Editing Napoleonic Wars (section)

==War of the Sixth Coalition, 1812–1814==
{{Main|War of the Sixth Coalition}}
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-7D309E20-C7E9-11E0-A4B4-E65737D8FA8C DS-9 (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|Fragment from the manuscript "Memoires on [[Napoleon]]'s campaigns, experienced as a soldier of the second regiment". Written by [[Joseph Abbeel]], a soldier participating in the War of the Sixth Coalition, 1805–1815.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gedenkschriften over Napoleon's veldtochten, meegemaakt als soldaat bij het 2e regiment carabiniers te paard, 1805–1815 |url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:7D309E20-C7E9-11E0-A4B4-E65737D8FA8C#?c=&m=&s=&cv=2&xywh=-1262,-184,6523,3642 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010183103/https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:7D309E20-C7E9-11E0-A4B4-E65737D8FA8C#?c=&m=&s=&cv=2&xywh=-1262,-184,6523,3642 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |access-date=2020-08-28 |website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]
Seeing an opportunity in [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]]'s historic defeat, [[Prussia]], [[Sweden]] and several other German states switched sides, joining [[Russian Empire|Russia]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] and others opposing Napoleon.{{sfn|Dwyer|2013|pages=431–474}}{{page range too broad|date=May 2021}} Napoleon vowed that he would create a new army as large as the one he had sent into Russia, and quickly built up his forces in the east from 30,000 to 130,000 and eventually to 400,000. Napoleon inflicted 40,000 casualties on the Allies at [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Lützen]] (2 May 1813) and [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Bautzen]] (20–21 May 1813). Both battles involved forces of over 250,000, making them some of the largest conflicts of the wars so far. [[Klemens von Metternich]] in November 1813 offered Napoleon the [[Frankfurt proposals]]. They would allow [[Napoleon]] to remain [[Emperor of the French|Emperor]] but [[First French Empire|France]] would be reduced to its "natural frontiers" and lose control of most of Italy and Germany and the Netherlands. Napoleon still expected to win the wars, and rejected the terms. By 1814, as the Allies were closing in on [[Paris]], [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]] did agree to the Frankfurt proposals, but it was too late and he rejected the new harsher terms proposed by the Allies.{{sfn|Riley|2013|p=206}}

[[File:MoshkovVI SrazhLeypcigomGRM.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Leipzig]] involved over 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle in [[Europe]] prior to [[World War I]].]]
In the [[Peninsular War]], [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington]], renewed the [[Anglo-Portuguese Army|Anglo-Portuguese]] advance into Spain just after New Year in 1812, besieging and capturing the fortified towns of [[Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)|Ciudad Rodrigo]], [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Badajoz]], and crushing a French army at the [[Battle of Salamanca]]. As the French regrouped, the Anglo-Portuguese entered Madrid and advanced towards [[Siege of Burgos|Burgos]], before retreating all the way to Portugal when renewed French concentrations threatened to trap them. As a consequence of the Salamanca campaign, the French were forced to end their long siege of Cádiz and to permanently evacuate the provinces of [[Andalusia]] and [[Asturias]].{{sfn|Young|Lawford|2015}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}

In a strategic move, Wellesley planned to move his supply base from Lisbon to [[Santander, Spain|Santander]]. The Anglo-Portuguese forces swept northwards in late May and seized Burgos. On 21 June, at [[Battle of Vitoria|Vitoria]], the combined Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies won against [[Joseph Bonaparte]], finally breaking French power in Spain. The French had to retreat from the Iberian peninsula, over the [[Pyrenees]].{{sfn|Glover|1963}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}

The belligerents declared an armistice from 4 June 1813 (continuing until 13 August) during which time both sides attempted to recover from the loss of approximately a quarter of a million men in the preceding two months. During this time coalition negotiations finally brought Austria out in open opposition to France. Two principal Austrian armies took the field, adding 300,000 men to the coalition armies in Germany. The Allies now had around 800,000 front-line soldiers in the German theatre, with a strategic reserve of 350,000 formed to support the front-line operations.{{sfn|Riley|2013|p=206}}

[[File:General Nansouty at the battle of Hanau.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Battle of Hanau]] (30–31 October 1813) was fought between Austro-Bavarian and French forces.]]
Napoleon succeeded in bringing the imperial forces in the region to around 650,000—although only 250,000 came under his direct command, with another 120,000 under [[Nicolas Charles Oudinot]] and 30,000 under Davout. The remaining imperial forces came mostly from the Confederation of the Rhine, especially Saxony and Bavaria. In addition, to the south, Murat's Kingdom of Naples and [[Eugène de Beauharnais]]'s Kingdom of Italy had 100,000 armed men. In Spain, another 150,000 to 200,000 French troops steadily retreated before Anglo-Portuguese forces numbering around 100,000. Thus around 900,000 Frenchmen in all theatres faced around 1,800,000 coalition soldiers (including the strategic reserve under formation in Germany). The gross figures may mislead slightly, as most of the German troops fighting on the side of the French fought at best unreliably and stood on the verge of defecting to the Allies. One can reasonably say that Napoleon could count on no more than 450,000 men in Germany—which left him outnumbered about four to one.{{sfn|Riley|2013|p=206}}

Following the end of the armistice, Napoleon seemed to have regained the initiative at [[Battle of Dresden|Dresden]] (August 1813), where he once again defeated a numerically superior coalition army and inflicted enormous casualties, while sustaining relatively few. The failures of his marshals and a slow resumption of the offensive on his part cost him any advantage that this victory might have secured. At the [[Battle of Leipzig]] in Saxony (16–19 October 1813), also called the "Battle of the Nations", 191,000 French fought more than 300,000 Allies, and the defeated French had to retreat into France. After the French withdrawal from Germany, Napoleon's remaining ally, [[Denmark–Norway]], became isolated and [[Treaty of Kiel|fell to the coalition]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hofschroer |first=Peter |title=Leipzig 1813: The Battle of the Nations |year=1993}}</ref>

[[File:Russparis.jpg|thumb|Russian army enters Paris, 31 March 1814]]
Napoleon then fought a series of battles in France, including the [[Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube]], but the overwhelming numbers of the Allies steadily forced him back. The Allies [[Battle of Paris (1814)|entered Paris]] on 30 March 1814. During this time Napoleon fought his [[Six Days' Campaign]], in which he won many battles against the enemy forces advancing towards Paris. During this entire campaign, he never managed to field more than 70,000 men against more than half a million coalition soldiers. At the [[Treaty of Chaumont]] (9 March 1814), the Allies agreed to preserve the coalition until Napoleon's total defeat.{{sfn|Dwyer|2013|pp=464–498}}

Napoleon determined to fight on, even now, incapable of fathoming his fall from power. During the campaign, he had issued a decree for 900,000 fresh conscripts, but only a fraction of these materialised, and Napoleon's schemes for victory eventually gave way to the reality of his hopeless situation. Napoleon abdicated on 6 April. Occasional military actions continued in Italy, Spain, and Holland in early 1814.{{sfn|Dwyer|2013|pp=464–498}} An armistice was signed with the Allied Powers on 23 April 1814. The [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|First Treaty of Paris]], signed on 30 May 1814, officially ended the War of the Sixth Coalition.

The victors exiled Napoleon to the island of [[Elba]] and restored the French [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] monarchy in the person of [[Louis XVIII]]. They signed the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]] (11 April 1814) and initiated the [[Congress of Vienna]] to redraw the map of Europe.{{sfn|Dwyer|2013|pp=464–498}}