Battle of Rothière

The battles of Rothière took place the 1814 between a French Army directed by Napoleon, and a Prussian army of: 53000 men ordered by Gebhard von Blücher.

Context

After having beaten in Saint-Dizier an isolated Prussian division, Napoleon perceives the plan of the united . He continues Blücher, and gains a new combat with Brienne. Blücher makes nevertheless the junction with Schwarzenberg.

The battle

Napoleon is in the center, at the village of Rothière. Engagement starts at one o'clock in the afternoon with a load of the Prussian infantry which is pushed back by the young French conscripts. The French Artillerie destroys all that there remains regiment. But the royal prince of Wurtemberg load with its dragon S and inserts the French line, reversing the course of the battle.

The combat ceases only at midnight. Napoleon then orders the retirement on Troyes.

Sources

Stratisc.org the art of the war

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