Editing Battle of Craonne (section)

===Operations===
On 22 February 1814, Schwarzenberg with nearly 150,000 Allied troops faced Napoleon with half that number at [[Troyes]]. Because bad news arrived from the south and the Allied army was poorly supplied, but mainly because he believed that he was outnumbered, Schwarzenberg ordered a retreat that evening. Disappointed that no battle was going to be fought, Blücher proposed that his army separate from the main army and operate to the north. To this Schwarzenberg agreed and Blücher's 53,000 soldiers began moving northwest.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=86–91}} When he realized that the Prussian field marshal's army was headed for Paris, Napoleon left 42,000 troops under Marshal [[Jacques MacDonald]] to contain Schwarzenberg and marched after Blücher with 35,000 men. An additional 10,000 soldiers under Marshals [[Auguste de Marmont]] and [[Édouard Mortier]] stood between the Prussian field marshal and Paris.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=101}}

Marmont and Mortier blocked Blücher's advance on 28 February when they defeated [[Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf|Friedrich von Kleist's]] corps{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=105}} in the [[Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes]].{{sfn|Smith|1998|p=505}} The following day, Blücher again failed to push the reinforced French out of his path, but time had run out. On 2 March the Prussian field marshal realized that Napoleon was following him and decided to retreat to the north bank of the [[Ourcq]] River. He knew that Wintzingerode's Russians and Bülow's Prussians were nearby and hoped to join them soon.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=106–109}} The premature surrender of [[Soissons]] allowed Blücher to more easily cross to the north bank of the [[Aisne (river)|Aisne River]] on 3–4 March.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=111–113}} By this time Napoleon knew that Wintzingerode had joined Blücher, giving him at least 70,000 men to oppose 48,000 French troops. However, the French emperor believed that Bülow was still well to the north near [[Avesnes-sur-Helpe]].{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=115}}