Blucher and the Uprising of Prussia Against Napoleon: 1806-1815

Ernest F. Henderson

Description

Blucher is chiefly known to English readers as the man who came to Wellington's aid at Waterloo. The object of the present volume is to show that he had a separate existence of his own and performed other great deeds in the cause that are equally deserving of praise. Strange that he has never been made the subject of an English biography and that of his German lives none have been translated into English! The present work cannot pretend altogether to fill the gap, as the plan of the series, if I have understood it rightly, is to treat the movement as fully as the man. I shall feel a certain satisfaction if I can succeed in establishing Blucher in his rightful position, as the peer of Wellington in all that concerns the overthrow of Napoleon. "You forget Wellington's Spanish campaigns," I shall be told. "You in turn forget” I shall answer, "that Blucher was the one progressive, inspiring element among the leaders of the allied armies from the year 1813 on." Without Blucher's decision to cross the Elbe at Wartenburg there would have been no battle of Leipzig without his cutting loose from Schwarzenberg in March, 1814, there would have been no closing in of the allies on Paris without his brave endurance at Ligny in spite of the non-arrival of the promised reinforcements, Wellington would have been overwhelmed at Quatre-Bras and there would have been no Waterloo. No time could be more favourable than the present for writing a work on Blucher, seeing that it is the centenary of the great events in which he played a part. This fact has given the impetus to a whole new literature on the subject based very largely on new material from the war archives. In a splendid series of works all the campaigns have been treated objectively and critically and in such detail that we can follow the movements of each army literally from day to day.
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Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528760140
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Heroes of the Nations
EDITED BY
N. W. C. Davis
FACTA DUCIS VIVENT, OPEROSAQUE
GLORIA RERUM--OVID, IN LIVIAM, 255.
THE HERO S DEEDS AND HARD-WON
FAME SHALL LIVE
BL CHER
Heroes of the Nations
A Series of Biographical Studies presenting the lives and work of certain representative historical characters, about whom have gathered the traditions of the nations to which they belong, and who have, in the majority of instances, been accepted as types of the several national ideals.
_____
FOR FULL LIST SEE END OF THIS VOLUME
BL CHER
AND THE
UPRISING OF PRUSSIA AGAINST NAPOLEON
1806-1815
BY
ERNEST F. HENDERSON
PH.D. (BERLIN), L.H.D. (TRINITY)
AUTHOR OF A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY , A LADY OF THE OLD REGIME , ETC .
WITH 32 ILLUSTRATIONS AND 6 MAPS
G. P. PUTNAM S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1911
C OPYRIGHT , 1911
BY
ERNEST F. HENDERSON
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To
HIS EXCELLENCY
FIELD-MARSHAL VON XYLANDER
THIS LIFE OF FIELD-MARSHAL VON BL CHER IS RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
B L CHER is chiefly known to English readers as the man who came to Wellington s aid at Waterloo. The object of the present volume is to show that he had a separate existence of his own and performed other great deeds in the cause that are equally deserving of praise. Strange that he has never been made the subject of an English biography and that of his German lives none have been translated into English! The present work cannot pretend altogether to fill the gap, as the plan of the series, if I have understood it rightly, is to treat the movement as fully as the man.
I shall feel a certain satisfaction if I can succeed in establishing Bl cher in his rightful position, as the peer of Wellington in all that concerns the overthrow of Napoleon. You forget Wellington s Spanish campaigns, I shall be told. You in turn forget, I shall answer, that Bl cher was the one progressive, inspiring element among the leaders of the allied armies from the year 1813 on. Without Bl cher s decision to cross the Elbe at Wartenburg there would have been no battle of Leipzig; without his cutting loose from Schwarzenberg in March, 1814, there would have been no closing in of the allies on Paris; without his brave endurance at Ligny in spite of the non-arrival of the promised reinforcements, Wellington would have been over-whelmed at Quatre-Bras and there would have been no Waterloo.
No time could be more favourable than the present for writing a work on Bl cher, seeing that it is the centenary of the great events in which he played a part. This fact has given the impetus to a whole new literature on the subject based very largely on new material from the war archives. In a splendid series of works all the campaigns have been treated objectively and critically and in such detail that we can follow the movements of each army literally from day to day. I owe much to Binder von Kriegelstein s two volumes on the war with Austria in 1809; to von Caemmerer s and von Holleben s volumes on the spring campaign of 1813; to Friederich s three volumes on the fall campaign of 1813; to von Janson s two volumes on the campaign of 1814 in France, and to von Lettow-Vorbeck s two volumes on the campaign of 1815. All of these writers are high officers in the German or Austrian armies, and their judgments have formed my last court of appeal in military matters. Purely literary works like those of Houssaye, for instance, who is an academician and not a military man, seem very puny in comparison.
Of great use to me has been a new life of Bl cher in two volumes by von Unger; but the earlier lives by Blasendorf and by von Wigger are not altogether superseded. Von Unger gives a good working bibliography, which can be supplemented from the lists and the reviews that appear at intervals in the Forschungen zur Brandenburg Preussischen Geschichte and in the historical magazines.
I have consulted altogether many hundreds of books and articles that it would be useless to mention here without explaining just what I have gained from them and what I have discarded. Nothing is more misleading than such a bare list of authorities.
A winter in Munich enabled me to consult a great number of purely military journals that would not have been readily accessible elsewhere. It was the same with memoirs and contemporary correspondences; while the criticisms of books given in such journals were also often of value. I may mention especially: Streffleur s sterreichische milit rische Zeitschrift; the Jahrb cher f r die Armee und Marine; the Milit rische Wochenblatt; the Allgemeine Milit rzeitung; not to speak of the regular Zeitschriften such as the Preussische Jahrb cher , the Zeitschrift f r Geschichtswissenschaft, Westermann s Monatshefte, Velhagen und Klasing s Monatshefte , and the Deutsche Rundschau , all of which, and many more, have been made to contribute to this narrative. The dissertations, too, written for the attainment of the Doctor s degree at the different universities have frequently been of assistance.
The biographies of the great men of the time have furnished me with many details. Lehmann s Scharnhorst and his Stein supersede everything that has previously been written on either of those men; while Delbr ck s Gneisenau is a perfect model of clearness and succinctness and has frequently been my guide when I began to get lost amid the mass of detail furnished by the larger works. Droysen s Yorck has not impressed me so favourably.
It will be seen that in these pages I have avoided controversy almost entirely. A larger opportunity seemed to lie before me-to give a rounded account of a great hero and his work.
In conclusion I should like to say a word of thanks to Professor Horatio White of Harvard for drawing my attention to the folk-songs about Bl cher and for most kindly looking up material on the subject.
E. F. H.
B OSTON , March 28, 1911.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PRUSSIA S DOWNFALL
Birth and Early Training of Bl cher-His Service under Frederick the Great-His Expulsion from the Army-His Reinstatement-He is Made Governor of M nster-His Indignation against the French in 1805-The Declaration of War against Napoleon-The Battles of Jena and Auerst dt-Bl cher s Brave Retreat to L beck-The Surrender of the Fortresses-Napoleon in Berlin-The Bitter Hatred of Napoleon-Prussia s Lost Provinces.
CHAPTER II
PRUSSIA S REGENERATION
Causes of the Downfall-The King s Weakness-Bl cher for Reform-Stein-Fichte-Jahn-Political Reforms-The Reorganisation of the Army-Bl cher s Interest in it-Old Ideas and New-The Reorganisation Commission-Bl cher is Called to Account for his Surrender-The Punishment of the Guilty-Sweeping Changes-The New Spirit in the Army.
CHAPTER III
AUSTRIA S STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY
Genesis of the Austrian Uprising-The Prospects of Success-The Hope of Aid from Prussia-Frederick William III. and Queen Louise in Russia-Napoleon s Scorn of Austria-The Efforts of the German Patriots-Bl cher the Chosen Leader-Bl cher s Illness and Delusions-D rnberg-Schill-Bl cher Reprimanded-Napoleon before Vienna-Aspern-Wagram-Bl cher s Ardour-His Letters to the King.
CHAPTER IV
BEFORE AND AFTER THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
The Death of Queen Louise-The Tsar and Prussia-Napoleon s Acts of Oppression-Hardenberg-The Wavering Policy of Prussia-Shall she Join with France or with Russia?-Bl cher s Dismissal-The Treaty of Alliance- And so we Are Enemies, Sire! -The Gloom of the Patriots-The Outcome of the Russian Campaign-The Convention of Tauroggen-The King at Breslau-The Call to Arms-Bl cher is Made Commander-War is Declared.
CHAPTER V
THE SPRING CAMPAIGN OF 1813
The Plan of Campaign-The Effort to Win Saxony-The Manifesto to the Saxons-The Attitude of Austria-Napoleon Joins his Army-Divided Command in the Camp of the Allies-Its Disadvantages-The Spirit of the Troops-Preparations for a Battle-The Battle of Grossg rschen or L tzen-Bl cher s Imperturbability-Bl cher Wounded-The Defeat-Bl cher s Attack in the Dark-The Result of the Defeat-The Russian Commanders-The Retreat to Silesia-The Spirit in Napoleon s Army-The Battle of Bautzen-The Truce-Austria Joins the Allies-Bl cher is Made Commander-in-chief.
CHAPTER VI
ON THE KATZBACH AND AT WARTENBURG
Schwarzenberg-The General Plan of Campaign-Napoleon s Designs-Bernadotte s Characteristics-Bl cher s Advance-Bl cher s Relations with Langeron and with Yorck-The Battle on the Katzbach-The Pursuit-The Battle of Grossbeeren-The Battle of Dresden-The Defeat of the Allies-The Battle of Kulm-The Battle of Dennewitz-Bl cher s Refusal to Join Schwarzenberg-Bl cher Decides to Join Bernadotte and Cross the Elbe-The Crossing at Wartenburg for the Purpose of Closing in on Leipzig.
CHAPTER VII
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG
The Advance of the Bohemian Army-Faulty Dispositions at Headquarters-Bernadotte s Elusiveness-Differences of Views between Bl cher and Bernadotte-The Breach Widens-Bl cher s Independence-Bernadotte Yields-Bernadotte Is not at Hand on the First Day of the Great Battle-The Protest of the Military Envoys-Schwarzenberg s Faulty Orders-The Battle on October 16th-Connewitz-Wachau-M ckern-Napoleon on October 17th-More Rubs with Bernadotte-The Compact of Bl cher with Bernadotte-The Attack on Leipzig on October 18th-The Saxons Desert the French-Bernadotte s Late Appearance on the Scene-Napoleon s Retreat-The Storming of Leipzig-The Elster Bridge-The Entry of the Sovereigns-The Pursuit.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BEGINNING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814 IN FRANCE
The Surrender of the Fortresses-Bl cher is Ordered to Blockade Mainz-The Negotiations at Frankfort