DГ¶litz.

5.3.2 Coalition armies encircle Napoleon.

5.3.1 Napoleon's attempt to sue for an armistice.

Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba in May 1814. The battle was the culmination of the German Campaign of 1813 and involved 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 in Europe prior to World War I.Дecisively defeated again, 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's army also contained Polish and Italian troops, as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine (mainly Saxony and WГјrttemberg).

The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I and Karl von Schwarzenberg, decisively defeated the Grande ArmГ©e of French Emperor Napoleon I. The Battle of Leipzig ( French: Bataille de Leipsick German: VГ¶lkerschlacht bei Leipzig ( German: ( listen)) Swedish: Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations ( French: Bataille des Nations Russian: Р‘РёС‚РІР° РЅР°СЂРѕРґРѕРІ, romanized: Bitva narodov), was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony.

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