Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube

Overview

The Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube saw an Imperial French army under Napoleon face a much larger Allied army led by Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg during the War of the Sixth Coalition. On the second day of fighting, Emperor Napoleon finally realized he had blundered into battle as he was massively outnumbered, and immediately ordered a masked retreat. By the time the Austrian Field Marshal Schwarzenberg realized Napoleon was retreating, most of the French had already disengaged and the Allied pursuit afterwards failed to prevent the remaining French army from safely withdrawing to the north. This was Napoleon's penultimate battle before his abdication and exile to Elba, the last being the Battle of Saint-Dizier.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

At Arcis-sur-Aube, Napoleon engaged Karl Philipp von Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia without recognizing until the second day of fighting that he was outnumbered by a force several times the size of his own. Once the disparity became clear, Napoleon ordered a masked retreat that succeeded largely because Schwarzenberg failed to identify the French disengagement in time; the subsequent Allied pursuit could not prevent the French army from withdrawing northward intact. The battle inflicted roughly equal casualties on both sides despite the vast imbalance in strength, but its strategic consequence was the continued erosion of Napoleon's ability to shape the campaign in France. Arcis-sur-Aube stands as Napoleon's penultimate engagement before his abdication and exile to Elba, with only the Battle of Saint-Dizier following it, marking the effective end of his capacity to defend French territory against the converging Allied armies of the Sixth Coalition.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (8)