Battle of Schleiz

Schleiz from an 1810 painting

Date	9 October 1806
Location	Schleiz, Germany
Result	French victory

Belligerents

French Empire

Prussia

Commanders and leaders

Strength

20,594, 34 guns
Engaged: 4,000, 12 guns

9,000
Engaged: 2,600, 8 guns

Casualties and losses

light

566, 1 gun

The Battle of Schleiz took place on October 9, 1806 in Schleiz, Germany between a Prussian-Saxon division under Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien and a part of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps under the command of Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon. It was the first clash of the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. As Emperor Napoleon I of France's Grande Armée advanced north through the Frankenwald (Franconian Forest) it struck the left wing of the armies belonging to the Kingdom of Prussia and the Electorate of Saxony, which were deployed on a long front. Schleiz is located 30 kilometers north of Hof and 145 kilometers southwest of Dresden at the intersection of Routes 2 and 94.

At the beginning of the battle, elements of Drouet's division clashed with Tauentzien's outposts. When Tauentzien became aware of the strength of the advancing French forces, he began a tactical withdrawal of his division. Joachim Murat assumed command of the troops and began an aggressive pursuit. A battalion-sized Prussian force to the west was cut off and suffered heavy losses. The Prussians and Saxons retreated north, reaching Auma that evening.

During the War of the Third Coalition, King Frederick William III of Prussia signed the Potsdam Accord with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, an active belligerent, on 3 November 1805. Frederick William promised to send an ambassador to Napoleon with an offer of armed mediation. Unless the French emperor agreed to disgorge the Kingdom of Holland and Switzerland, and renounce the crown of the Kingdom of Italy, the Prussians would join Habsburg Austria and the Russian Empire against Napoleon.

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Wikipedia