In the Battle of Hanau (October 30-31, 1813) Wrede's Austro-Bavarian corps attacked Napoleon's retreating French army a few miles to the east of Frankfurt, but was routed. Combatants Allies: Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Spain[3] Sweden United Kingdom[4] Ottoman Empire[5] French Empire Holland Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Karl... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... Year 1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... , ) Hanau is a town in Hessen, Germany with 89,000 inhabitants. ... Hesse (German: Hessen) is a state of Germany with an area of 21,110 km² and just over six million inhabitants. ... Map of the First French Empire in 1811, with the Empire in dark blue and sattelite states in light blue Capital Paris Language(s) French Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1804-1814/1815 Napoleon I Napoleon II Legislature Parliament  - Upper house Senate  - Lower house Corps législatif History  - French Consulate  - Established 18... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German:  ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... Napoléon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte, became Napoléon I, Emperor of the French)[1] (15 August 1769; Ajaccio, Corsica – 5 May 1821; Saint Helena) was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799... Prince Karl Philipp von Wrede (1767-1838), Bavarian field-marshal, was born at Heidelberg on the 29th of April 1767, and educated for the career of a civil official under the Palatinate government, but on the outbreak of the campaign of 1799 he raised a volunteer corps in the Palatinate... The Sixth Coalition (1813-1814) was a coalition of the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria and a number of German States against the Napoleonic France. ... Combatants First French Empire Prussia Russia Commanders Napoleon I of France Jacques Lauriston Michel Ney Nicolas Oudinot Auguste Marmont Gebhard von Blücher Peter Wittgenstein Gerhard von Scharnhorst† Strength 120,000 73,000 Casualties 18-22,000 18-22,000 The Battle of Lützen was the first major engagement... The Battle of Bautzen was fought on May 21, 1813, and resulted in a French victory under Napoléon Bonaparte against the Kingdom of Prussians and Russians. ... The Battle of Großbeeren took place on 23 August 1813, between forces of the First French Empire and an allied Prussian-Swedish army of the Sixth Coalition. ... The Battle of Katzbach on 26 August 1813, was an accidental engagement of the Napoleonic Wars which took place in a heavy thunderstorm between the forces of the First French Empire under Marshal MacDonald and a Russo-Prussian army of the Sixth Coalition under Prussian Marshal Graf (Count) von Bl... The Battle of Dresden was fought on August 26-27, 1813, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon Bonaparte against Austrians, Russians and Prussians under General Schwartzenberg. ... Combatants First French Empire Sixth Coalition Russia Prussia Austria Commanders General Dominique Vandamme Marshal Saint-Cyr Marshal Auguste Marmont Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly Prince Peter Wittgenstein Count Alexander Tolstoy General Kleist Strength 32,000 54,000 Casualties 5,000 killed or wounded, 7,000-13,000 captured around 11... Battle of Dennewitz 6 September 1813 Prelude: Marshall Oudinot advanced his corp along 3 separate roads on an advance to Berlin. ... Combatants French Empire Duchy of Warsaw Confederation of the Rhine[1] Austria Prussia Russia Sweden Commanders Napoleon I Jozef Antoni Poniatowski† Frederick Augustus of Saxony Prince of Schwarzenberg Gebhard von Blücher Prince Charles John of Sweden Strength 191,000 330,000 Casualties 38,000 dead or wounded 30,000... Combatants France Prussia Commanders Napoleon I of France Blücher Strength 40,000 110,000 Casualties 6,000 6,000 The Battle of La Rothière was fought on February 1, 1814 between France and Prussia. ... The Battle of Champaubert was the opening engagement of the Six Days Campaign fought on February 10, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon Bonaparte against Russians and Prussians under General Olsufiev. ... The battle of Montmirail was fought on February 11, 1814 and resulted the victory of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte over the Russians under General Dmitri Sacken and the Prussians under General Johann Yorck. ... The Battle of Château-Thierry occured on February 12, 1814 between a Prussian army under Marshall von Blücher and the French under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. ... The Battle of Vauchamps, the final major engagement of the Six Days Campaign, was fought on February 14, 1814 and resulted in 18,000 French under Napoleon defeating 30,000 Prussian troops. ... The battle of Montereau was fought on February 18, 1814 and resulted the victory of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte against Austrians and Wütembergeois under Prince Royal of Würtemberg. ... The Battle of Craonne was fought on March 7, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon Bonaparte against Russians and Prussians under General Blücher. ... The Battle of Laon was fought on March 9 and March 10 of 1814 between the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Prussian army of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. ... The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. ... The Battle of La Fère-Champenoise was fought on March 25, 1814, between France and the Sixth Coalition. ... The Battle of Paris was fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. ... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... Year 1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Prince Karl Philipp von Wrede (1767-1838), Bavarian field-marshal, was born at Heidelberg on the 29th of April 1767, and educated for the career of a civil official under the Palatinate government, but on the outbreak of the campaign of 1799 he raised a volunteer corps in the Palatinate... Motto none Anthem (German) Land of Mountains, Land on the River Austria() – on the European continent() – in the European Union() [] Capital (and largest city) Vienna Official languages German Recognized regional languages Slovene, Croatian, Hungarian1 Government Parliamentary republic  -  President Heinz Fischer  -  Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer Independence  -  Austrian State Treaty in force July... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German:  ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ...

Background

Bavaria, a former French ally, joined the Sixth Coalition according to the Treaty of Ried concluded just before the battle of Leipzig. Napoleon’s retreat into the Rhine following the crushing defeat at Leipzig, had be largely successful. However, by late October La Grande Armée had become increasingly disorganized with stragglers, which the Allies took note of. 43,000 newly committed Bavarians and Austrians commanded by Wrede, had advanced northward from the Danube into Franconia to block the French retreat. Wrede’s forces reached Hanau, blocking Napoleon’s route to Frankfurt, but thinking that the main French army was retreating along a more northerly road to Coblenz, Wrede expected to face a force of only 20,000 ^[2] protecting the main Army's flank. The Sixth Coalition (1812-1814) was a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and a number of German States against Napoleonic France. ... The Treaty of Ried of October 8, 1813 was a treaty that was signed between Bavaria and Austria. ... Combatants French Empire Duchy of Warsaw Confederation of the Rhine[1] Austria Prussia Russia Sweden Commanders Napoleon I Jozef Antoni Poniatowski† Frederick Augustus of Saxony Prince of Schwarzenberg Gebhard von Blücher Prince Charles John of Sweden Strength 191,000 330,000 Casualties 38,000 dead or wounded 30,000... The Rhine (Dutch: ; French: ; German: ; Italian: ; Romansh: ) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe at 1,320 kilometres (820 miles), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second. ... La Grande Armée (French for the Great Army or the Grand Army) first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain and re-deployed it East... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German:  ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... This article is about the German city Koblenz. ...

Battle

Memorial Stone indication the emplacement of the German troops during the Battle of Hanau

Wrede, following successful skirmishing against the French, began to deploy his forces to face the main French force of 20,000. On the 30 October, Wrede placed his centre with the River Kinzig behind it, and his right wing to its south in an isolated position with only a single bridge linking it with the main force. Napoleon had only 17,000 troops ^[3] including Marshal MacDonald’s infantry and General Sébastiani’s cavalry to face the enemy forces blocking them. Due to dense forests on the east of Wrede’s positions the French were able to advance and make close contact with the allies almost unseen ^[4]. Napoleon decided to attack the allies' left with all available troops. By midday Marshal Victor and MacDonald had cleared the forest in front of the Allied centre of allied forces. Soon after General Drouot found a track in the forest towards Wrede’s left capable of moving cannons through. Three hours later Grenadiers of the Old Guard had cleared the area of allied troops, and Drouot began to deploy 50 cannons supported by cavalry of the Guard and Sébastiani ^[5]. A brief artillery bombardment from Drouot’s cannons silenced Wrede’s 28 cannons. French cavalry then attacked and pushed back Wrede’s cavalry on his left flank, then attacked the flank of Wrede’s centre. Wrede’s centre started to fall back, skirting the banks of the Kinzig River suffering heavy casualties. On the right wing, Wrede’s forces tried to cross the single bride over the Kinzig River to reinforce the centre, but many drowned trying to cross the bridge ^[6]. Wrede was successful in rallying his troops to form a defensive line running from the Lamboy Bridge to the Town of Hanau. During the night the allies abandoned Hanau. The French occupied Hanau on 31 October with little resistance. Napoleon made no effort to pursue Wrede, the main road to Frankfurt was now reopened, the French retreat continued. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1200 × 1600 pixel, file size: 158 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Memorial stone indicating the emplacement of the German troupes during the Battle of Hanau Date: 02-01-07, Taken by: user:Irishcent Place: Hanau, Karl-Marx... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1200 × 1600 pixel, file size: 158 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Memorial stone indicating the emplacement of the German troupes during the Battle of Hanau Date: 02-01-07, Taken by: user:Irishcent Place: Hanau, Karl-Marx... The Kinzig is a river in southern Hesse, Germany. ... Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald (November 17, 1765 - September 7, 1840), duke of Taranto and marshal of France, was born at Sedan, France. ... Horace François Bastien Sebastiani (1772-1851) was a French soldier and diplomat. ... Claude Victor-Perrin, duc de Belluno (7 December 1764 – 1 March 1841) was a marshal of France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. ... Comte Antoine Drouot (January 11, 1774 - March 24, 1847) was one of Napoleons generals. ... A Grenadier was originally a specialized assault trooper for siege operations, first established as a distinct role in the early 17th century. ... The Imperial Guard (French:Garde impériale) was originally a small group of elite soldiers of the French Army under the direct command of Napoleon I, but grew considerably over time. ...

Conclusion

Wrede suffered 9,000 casualties, Napoleon suffered much less, but between October 28 and 31 some 10,000 French stragglers became Allied Prisoners of war ^[7]. The French reached Frankfurt on 2 November and were only 20 miles from their, relatively safe, rear base at Mainz. For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ...

Notes

1. ^ Eggenberger, D., p.187. Says French suffered about half as many casualties as Allies.
2. ^ Chandler., p.937
3. ^ Chandler., p.938
4. ^ Chandler., p.938
5. ^ Chandler., p.938
6. ^ Chandler., p.938
7. ^ Chandler., p.938

References

• Blond, G. La Grande Armée. Castle Books, 1979.
• Chandler, D. The Campaigns of Napoleon. Scribner, 1966.
• Eggenberger, D. An Encyclopedia of Battles. Dover Publications inc., 1985