Editing Battle of Brienne (section)

===Plans===
In November 1813, the 70,000 French survivors of the disastrous [[German Campaign of 1813]] crossed to the west bank of the [[Rhine]] River. Emperor Napoleon left 100,000 French soldiers in German garrisons, trapped by enemy blockading forces and hostile populations. All of Napoleon's German allies switched sides and joined the [[Sixth Coalition]]. To the south, [[Marshal of the Empire|Marshal]] [[Jean-de-Dieu Soult]]'s 60,000 men and Marshal [[Louis Gabriel Suchet]]'s 37,000 defended the Spanish border. Napoleon's step-son [[Eugène de Beauharnais]] with 50,000 troops defended the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy]] against the [[Austrian Empire]]. There were numerous French garrisons in [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]] and eastern France, while 15,000 soldiers were isolated in [[Mainz]].{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=1–2}}

Czar [[Alexander I of Russia]] and King [[Frederick William III of Prussia]] wished to dethrone Napoleon, but Emperor [[Francis I of Austria]] was not anxious to overthrow his son-in-law. Francis also feared that weakening France would [[European balance of power#19th century|strengthen his rivals]], Russia and Prussia. Prince Schwarzenberg followed his emperor's wait-and-see policy, while Blücher yearned to crush Napoleon at the earliest opportunity. [[Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte]], the crown prince of [[Sweden]] and a former French marshal, led a third Allied army. He secretly wished to replace Napoleon as the leader of France and was not inclined to invade his former homeland. The Allied leaders met at [[Frankfurt-am-Main]] to work out a plan to fight Napoleon.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=947}}

In the Allied plan that emerged, [[Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow]] would advance with one of Bernadotte's corps into the Netherlands and be joined there by a [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] corps under [[Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch]]. Blücher would cross the middle Rhine with 100,000 troops and occupy Napoleon's attention. Meanwhile, Schwarzenberg would cross the upper Rhine near [[Basel]] with 200,000 men and move toward [[Langres]], falling on the French right flank.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|pp=948–949}}

To oppose this vast array, Napoleon deployed Marshal [[Claude Perrin Victor]] with 10,000 troops on the upper Rhine, Marshal [[Auguste de Marmont]] with 13,000 and [[Horace Sebastiani]] with 4,500 on the middle Rhine and Marshal [[Jacques MacDonald]] with 11,500 on the lower Rhine. Holland and Belgium were held by 15,000 troops led by [[Nicolas Joseph Maison]].{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=12–13}} In reserve were the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Old Guard]] under Marshal [[Édouard Mortier]] and two newly formed Young Guard divisions under Marshal [[Michel Ney]]. Well to the south at [[Lyon]], Marshal [[Pierre Augereau]] was directed to form a new army.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|pp=948–949}}