Battle of Auerstädt

Battle context

The Battle of Auerstädt was fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale, in present-day Thuringia, as one of the twin engagements alongside Jena that opened the War of the Fourth Coalition. Together, the two battles inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the Prussian Army, an institution that had undergone little reform in roughly half a century. The scale of the disaster was decisive at the strategic level: Prussia was effectively subjugated to the French Empire as a result, and did not re-emerge as an active coalition partner against Napoleon until the formation of the Sixth Coalition in 1813. The engagement thus removed one of the major continental powers from the war at its outset, fundamentally altering the balance of the conflict for the following seven years.