Battle of Brienne
The Battle of Brienne (29 January 1814) saw an Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon attack Prussian and Russian forces commanded by Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. After heavy fighting that went on into the night, the French seized the château, nearly capturing Blücher. However, the French were unable to dislodge the Russians from the town of Brienne-le-Château. Napoleon himself, making his first appearance on a battlefield in 1814, was also nearly captured. Very early the next morning, Blücher's troops quietly abandoned the town and retreated to the south, conceding the field to the French.

In late December 1813, two Allied armies initially numbering 300,000 men smashed through France's weak defenses and moved west. By late January, Napoleon personally took the field to lead his armies. The French emperor hoped to cripple Blücher's army before it could combine with the main Allied army under Austrian Field Marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg. Napoleon's gamble failed and Blücher escaped to join Schwarzenberg. Three days later, the two Allied armies combined their 120,000 men and attacked Napoleon in the Battle of La Rothière.
Q71084
Imperial French
LOC
Q517
Napoleon
PER
Q7821620
Field Marshal
Concept
Q153522
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Concept
Q751876
château
Concept
Q498869
Brienne-le-Château
LOC
Q163755
Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg
PER
Q568253
Battle of La Rothière
EVE
Q763551
Battle of Brienne
EVE
1814-01-29T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
29 January 1814
DATE
1814-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1814
DATE
1813-12-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 1813
DATE
+300.000^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
300,000
NUMBER
+120.000^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
120,000
NUMBER
point in time
location
head of state