Battles & Campaigns · 1813
Battle of Großbeeren
Großbeeren, Brandenburg, Germany
What happened
Napoleon sent Oudinot toward Berlin to knock Prussia out of the war. Rain and swampy ground slowed the French, and their army split along three roads. Reynier's corps reached Großbeeren alone, attacked the main Allied army and was driven back, and Oudinot ordered a retreat.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It stopped the French attempt to capture Berlin. It fitted the Allied plan of avoiding Napoleon himself while beating his marshals one by one.
What came next
Oudinot fell back to Wittenberg. Napoleon gave Marshal Ney command of a second push on Berlin, which ended at Dennewitz.
Did you know?
The writer Theodor Fontane visited the battlefield as a boy of 14 and wrote a school essay about it.
Timeline
- 23 August 1813Battle of Großbeeren.
- 26 August 1813Battles of Dresden and the Katzbach.
- 6 September 1813Battle of Dennewitz.