Capitulation of Erfurt

Overview

In the Capitulation of Erfurt on 16 October 1806, a large body of troops from the Kingdom of Prussia under Lieutenant General the Prince of Orange surrendered to Marshal Joachim Murat of France, at the city of Erfurt. The Prussian soldiers were demoralized by their shattering defeat at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October and unwilling to put up much resistance. The event occurred during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Erfurt is located on the Gera River about 40 kilometers west of Jena.

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

Significance

Two days after the Prussian army's catastrophic defeat at Jena–Auerstedt, Marshal Murat accepted the surrender of a Prussian force under the Prince of Orange at Erfurt. The capitulation removed between 10,000 and 12,000 Prussian troops from the field without meaningful resistance, a direct consequence of the demoralization that followed Jena–Auerstedt. Coming so rapidly after that decisive engagement, the fall of Erfurt illustrated the extent to which Prussian military cohesion had collapsed: a force numerically capable of contesting the city yielded to a French column rather than prolong the fight. The surrender accelerated French consolidation of central Germany in the opening phase of the Fourth Coalition campaign.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (2)