Six Days Campaign

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Six Days Campaign
Part of the War of the Sixth Coalition
Date February 10 – February 14, 1814 Location Northeastern France Result French victory
Combatants
French Empire	Prussia Russian Empire
Commanders
Napoleon Bonaparte	Blücher
Strength
30,000	100,000
Casualties
3,400	17,750

War of the Sixth Coalition
Lützen – Bautzen – Großbeeren – Katzbach – Dresden – Kulm – Dennewitz – Leipzig – Hanau – La Rothière – Champaubert – Montmirail – Château-Thierry – Vauchamps – Montereau – Craonne – Laon – Arcis-sur-Aube – Paris

The Six Days Campaign was a critical series of battles in Napoleon's final defence of France in 1814 as the Allies advanced on Paris.

With an army of only 70,000, the emperor was faced with at least half a million Allied troops advancing in several main armies commanded by Field Marshal Prince von Blücher and Field Marshal Prince zu Schwarzenberg amongst others.

The Six Days Campaign was fought from 10 to 14 February during which time he inflicted four major defeats on Blücher's army in the Battle of Champaubert, the Battle of Montmirail, the Battle of Château-Thierry, and the Battle of Vauchamps. Napoleon managed to inflict 17,750 casualties on Blücher's force of 100,000 with his 30,000-man army, leading later historians and enthusiasts to claim that the Six Days was the Emperor's finest campaign.

However, the Emperor's victories were not significant enough to make any changes to the overall strategic picture, and Schwarzenberg's larger army still threatened Paris, which eventually fell in late March.

[edit] Casualties compared

• Battle of Champaubert (10 February 1814) - 4,000 Russian casualties and Russian General Olussiev taken prisoner, to approximately 200 French casualties ^[1].

• Battle of Montmirail (11 February 1814) – 4,000 Allied casualties, to 2,000 French casualties^[1].

• Battle of Château-Thierry (12 February 1814) – 1,250 Prussian, 1,500 Russian casualties and nine cannons lost, to approximately 600 French casualties^[1].

• Battle of Vauchamps (14 February 1814) – 7,000 Prussian casualties and 16 cannons lost, to approximately 600 French casualties^[1].

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic wars, Wordsworth editions, 1999.pgs.87, 90, 286-87, 459.