Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
The Last Battle
On March 30, 1814, the last major military conflict between troops of the French Empire and the anti-Napoleon coalition of Russians, Austrians, Prussians and Bavaria takes place under the walls of the French capital Paris...:
25,000 French - mostly volunteer militiamen, National Guard and young, only partially trained recruits, the so-called "Marie-Luisiens", under Marshal Auguste Marmont...
...are facing more than 80,000 men of the Coalition soldiers, who were led by the Austrian Prince Karl zu Schwarzenberg...
...and the marshals Gerhard Leberecht von Blücher...
...and Michail Bogdanowitsh Barclay de Tolly...
...to be commanded.
The unequal fight lasts only a short time, the French are driven back into the city...
... and the Prussian-Russian corps commanded by Blücher follows at their heels...:
...and storms the hills of Montmartre...:
Exactly where the famous Sacre Coeur Cathedral stands today...
... lets Blücher stand up his cannons...
... and threatens to shell the capital if the French troops there don't surrender.
Marshal Marmont first asks for a truce.
With prudent foresight, the Frenchman addresses his request to the Austrian Schwarzenberg, who grants him 24 hours. Blücher would not have done that - as he later said himself - but instead opened fire.
The next day Marmont will surrender...:
At the time of the Battle of Paris, Napoleon himself was sitting in the Castle of Fontainebleau, 56 kilometers from Paris...:
When he hears the first news of the confrontation, he has suspicions of evil - and he orders the 6,000 men of the Guard, which he still has with him, to leave immediately for Paris in order to save the situation!
He himself has not slept for days and is completely exhausted! Around 10 a.m. he is so exhausted that he can no longer ride and has to switch to a carriage.
After ordering his men, who are also at the end of their strength, to move on, he drives ahead of the column, accompanied only by two squadrons of Chasseurs à Cheval...:
Late that night he encounters a regiment of dragoons, just coming from Paris, led by General Augustin-Daniel Belliard.
The Emperor knows Belliard very well, having been his adjutant for a long time...:
Belliard reports the outcome of the battle and the armistice to Napoleon...:
Now the emperor knows he's finished!
He turns his carriage around and drives back to Fontainebleau...
On March 30, 1814, the last major military conflict between troops of the French Empire and the anti-Napoleon coalition of Russians, Austrians, Prussians and Bavaria takes place under the walls of the French capital Paris...:
25,000 French - mostly volunteer militiamen, National Guard and young, only partially trained recruits, the so-called "Marie-Luisiens", under Marshal Auguste Marmont...
...are facing more than 80,000 men of the Coalition soldiers, who were led by the Austrian Prince Karl zu Schwarzenberg...
...and the marshals Gerhard Leberecht von Blücher...
...and Michail Bogdanowitsh Barclay de Tolly...
...to be commanded.
The unequal fight lasts only a short time, the French are driven back into the city...
... and the Prussian-Russian corps commanded by Blücher follows at their heels...:
...and storms the hills of Montmartre...:
Exactly where the famous Sacre Coeur Cathedral stands today...
... lets Blücher stand up his cannons...
... and threatens to shell the capital if the French troops there don't surrender.
Marshal Marmont first asks for a truce.
With prudent foresight, the Frenchman addresses his request to the Austrian Schwarzenberg, who grants him 24 hours. Blücher would not have done that - as he later said himself - but instead opened fire.
The next day Marmont will surrender...:
At the time of the Battle of Paris, Napoleon himself was sitting in the Castle of Fontainebleau, 56 kilometers from Paris...:
When he hears the first news of the confrontation, he has suspicions of evil - and he orders the 6,000 men of the Guard, which he still has with him, to leave immediately for Paris in order to save the situation!
He himself has not slept for days and is completely exhausted! Around 10 a.m. he is so exhausted that he can no longer ride and has to switch to a carriage.
After ordering his men, who are also at the end of their strength, to move on, he drives ahead of the column, accompanied only by two squadrons of Chasseurs à Cheval...:
Late that night he encounters a regiment of dragoons, just coming from Paris, led by General Augustin-Daniel Belliard.
The Emperor knows Belliard very well, having been his adjutant for a long time...:
Belliard reports the outcome of the battle and the armistice to Napoleon...:
Now the emperor knows he's finished!
He turns his carriage around and drives back to Fontainebleau...
