Editing Napoleon (section)

====War of the Sixth Coalition====
{{Main|War of the Sixth Coalition}}

[[File:Napoleon i Poniatowski Lipsk.jpg|thumb|Napoleon and Prince [[Józef Poniatowski|Poniatowski]] at [[Battle of Leipzig|Leipzig]], painting by [[January Suchodolski]]]]

The French, pursued by the Russians, withdrew from most of Poland and Prussia over the winter of 1812–13 while both sides rebuilt their forces.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=280-84}}</ref> Sweden and Prussia declared war on France in March 1813. In April, Napoleon assumed command of an army of 200,000 troops<ref>{{Harvp|McLynn|1997|p=550}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|p=445}}</ref> and defeated the coalition at the battles of [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Lützen]] and [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Bautzen]].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=445-46}}</ref> Britain formally joined the coalition in June followed by Austria in August,<ref>{{Harvard citation year brackets|Esdaile|2007|pp=600-602, 608}}</ref> but the allies were again defeated in the [[Battle of Dresden]] in August.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=565}}</ref> The coalition, however, had a growing advantage in infantry, cavalry, reserves and armaments. In the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the coalition was victorious at the [[Battle of Leipzig]] in October. Although coalition casualties were 54,000 men, the French lost 38,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 taken prisoner. Up to 50,000 more were lost to death, illness and desertion during the French retreat to the [[Rhine]].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=453, 458-63}}</ref>{{sfnp|Chandler|1995|p=1020}}

[[File:DelarocheNapoleon.jpg|thumb|[[Napoleon I at Fontainebleau on March 31, 1814|''Napoleon after his abdication in Fontainebleau, 4 April 1814'']], by [[Paul Delaroche]]|left]]

The [[Frankfurt proposals]] were peace terms offered by the coalition in November 1813 under which Napoleon would remain emperor but France would be reduced to its "natural frontiers." That meant that France would retain control of Belgium, Savoy and the west bank of the Rhine, while withdrawing from Spain, Holland, Italy and Germany. Napoleon did not accept the terms, and the allies crossed the Rhine into French territory on 1 January 1814.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=465-69}}</ref> Wellington's British forces had already crossed the Pyrenees [[Campaign in south-west France (1814)|into south-western France]].<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|p=432-39}}</ref> [[Campaign in north-east France (1814)|In north-eastern France]], Napoleon led about 70,000 troops against a coalition army of 200,000. After a defeat at the [[Battle of La Rothière]], the French won a [[Six Days' Campaign|series of victories]] in February which induced the coalition to offer peace on the basis of France's 1791 frontiers. Napoleon, however, decided to fight on.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=475-78}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Esdaile|2007|pp=626-67}}</ref>

After a series of battles in March, the allies forced Napoleon to retreat at the [[Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube]] (20–21 March). The coalition then [[Battle of Paris (1814)|moved towards Paris]], whose defence was under the command of Joseph Bonaparte.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=461-62, 487-88}}</ref> On 29 March, a coalition army of 200,000 began their attack on the Belleville and Montmartre heights. Empress Marie Louise fled Paris that evening with her son, the king of Rome. With an army of only 38,000 to defend the capital, Joseph authorized the French marshal [[Auguste de Marmont]] to capitulate on 31 March. The following day, the allies accepted [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord]] as head of a provisional government. On 2 April the French Senate passed the ''[[Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur]]'', which declared Napoleon deposed.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=479-84}}</ref> Meanwhile, Napoleon was in [[Fontainebleau]] with an army of 40,000 to 60,000. He contemplated a march on Paris, but on 4 April his senior commanders persuaded him to abdicate in favour of his son, with Marie Louise as regent.{{efn|There were actually three versions of the act written on 4 April 1814. The final signed version explicitly refers to "Napoleon II" as his successor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vial |first=Charles-Éloi |date=2014 |title=4, 6 et 11 avril 1814 : les trois actes d'abdication de Napoléon I er |journal=Napoleonica la Revue |language=fr |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=3 |doi=10.3917/napo.141.0003 |issn=2100-0123 |doi-access=free}}</ref>}} Tsar Alexander, however, demanded an unconditional abdication, and Napoleon reluctantly complied on 6 April.<ref>{{cite book |last=Prutsch |first=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4QbOh5jK3IC&pg=PA15 |title=Making Sense of Constitutional Monarchism in Post-Napoleonic France and Germany |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-137-29165-3 |pages=10–15 |access-date=2 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102012205/https://books.google.com/books?id=L4QbOh5jK3IC&pg=PA15 |archive-date=2 November 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=484-86}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gates|2003|page=259}}<ref>{{cite web |date=July 1814 |title=Napoleon's act of abdication |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222080420/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR |archive-date=22 December 2011 |access-date=28 August 2009 |publisher=Bulletin des lois de la Republique Française }}</ref>

[[File:Montfort - Adieux de Napoleon a la Garde imperiale.jpg|thumb|''Napoleon's farewell to his Imperial Guard, 20 April 1814'', by [[Antoine-Alphonse Montfort]]]]

In his farewell address to the soldiers of the [[Old Guard (France)|Old Guard]] on 20 April, Napoleon said:{{blockquote|"Soldiers of my Old Guard, I have come to bid you farewell. For twenty years you have accompanied me faithfully on the paths of honor and glory. ...With men like you, our cause was [not] lost, but the war would have dragged on interminably, and it would have been a civil war. ... So I am sacrificing our interests to those of our country. ...Do not lament my fate; if I have agreed to live on, it is to serve our glory. I wish to write the history of the great deeds we have done together. Farewell, my children!"{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=97}}}}
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