Well, I’d say that was one of the more exciting drafts around here, for obvious reasons. I think it’s fitting, then that we can study the Battle of Friedland, which is the decisive battle that Eylau wasn’t. Friedland was the most impactful battles of the Napoleonic Wars in terms of its strategic and diplomatic effects, at least until the last phase of the era, starting with the Invasion of Russia in 1812. We’ll talk about the fallout from Friedland next week- and really, for the next several weeks- but, for now, the battle itself.
The 1807 Campaign
After Eylau, both Napoleon and Benningsen retreated into winter quarters. They had too many casualties to continue the winter campaign, especially as the weather continued to be poor. It took the rest of the winter for both sides to reorganize their armies, get in and train reinforcements and replacements, and otherwise prepare for the coming campaign.
At the outset of spring, Napoleon was the first to get going. However, rather than move against the Russians, in their fortified camps, he moved on the city of Danzig. Danzig was one of the two fortresses that remained in the hands of the Prussian army. It also threatened his rear area, if someone wanted to use it as a base for an army to maneuver against his lines of communication. From mid March to late May, Napoleon besieged the city while the Russians kept organizing their army, holding positons on the rivers in the area.
With Danzig under control, Napoleon decided to take some time to reorganize his army. While this was going on, Benningsen decided to strike. Ney’s corps was dangerously isolated in early June, and Bennginsen decided to strike against him. On June 5th, Benningsen launched an overly complex attack on Ney, who fought his way out of a jam. On June 7th, the Russians staged a retreat, heading for their fortified camp at Heilsberg. Napoleon pursued quickly, and massed for an attack against the Russians.
The attack went poorly. On June 10th, the French first clashed with the Russian rearguards, who delayed them for several hours, disrupting the attack. Two assaults failed against the Russian camp, costing the French thousands of casualties. Eventually, a flank march threatened the camp, forcing further Russian retreats.
Kongisberg, the last Prussian held fortress, served as Benningsen’s main source of supply. Napoleon decided he would retreat in that direction, starting first with a move towards the town of Domnau. Napoleon decided to move to cut them off. He sent Soult and Murat towards Kongisberg, hoping to storm the fortress. He sent Lannes to Friedland, in order to take control of the bridges over the Alle River, while the rest of the army went to Domnau, with Davout connecting the army to the Kongisberg force.
Napoleon had miscalculated. Benningsen wasn’t headed for Domnau, he was headed for Friedland with the bulk of his army. Napoleon miscalculated again, and assumed the Russians were heading away from Friedland. He ordered Lannes’ corps to stay in Friedland, while the Russian army barreled down on him. On the 13th, the Russian advanced guard arrived in the Friedland area, and clashed with Lannes’ skirmishers. Benningsen realized that Lannes was isolated, and that he had a good chance to defeat Lannes in detail.
At 1800 on the 13th, Cossacks occupied the town of Friedland, and, at about 2000, the Russians began deploying their army across the bridges. Lannes realized that he had found the bulk of the Russian army, and began sending messengers to all the other French commanders and Napoleon that he needed help, and that he would delay the Russians as long as he could. It was a race to see if Benningsen could overrun Lannes before the rest of the French army could show up.
The Battle of Friedland
Friedland itself lies on the western bank of the Alle River, in a pocket made where the river, which runs generally south to north, bends first to the west, then sharply to the east, before heading north again. Near the town, further to the west, sets a series of heights, which overlook the town and the river. Between these hills and the river is open farmland, except for the Sortlack Woods, which lay on the southwestern edge of the fields. A small stream ran through the fields towards the river, mostly cutting the field in half.
Overall, the French had about 80,000 men in the area, but, as the battle started early on the 14th, Lannes only had about 15,000 actually on the field. Benningsen had about 65,000 men total, and, as the battle started, about 45,000 men were across the river, with the rest coming. Both sides would have forces moving to the field throughout the day. Early in the battle, Lannes drew himself up on the hills overlooking the town, with skirmishers and other forces forward to try and delay the Russians. Benningsen began the battle with his army in two wings: the northern wing, of about four divisions, under Gortschakoff, and the southern wing, with about two divisions, under Bagration.
The fighting began as early as 0200 on the 14th, when Lannes pushed his first reinforcements into the Woods, where they ran into Russian skirmishers. The two sides began a sharp fight for the woods, which pulled in men and reinforcements throughout the day. The Russians took most of the early morning, between 0600 and 0900, forming their men up for an attack that began at about 0900. The delay would prove costly, and was based on Benningsen’s miscalculation that the French army was far away, and he had most of the day to deal with Lannes.
The Russian attack began to develop just as Mortier, heading the Franco-Polish VIII Corps, arrived on the battlefield. Mortier deployed to Lannes’ north, slowing the Russian attack down and preventing the bulk of Russian forces from breaking Lannes’ northern flank. Mortier’s forces stopped the Russian advance, and stabilized Lannes’ position as French reinforcements continued to arrive. After the attack petered out, the Russians took a more stabilized position as they tried to cross the river. Meanwhile, French reinforcements continued to arrive. Around noon, Napoleon himself made to the fields, followed shortly by Ney’s corps and Victor’s corps, which included the Imperial Guard. Napoleon decided to redeploy Ney to the south, shifting Lannes to the north slightly, closer to Mortier.
Napoleon’s plan was to concentrate and attack the Russian southern wing under Bagration. Napoleon hoped the creek would keep the Russians from sending reinforcements from the north. To further isolate the Russian left, he also ordered Lannes and Mortier to make attacks to support Ney’s assault. At 1700, Ney’s attack went off, moving through the Woods, while Lannes his move. Ney’s attack stretched Bagration’s flank, forcing him to thin his lines to meet the attack. Ultimately, this effort was unsuccessful, and the Russian flank began to collapse.
Both sides committed more forces to this part of the battle. Victor and the Guard marched to support Ney, while the Russians committed their guards and reserves as well to shore up Bagration’s flank. However, the Russians began to run into difficulties because of the terrain. Part of their force fell back to the banks of the Alle, which was largely unfordable. Others backed up to the mill stream, which made it difficult to cross. As the Russians attempted to form up a refused flank, the French artillery commander began rushing his guns to support Ney’s attack. He deployed them at canister range. Canister shot turns the cannon into a massive shotgun at close range, firing hundreds of small balls instead of one big one. As the Russians tried to form up, the bombardment with canister shot pounded their lines, causing the remains of Bagration’s force to melt away and flee. This allowed Ney’s men to attack the town of Friedland itself, capturing the road junction and bridges across the Alle.
With the bridges gone, the Russians were pushed with their backs to a river, and their flank disintegrating. The battle was now a race against time for the French- a race to destroy the Russians before darkness set in, allowing the Russians a chance to escape. Napoleon reinforced Mortier and Lannes with much of the reserves, and ordered a general attack against Gortschakoff. This drove the Russians back to the river, pinning them there as Bagration fled across the one ford he could find. In the dying light, a fierce artillery duel developed as the Russians attempted to blast a hole in French lines to the north to open an escape, and to cover their retreat across the river to the south. For the most part, though, the Russian army was in disarray and completely defeated.
The battle of Friedland cost Napoleon about 8,000 men. However, it cost the Russians about 20,000- the Russian flight left behind most of their wounded. This amounted to about a third of Benningsen’s army, and the threat of a French pursuit left their continued existence under threat. Tsar Alexander decided to sue for peace as Konigsburg fell. By June 19th, the Russians asked for an armistice, and, at the beginning of June, Alexander and Napoleon met at Tilsit to settle a general peace.
The Treaties of Tilsit
The Emperors of France and All Russias and the King of Prussia met for several days at Tilist to sort out the nearly general peace they all needed. Before we discuss the exact treaty, however, we should discuss the Berlin Decree and the Continental System.
Trafalgar had, as we’ve previously discussed, made it effectively impossible for France to force a channel crossing for the forseeable future. The only way France could attack Britain was through trade, weakening the British economy, destroying her tax base, and forcing a peace election- effectively, the way that the French and Americans had brought the British to heel in the American War of Independence. To do this, Napoleon decided to try a cut the British off from trade in Europe. After the battles of Jena and Auerstadt in 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree. This Decree forbade France and any of her client states- Italy, Holland, The Confederacy of the Rhine, and so forth, from trading with Britain. This effort to isolate the British from the rest of Europe has become knowns as the Continental System, and the more countries that were added to it, the more effective it would be.
At Tilsit, Napoleon had to negotiate with two kingdoms- one he had rather defeated completely, the other he had defeated on the battlefield decisively twice, but who had vast reserves of manpower, and that he had not invaded. He negotiated with the Russians first- if he could separate them from the Prussians, he could deal with the Prussians more harshly. In negotiating with the Russians, Napoleon agreed to stop supporting the Ottoman Empire- with whom the Russians were currently at war-, to guarantee the sovereignty and position of a number of Alexander’s relatives in Germany. In return, Russia effectively allied with France, agreeing to declare war on Britain and to invade Sweden to force the Swedes into the Continental System, which the Russians also joined. The Russians also gave up some islands in the Ionian Sea and the port of Cattaro, which they had occupied in the 1790s, and to evacuate Moldovia and Wallachia.
Prussia, by and far, got the worst of it, losing nearly half of its territory. The Prussians gave up the province of Cottibus to the Kingdom of Saxony, and all territory west of the Elbe, which became the new Kingdom of Westphalia, when combined with a lot of old Prussian allies. Napoleon gave this kingdom to his brother, Jerome. The Prussians also lost of the territory they had gained in the Partitions of Poland, which Napoleon used to create the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, another client state, which Napoleon gave to the King of Saxony. The Prussians were required to join an alliance with France, the Continental System, limit its army to 45,000 men, and pay France 150,000,000 Francs. Until this indemnity was paid, the French would occupy Prussia, enforcing Prussia’s effective status as a satellite of France.
Tilsit shifted the balance of power in Europe radically. On the Continent, only Sweden, Austria, Portugal, the Papal States and Denmark Norway were outside of French control. (The Kingdom of Naples had been turned into a client state by Andre Massena in 1806.) The next few years would see changes to that, too.
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