The most authoritative history written on the 1814 campaign.
Originally published from 1891 to 1896 in four volumes totalling over 2,000 pages, Commandant Weil's classic work exhaustively documents the final months of Napoleon's empire. Weil used extensively not only the Parisian archives but also the military and state archives of St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Vienna.
DSP's impressive edition is 3/4 leather bound with marble boards. A very handsome set no true Napoleonic scholar will want to be without. Few remaining sets at $600.
Volume I: 20 December 1813 - 2 February 1814; 1891, 550 pages.
Chapitre Premier. Situation générale en Novembre et Décembre 1813.
Chapitre II. Opérations de l'Armée de Bohême depuis le passage du Rhin a Bale jusqu'a la première réunion avec l'Armée de Silésie (26 Janvier 1814).
Chapitre III. Opérations de l'Armée de Silésie depuis le passage du Rhin jusqu'a la première jonction avec la Grande Armée de Bohême (26 Janvier 1814).
Chapitre IV. Mouvements des corps de Bulow et de Winzingerode. - Opérations militaires dans les Pays-Bas jusqu'au 26 Janvier.
Chapitre V. Opérations dans le Midi de la France depuis la prise de Genève jusqu'au 31 Janvier 1814.
Chapitre VI. Brienne et La Rothière (26 Janvier; 3 Février 1814).
Volume II: 3 February - 26 February; 1892, 500 pages.
Chapitre VII. Opérations de la Grande Armée de Bohême dans la Vallée de la Seine du 3 au 16 Février.
Chapitre VIII. Opérations de l'Armée de Silésie dans la Vallée de la Marne du 3 au 16 Février.
Chapitre IX. Opérations des Alliés en Belgique jusqu'au départ de Bulow et a sa marche sur Laon (26 Janvier - 17 Févier).
Chapitre X. Opérations dans le Sud-Est de la France depuis le 1er Février jusqu'aux premiers mouvements offensifs de l'Armée d'Augereau le 17 Février.
Chapitre XI. Opérations de Schwarzenberg et de Blucher (du 17 au 27 Février) jusqu'a la deuxième séparation des Armées Alliées et au départ de l'Empereur de Troyes.
Chapitre XII. Opérations du Duc de Saxe-Weimar en Belgique, depuis le départ de Bulow jusqu'a la tentative de Maison sur Audenarde (5 Mars).
Chapitre XIII. Opérations des Alliées sur la Saône et en Savoie jusqu'a l'entrée en Ligne de l'Armée du Sud (3 Mars).
Volume III: 27 February - 24 March 1814; 1894, 574 pages.
Chapitre XIV. Opérations de l'Armée de Silésie du 27 Février au 4 Mars jusqu'au lendemain de la capitulation de Soissons.
Chapitre XV. Opérations de la Grande Armée du 27 Février jusqu'a la reprise de Troyes le 4 Mars.
Chapitre XVI. Opérations de l'Armée de Silésie jusqu'a la marche de l'Empereur sur Arcis-sur-Aube (du 5 au 17 Mars).
Chapitre XVII. Opérations de la Grande Armée Alliées contre les Maréchaux jusqu'a le marche de l'Empereur sur Arcis-sur-Aube. - Opérations contre l'empereur jusqu'a la jonction avec l'Armée de Silésie. - Opérations de l'Armée de Silésie du 18 au 23 Mars. - Opérations de l'Empereur et des Armées Alliées pendant la journée du 24 Mars.
Volume IV: 25 March - 6 April 1814; 1896, 503 pages.
Chapitre XVIII. Opérations des Armées depuis le 25 Mars 1814 au matin jusqu'a la fin de la campagne.
Chapitre XIX. Opérations en Belgique et dans le Nord de la France depuis le 3 Mars jusqu'a la cessation des hostilités.
Chapitre XX. Opérations de l'Armée Autrichienne du Sud, du 3 Mars 1814 jusqu'a la fin de la campagne.
Liste des Ouvrages et Documents Consultés (one of the most comprehensive bibliographies compiled on the 1814 campaign contained in thirty-two pages).
Blücher nearly taken prisoner at the Château of Brienne
(Excerpt from Volume I, pages 407 - 409)
Blücher, believing the fighting was ending and the French had given up taking Brienne, returned to his headquarters established at the château. Before giving final orders he wanted to look one last time upon the battlefield and the French positions as darkness descended. But General Châtaux, who succeeded in hiding the approach of his column by taking a road the Russians believed impracticable and therefore had not guarded, succeeded in penetrating the château’s grounds without being noticed. By hearing several shots coming from below, Blücher and Gneisenau, not without difficulty, succeeded in reaching the main courtyard at the same moment as General Châtaux’s column arrived and debouched. They only had time to flee in all haste by the road that descended towards the town. If the French had waited one or two minutes more before firing a shot, the two most eager adversaries of the Emperor and irreconcilable enemies of France would have fallen into the hands of General Châtaux’s tirailleurs, who captured the Commandant of the Escort, Captain von Heyden (grievously wounded), and the Commandant of Blücher’s headquarters, Captain Count Hardenberg**. General Châtaux, after stationing 400 men of the 37th and 56th regiments in the château, immediately continued toward the town. Surprising the Russians by his sudden appearance and by an attack they believed impossible from this vicinity, he forced them to abandon Brienne.
**The Emperor, writing to King Joseph on January 31st from Brienne, said of the battle and the taking of the château: "The affair was very hot. I’ve lost 3,000 men. The enemy lost 4,000 to 5,000 men. I pursued them half way to Bar-sur-Aube. . . . Another moment and Blücher with his entire staff would have been taken. The nephew of Chancellor Hardenberg was captured. They were on foot and didn’t realize I was with the army. . . . (Correpondance, no. 21160.)
Count Nostitz, in his Tagebuch, wrote at length upon the episode of the Brienne château: "The fighting appeared over. The firing having nearly completely ceased, the Field Marshal returned to the château and ordered the greater part of his officers to return to the town and direct the necessary work in order to contain the fire. Accompanied by General Gneisenau, he went upstairs to look once again upon the enemy’s positions. He gave the order to stable the horses. Knowing that my remarks would have been certainly poorly received, holding from another part to guard against the eventuality of a terrible danger, I took on myself to conduct the horses behind one of the wings of the château, so as to have them readily available. General Count Goltz, Colonel Count Schwerin and myself remained on the plateau in front of the château; our eyes fixed upon the burning town at our feet.
"Several minutes elapsed when we heard a ball whistle by. No one paid any attention. But a little later, the whistling became more frequent. Count Goltz ran to the château in order to alert the Field Marshal of the need to depart. As for me, I made ready the horses. At the moment when Blücher mounted his horse, one of his aides, several feet from us, was hit. The balls were coming from the vineyards or the château. We were therefore forced to proceed towards the town.
"A Cossack sergeant, Antonoff, led the march. Then came General Count Goltz; I followed with an aide. Colonel Count Schwerin was on foot and marched at the side of another aide. The Field Marshal, General von Gneisenau, and several aides closed up the march.
"The fire of the town illuminated the road that we followed. The battlefield was shrouded in darkness.
"We had proceeded only a short distance, when Antonoff, who had taken the lead, returned and told us in very bad German these alarming words: "Nicht Rousky, alles Franzousky" (not Russians, all French). At this moment, we perceived a cavalry troop not far from us. Our situation was extremely critical. Behind us, the enemy was occupying the château; before us, the enemy’s cavalry was arriving from the town and preceding our way. Our only hope lay in a narrow road boxed in between the houses and emptying into the fields. It was necessary to hasten, but in spite of our entreaties, the Field Marshal continued to walk: "If it is necessary for me to run," he told us, "it is only proper I see those who oblige me to do so." This was when Gneisenau had the wherewithal to ask if he had the intention to been seen by the Parisians as a prisoner. The General had spoken wisely. Several minutes later we were in the fields and we ultimately rejoined Sacken’s troops."
The Field Marshal, so furious having to flee and powerless to fight, refused to believe the French were in Brienne, he charged Nostitz to reoccupy the château. This attempt failed similarly as that of Olsufieff.
Count Nostitz, furthermore, had the care to include in his journal the piece where Count Hardenberg gave account of the manner that he was taken by the French. Sent by Blücher to survey the work of extinguishing the fire, he was stopped by six troopers as he returned to give account of his mission. Hardenberg, who in the darkness could not perceive their uniforms, responded with the words: "Prussian Officer". He was summoned to surrender. All resistance being impossible, Hardenberg asked who was the commanding general and requested to be conducted to him. Brought to General Lefebvre-Desnoëttes, he had the presence of mind to tell him that Blücher was with his troops at the gates of the town. Hardenberg was later conducted to the Emperor’s headquarters.
Tagebuch des Generals der Kavallerie Grafen von Nostitz. (Kriegsgeschichtliche Einzelschriften, 1884, Heft V, pages 76 – 81.)
