Napoleon’s 7 greatest victories and worst defeats
Napoleon Bonaparte is often remembered as a titan of military strategy who reshaped Europe with his ambitious military campaigns.
How did he rise from his humble Corsican to become the absolute dictator of the French Empire? It was his military genius that ultimately won him this glory.
But unlike Alexander the Great, he did know the harsh reality of defeat. Here are seven of his greatest battlefield victories, but also his most catastrophic defeats.
1. The Battle of Marengo (1800)
On June 14, 1800, the Battle of Marengo was a decisive clash in the Second Coalition War against Austria.
Napoleon Bonaparte had dramatically crossed the Alps with his forces and sought to drive the Austrian forces out of Italy with a surprise attack near the village of Marengo.
Once the battle commenced early in the morning, it initially favored the Austrians, who pushed the French troops back.
At a critical juncture however, French General Louis Desaix arrived with reinforcements.
This quickly bolstered French morale and allowed Napoleon to organize a powerful counterattack that eventually broke the Austrian lines.
The victory at Marengo secured Napoleon's control over northern Italy and forced the Austrians to reconsider their strategy in the region.
This battle has become a central part of the Napoleon legend. It was here that he first earned his reputation as a military tactician.
2. The Battle of Austerlitz (1805)
The Battle of Austerlitz is perhaps the most famous of all of Napoleon's victories.
Known also as the Battle of the Three Emperors, it involved the French forces under Napoleon, the Russian army led by Tsar Alexander I, and the Austrian troops commanded by Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.
The confrontation took place on December 2, 1805, near the town of Austerlitz in modern-day Czech Republic.
From the outset, Napoleon skillfully exploited the allied confidence in their numerical superiority.
With famous tactical finesse, he feigned weakness by deliberately weakening his right flank, which sought to entice the Allies into a premature attack.
That is exactly what they did.
As a result, the Allies stretched their lines thin. At this moment, Napoleon unleashed a massive central assault led by Marshal Soult.
This maneuver split the allied forces in two, which sowed chaos and confusion among their ranks, and the Russian and Austrian commanders struggled to maintain order.
Nevertheless, the French forces capitalized on this disarray, and by afternoon, they had decisively crushed the allied center.
The victory at Austerlitz led to the ultimate dissolution of the Third Coalition and forced Austria to sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
3. The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806)
On October 14, 1806, the dual battles of Jena and Auerstedt dramatically demonstrated the prowess of the French Grande Armée.
While Napoleon himself commanded the main force at Jena, Marshal Louis Davout led a smaller, separate force at Auerstedt against a larger Prussian army.
The battles are often discussed together due to their simultaneous occurrence and the combined impact on the Prussian forces.
At Jena, Napoleon utilized the "divisional square" tactic, where divisions formed strong square infantry formations to defend against cavalry while maintaining offensive pressure with artillery and skirmishers.
As a result, the French quickly overwhelmed the Prussian lines, whose tactics relied upon outdated and inflexible movements.
In contrast, at Auerstedt, Davout's corps, though being outnumbered two to one, maintained exceptional discipline and coordination.
Under these difficult conditions, the Prussian army suffered from the "cavalry paradox": where their reliance on traditional cavalry charges proved ineffective against well-entrenched infantry with superior firepower.
The consequent French victory was decisive; it led to the capitulation of Prussian forces and opened the path to Berlin.
The twin victory confirmed to Napoleon that his new army’s training and tactics were the most effective in the new world of modern warfare.
The subsequent fall of the Prussian military establishment is often pointed to as the key moment of decline for older feudal armies.
4. The Battle of Wagram (1809)
Many people have not heard about the Battle of Wagram. It was fought on July 5-6, 1809, near the town of Deutsch-Wagram northeast of Vienna.
It was one of the largest battles in terms of troop deployment during the Napoleonic Wars and at it, Napoleon faced the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles.
The French army, intent on breaking Austrian resistance, launched a full-scale attack across the Danube River.
Initially, the Austrians held a strong defensive position. However, Napoleon implemented a concerted artillery barrage of terrifying scale.
Its aim was to soften the enemy lines before a major infantry assault. On the open plains of Wagram, this bombardment caused severe disarray among the Austrian ranks.
Then, Napoleon ordered a critical maneuver by his troops, which, once more, effectively split the Austrian forces.
Napoleon’s success at Wagram led to the Treaty of Schönbrunn, which imposed harsh penalties on Austria and further expanded French influence in Europe.
5. The Battle of Borodino (1812)
Out of all of the clashes in the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Borodino (September 7, 1812) was one of the most brutal.
Napoleon and his Grande Armée faced the might of the Russian forces led by General Mikhail Kutuzov.
Fought just 70 miles west of the Russian capital of Moscow, it involved approximately 250,000 troops.
At the end of the day, it would see one of the highest single-day casualty rates of the era.
Napoleon started the battle with the declared aim of delivering a crushing blow to the Russian army and force them to capitulate before the onset of winter.
However, despite the numerical superiority of the French, who fielded around 130,000 men and 587 cannons, the Russians were well-prepared with about 120,000 soldiers and 624 cannons.
The Russians had the advantage of being positioned in heavily fortified defenses.
The French launched successive assaults on the Russian redoubts, which often ground to a halt in fierce and bloody hand-to-hand combat.
Nevertheless, the Russians managed to hold their ground against the French attacks, causing substantial casualties on both sides.
By the end of the day, the French had achieved the unthinkable and had captured the main positions.
However, it came at a high cost, with about 30,000 men killed or wounded. Russian casualties were similarly severe, estimated at around 44,000.
The aftermath of Borodino did not yield the decisive victory Napoleon had hoped for.
Instead, neither side was able to claim a clear strategic advantage.
This resulted in a stalemate that forced Napoleon from Moscow, initiating a disastrous winter retreat that would dramatically weaken his army.
6. The Battle of Leipzig (1813)
The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, occurred from October 16 to 19, 1813, and was one of the most important turning points of Napoleon's reign.
It would be the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I, involving over 600,000 soldiers from multiple nations.
This time, Napoleon faced a coalition of forces including Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden, who were determined to finally bring about an end to French dominance in Europe.
The conflict began with the French army positioned defensively in and around the city of Leipzig.
The coalition forces, numbering around 380,000, encircled the city with a superior force, including 1,500 cannons.
The initial skirmishes escalated into full-scale assaults over several days. Despite the desperate situation, Napoleon conducted the defense with his usual tactical acumen, repeatedly attempting different strategies to break the encirclement.
On the third day, the arrival of additional coalition troops bolstered their ranks, further tipping the scales against the French.
The decisive moment came on October 19 when coalition forces breached the French positions after a prolonged period of intense fighting.
This was the moment that forced Napoleon himself to order a retreat across the Elster River.
Controversially, his escape was followed soon after by the destruction of the only bridge to safety due to a premature detonation.
With nowhere to run or to receive orders from their general, the French army suffered horrendous losses.
The defeat at Leipzig led to a larger retreat of French soldiers from Germany and opened the way for the invasion of France itself.
The battle finally broke the spell of French control over European territories that had existed for over a decade.
This ultimately led to Napoleon’s abdication of the French throne and his exile from Europe.
7. The Battle of Waterloo (1815)
The last great battle of Napoleon’s career, and the one most well-known today, was the Battle of Waterloo.
On the 18th of June 1815, Napoleon's armies amassed at the town of Waterloo in present-day Belgium, to face off against the Seventh Coalition.
This included the British-led Anglo-allied army under the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
The engagement began in the early morning with Napoleon's attempt to follow his favorite battlefield tactic: to split the coalition forces.
If successful, he would be able to isolate the British and allied contingents from the Prussians.
It started with a fierce attack on the allied forces' right flank at Hougoumont, though this diversion did not succeed as planned.
Instead, it turned into a prolonged and bloody engagement that sapped the strength of the French right wing.
In an attempt to try an alternative solution, the French launched multiple assaults across the battlefield, but each was repelled by the steadfast Anglo-allied defense.
Then, the arrival of Prussian forces in the late afternoon added new pressure on the French right flank.
This significantly complicated Napoleon's tactical situation.
It was at this critical moment that the coalition forces launched a general counterattack, led by the fresh troops of the Prussian army.
The French lines, already stretched thin and exhausted from earlier fighting, could not withstand the renewed assault.
Napoleon's last gamble, a desperate charge led by the Imperial Guard, was decisively beaten back. His fate and that of his army was sealed.
The final defeat at Waterloo ended all of Napoleon's hopes of restoring his empire. He was forced to abdicate for a second time and another exile to Saint Helena Island.
That is where he would spend the remainder of his life.
