On October 16, 1813, the Battle of Leipzig began, in which Napoleon Bonaparte's troops fought against a united coalition of European powers. This battle is also called the Battle of the Peoples, and it was probably the largest battle in European history until the First World War in terms of the number of troops engaged.
It was the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars in general, in which the number of victims was more than 100,000.
It is estimated that more than 600,000 soldiers took part in the Battle of Leipzig on both sides. Napoleon's troops numbered about 225,000 men, while on the enemy side there were about 380,000 men. Napoleon's enemy consisted of the combined forces of the Russian Empire, the Austrian Empire, Prussia, Sweden, Saxony, and Württemberg. The Russians contributed the most to that united coalition against Napoleon, with approximately 145,000 men.
The battles were fought in Saxony, near Leipzig. At the beginning of the battle on October 16, Napoleon's troops began their successful offensive, but failed to develop success, and on the 18th they were forced to retreat to Leipzig. The next day, with heavy losses, Napoleon began his retreat to France. This victory was as crucial as the one that had taken place a year earlier, in 1812, near Moscow near Borodino. As a result, French troops were defeated and forced to flee. The victory in the battle of the people was final in a series of successes of the Russian-Prussian troops that liberated Germany, all the way to the Elbe.
Near the battlefield were three emperors - Napoleon as emperor of France, Francis as emperor of Austria and Alexander I as emperor of Russia. The supreme commander of all anti-Napoleonic forces was personally the Russian Tsar Alexander I, and with him in the planning of the battle played a significant role Field Marshal Prince Karl zu Schwarzenberg, a member of one of the richest German-Czech families.
Napoleon's army, according to some estimates, lost about 80,000 soldiers in the battles of Leipzig, half of whom were killed and wounded, and the rest captured. The Allies lost about 54,000 men, of whom about 23,000 were Russians, 16,000 Prussian and 15,000 Austrian soldiers.
The Battle of Leipzig was the first major battle in which Napoleon was decisively defeated, and lasted a full four days. The Allies managed to capture Paris in the spring of the following year (1814), and the defeated Napoleon had to go into exile on the Elbe.
To commemorate this battle, a huge monument 91 meters high and weighing about 300,000 tons was built in Leipzig, which has remained one of the largest monuments in Europe to this day. The monument is located exactly where Napoleon surrendered,
