War of the Fourth Coalition

War of the Fourth Coalition
Part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars
The French Army marches through Berlin in 1806.
Date October 1806 – July 1807 Location Saxony, Prussia, Poland, East Prussia, Wallachia, Moldavia Result Decisive French victory: Treaties of Tilsit Prussia loses half of its territory Creation of the Duchy of Warsaw Saxony joins the Confederation of the Rhine Franco-Russian alliance Creation of the Continental System Hostilities resume later in 1807 with the commencement of the Peninsular War and expanded in 1809 with the formation of a Fifth Coalition against France
Belligerents
Fourth Coalition:  Prussia  Russia  United Kingdom Saxony (until 11 December 1806)  Sweden Sicily	France Spain Confederation of the Rhine  Bavaria  Württemberg Saxony (after 11 December 1806)  Kingdom of Italy  Naples Etruria Holland Switzerland Polish Legions and rebels
Commanders and leaders
Frederick William III Duke of Brunswick † Fredrick Louis Prince Ferdinand † Eugene Fredrick Ernst von Rüchel Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Count Tauentzien Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg Count Kalckreuth Anton Wilhelm Alexander I Levin August, Count von Bennigsen Dmitry Golitsyn Mikhail Kutuzov Pyotr Bagration Gustav IV Adolf Hans von Essen Lord Grenville Duke of Portland	Napoleon I Louis-Alexandre Berthier Louis-Nicolas Davout Jean Lannes Joachim Murat Jean-de-Dieu Soult Michel Ney Pierre Augereau Édouard Mortier Jérôme Bonaparte Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Louis Bonaparte Beauharnais Józef Poniatowski Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
Strength
200,000 140,000 20,000 20,000 10,000 Total: 390,000	200,000 24,000 10,000 6,000 30,000 12,000–20,000 20,000–40,000 6,000 Total: 310,000
Casualties and losses
700,000 dead[1]

The Fourth Coalition fought in a war against Napoleon's French Empire from 1806–1807. The coalition was defeated.

Countries in the Coalition included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain. Several members of the coalition had previously been fighting France in the Third Coalition, and there wasn't any peace in between wars. On October 9, 1806, Prussia joined a new coalition, fearing that France was becoming more powerful after it defeated Austria and established the Confederation of the Rhine. Prussia and Russia prepared for a new campaign. Prussian troops moved to Saxony.

On 14 October 1806, the French defeated the Prussian army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstadt. Then French forces occupied Prussia and captured Berlin. Later they advanced towards Poland and Russia. On 7-8 February 1807, the French and Russian armies fought the Battle of Eylau. There was no clear winner. On 14 June 1807, the French defeated the Russians at the Battle of Friedland. In July 1807, France made peace with Russia, ending the war. This left Napoleon as ruler of most of western and central Europe. The exceptions were Spain, Portugal, Austria, and a few smaller states. These were able to remain independent.

Even though the Fourth Coalition came to an end, Britain remained at war with France. Later that year, the Peninsular War started.

The participants of the War of the Fourth Coalition. Blue: The Coalition and their colonies and allies. Green: The First French Empire, its protectorates, colonies and allies.

References

1. Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0786474707.