Editing Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube (section)

=== Operations in the north ===
At the end of February 1814, Napoleon discovered that the Allied armies of Schwarzenberg and Blücher had separated and that Blücher's army was making a lunge at Paris with 53,000 soldiers.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=984}} Only 10,000 men under Marshals [[Auguste de Marmont]] and [[Édouard Mortier]] stood in Blücher's path. The French emperor left 42,000 troops under marshals MacDonald and [[Nicolas Oudinot]] to contain Schwarzenberg's main army and headed northwest with 35,000 soldiers to deal with the Prussian field marshal.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=101}} Marmont and Mortier repulsed Blücher in the [[Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes]] on 28 February.{{sfn|Smith|1998|p=505}} However, Napoleon failed to catch Blücher who slipped out of the trap. At this time, the French emperor adopted a plan to first drive Blücher far away to the north, then to gather up the French frontier garrisons and finally to swoop down on Schwarzenberg's supply line to Germany.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=106–107}}

As Napoleon's 48,000-man army chased Blücher's army to the north, the Allies absorbed many reinforcements. These were led by Russian general [[Ferdinand von Wintzingerode]] and Prussian general [[Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow]]. The French emperor believed that his opponent had 70,000 soldiers, but in fact, Blücher's army numbered 110,000.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=115–116}} On 7 March, Napoleon fought against [[Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov]]'s Russians in the [[Battle of Craonne]]{{sfn|Smith|1998|pp=507–508}} which one authority called a French [[Pyrrhic victory]].{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=131}} On 9–10 March Blücher defeated Napoleon's much weaker army in the [[Battle of Laon]]. Marmont's corps was routed, but Napoleon bluffed the Allies into not pursuing his beaten army.{{sfn|Smith|1998|p=510}} On 12 March an Allied corps under [[Emmanuel de Saint-Priest]] seized [[Reims]] from its French garrison. Napoleon immediately ordered his army to march to that city{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=148}} where he won the [[Battle of Reims (1814)|Battle of Reims]] the next day. Saint-Priest was mortally wounded and his corps routed with a loss of 3,000 men and 23 guns.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=150}}