L TThhee FFaaLLLL ooFF e g g i e r NNaappooLLeeooNN e The Allied Invasion of France, T 1813–1814 h e F a MichaeL V. Leggiere The Fall of Napoleon CrushingdefeatsinRussia(1812)andGermany(1813)causedthecollapseof Napoleon’s empire and brought his enemies to the Rhine River at the close of 1813. With a depleted and exhausted army, Napoleon attempted to direct thedefenseofhisfrontierfromtheAlpstotheNorthSeawhilehemobilized France. From Paris, the new Prometheus watched helplessly as his marshals conducted a headlong retreat from the Rhine to the Marne in less than one month.ThebreakdownoftheFrenchcommandstructureandoverwhelming AlliedsuperiorityplacedtheFrenchmarshalschargedwithdefendingtheRhine inanimpossiblesituation.AlthoughNapoleonneededthemtousetheirscant forcestomakeadesperatestandontheRhineandawayfromtheadministrative apparatusthatfedhiswarmachine,themarshalsbelievedtheyhadtotradeland fortime–theexactoppositeofwhatNapoleonneededtomaintainhiscrown. Dr. Michael V. Leggiere is an associate professor of history at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. He received his Ph.D. from Florida State University in April 1997 after studying at the Institute of the French Revolution and Napoleon under the direction of D. D. Howard. He is also an adjunct professor of strategy and policy for the United States Naval War College’s distance education program, where he teaches strategy and policy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. His book, Napoleon andBerlin:TheFranco-PrussianWarinNorthGermany,1813(2002),wonthe Socie´te´ Napole´onienneInternationale’s2002LiteraryAward.Dr.Leggierehas publishednumerousessaysonvariousaspectsofNapoleonichistory,Prussian militaryhistory,andtheGermanWarsofLiberation.Hisarticle,“FromBerlin toLeipzig:Napoleon’sGambleinNorthGermany,1813,”whichappearedin the January 2003 volume of the Journal of Military History, won the Society for Military History’s 2004 Moncado Prize for Excellence in the Writing of MilitaryHistory.In2005,hereceivedlaSocie´te´ Napole´onienneInternationale LegionofMeritAwardforOutstandingContributionstoNapoleonicStudies. CAMBRIDGEMILITARYHISTORIES Editedby hewstrachan ChicheleProfessoroftheHistoryofWar,Universityof OxfordandFellowofAllSoulsCollege,Oxford geoffreywawro MajorGeneralOlintoMarkBarsantiProfessorof MilitaryHistoryandDirector,CenterfortheStudyofMilitaryHistory, UniversityofNorthTexas Theaimofthisnewseriesistopublishoutstandingworksofresearchonwar- farethroughouttheagesandthroughouttheworld.Booksintheserieswill take a broad approach to military history, examining war in all its military, strategic,political,andeconomicaspects.Theseriesisintendedtocomplement StudiesintheSocialandCulturalHistoryofModernWarfarebyfocusingon the“hard”militaryhistoryofarmies,tactics,strategy,andwarfare.Booksin theserieswillconsistmainlyofsingle-authorworks–worksthatareacadem- icallyvigorousandgroundbreaking–thatwillbeaccessibletobothacademics andtheinterestedgeneralreader. titlesintheseriesinclude: E.BruceReynolds Thailand’sSecretWar:OSS,SOE,andtheFreeThai UndergroundDuringWorldWarII RobertT.Foley GermanStrategyandthePathtoVerdun:Erichvon FalkenhaynandtheDevelopmentofAttrition,1870–1916 ElizabethGreenhalgh VictorythroughCoalition:BritainandFrance duringtheFirstWorldWar The Fall of Napoleon Volume 1 The Allied Invasion of France, 1813–1814 MICHAEL V. LEGGIERE LouisianaStateUniversityinShreveport cambridgeuniversitypress Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi CambridgeUniversityPress 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521875424 (cid:1)C MichaelV.Leggiere2007 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2007 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Leggiere,MichaelV.,1969– TheFallofNapoleon/MichaelV.Leggiere. p. cm.–(Cambridgemilitaryhistories) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn 978-0-521-87542-4(hardback) 1.France–History–Invasionof1814. 2.NapoleonicWars,1800–1815–Campaigns– France. 3.NapoleonI,EmperoroftheFrench,1769–1821–Militaryleadership. I.Title. II.Series. dc238.l44 2007 (cid:2) 940.2742–dc22 2007003607 isbn 978-0-521-87542-4hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityfor thepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsforexternalor third-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch Websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. ForMichele,lovingwifeanddevotedfriend