Napoleon at Bay 1814

Napoleon's campaign against the might of the converging Allied forces in 1814 proved how much he could achieve in circumstances 'so well desperate that no other general of the time would have even attempted to make head against them'. It has been seen by some as the greatest effort of his military genius, and undoubtedly illustrated his formidable ability to inspire his armies and avoid crushing defeats at the hands of opponents who far outnumbered him.

After the disastrous Russian campaign of 1812, Napoleon had managed to replace his lost men with a new army in time to do battle Germany. By the end of 1813 and the great defeat at Leipzig this army had been all but destroyed. The most strenuous efforts to recruit enough men to fight one more campaign resulted in an inexperienced, poorly trained band of conscripts, without the time to organize or expand them effectively.

The Allies - including or aided by most of Napoleon's own former allies - prepared to take advantage of the weakness of the French army and inflict a final defeat. However, as they started to close in, Napoleon skilfully maneuvered his meager resources to win a succession of brilliantly conceived battles. At Brienne and La Rothière, at Champaubert, Montmirail and Vauchamps, and at the engagements of Craonne, Laon and Arcis-sur-Aube, he demonstrated all of the tactical skills that overcame his lack of men and arms.

Ultimately, Napoleon was unable to turn the Allies back and prevent them from reaching Paris. F. Loraine Petre, in his fifth and final study of Napoleon's campaigns, examines the Emperor's individual successes in 1814, and the reasons why his last major campaign was nevertheless doomed to failure.