CASUALTY RECORD // March 20, 1814
Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
2 sides catalogued · combined 6,000–8,200 estimated
Austria
3,000–4,000
Medium-confidence figure
France
3,000–4,200
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
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.
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