#31, Battle of Leipzig: The "Battle of the Nations" That Broke Napoleon's Empire
The Battle of Leipzig from October 16 to 19, 1813, killed or wounded approximately 92,000 to 110,000 soldiers, making it the largest and bloodiest battle in European history before World War I. Napoleon's 177,000-strong army faced a coalition of 365,000 Russian, Prussian, Austrian, and Swedish troops in a four-day slugfest around the Saxon city. Over 600,000 soldiers fought in what contemporaries called the Völkerschlacht, the Battle of the Nations.
On the first day, Napoleon held his ground despite being outnumbered two to one, even launching counterattacks that nearly broke the Allied lines. But reinforcements arrived for the coalition while Napoleon's never came. On October 18, two Saxon divisions and a Württemberg cavalry brigade defected to the Allies mid-battle, tearing a hole in the French line. Napoleon ordered retreat across the single bridge over the Elster River, which was prematurely blown by a panicked engineer corporal, stranding 20,000 French troops who were killed or captured. Leipzig ended Napoleon's control of Germany, forced the dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine, and began the chain of events that led to his first abdication and exile to Elba in April 1814.
