Russian authorities said a truck bomb caused the blast and that three people were killed. With Prussian reinforcements, the allies defeated the French - though Wellington proclaimed it was “the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life”.KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) - An explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia on Saturday, damaging a key supply artery for the Kremlin's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. An Anglo-Allied army under the Duke of Wellington faced Napoleon’s forces in Belgium. The battle that changed the face of Europe. Though Napoleon’s troops defeated Field Marshal Prince Blucher’s Prussian army, many of the Prussian soldiers survived and joined the Duke of Wellington’s British troops at Waterloo. The last victory of Napoleon’s military career, Ligny could nonetheless be considered a strategic failure. It was a crushing defeat for Napoleon who would be forced to abdicate six months later following Paris’ capitulation to the allies. Napoleon’s forces were effectively surrounded by 300,000 allied soldiers (including Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish forces) who converged on the city’s perimeter. Image Credit: Vladimir Moshkov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Also known as the “Battle of the Nations”, this bloody engagement was fought at the city of Leipzig in Saxony. Undoubtedly one of Napoleon’s most significant defeats, this battle inflicted brutally severe losses on the French army and more or less concluded France’s presence in Germany and Poland. A week later, Napoleon occupied Moscow unopposed. A fierce, attritional battle ensued before Kutuzov eventually retreated. Battle of Borodino (7 September 1812)Īn especially bloody fight between 130,000 French troops with more than 500 guns and 120,000 Russians with more than 600 guns, the Battle of Borodino saw General Kutuzov’s Russian troops attempt to block Napoleon’s advance on Moscow. Wellesley’s army outnumbered the French three to one and eventually forced them into a withdrawal. Rolica became the setting for the conflict’s opening clash when Sir Arthur Wellesley’s Anglo-Portuguese troops met 4,000 rear-guard French forces en route to Lisbon. Listen NowĪlthough not a particularly big battle, Rolica is noteworthy as the first major action of the British Peninsular War, which saw Britain challenge Napoleon’s French forces for control of the Iberian peninsular. Battle of Rolica (17 August 1808)ĭan Snow's History Hit is revisiting its very first episode, on the Battle of Waterloo with Dan's dad, veteran broadcaster Peter Snow.
Napoleon’s troops decimated the Prussian army at Jena as France’s Marshal Davout defeated the main Prussian force further north at Auerstädt. Battle of Jena-Auerstädt (14 October 1806)Īn important French victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, the Battle of Jena-Auerstädt was fought between 122,000 French troops and 114,000 Prussians and Saxons at Jena and Auerstädt in Saxony. Victory for France led to the Treaty of Pressburg, which aimed to establish “peace and amity” and secured Austria’s withdrawal from the Third Coalition of countries fighting France. Fought near Austerlitz in Moravia (now the Czech Republic) and also known as the “Battle of the Three Emperors”, this confrontation saw 68,000 French troops defeat nearly 90,000 Russians and Austrians. Perhaps the most significant and decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars, Austerlitz ranks as one of Napoleon’s greatest victories.
Image Credit: Bogdan Willewalde, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons This confrontation was also known as the “Battle of the Three Emperors”
0 kommentar(er)
