The Battle of Paris or the Storming of Paris (30–31 March 1814) saw the Allied forces of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Württemberg attack Paris defended by troops of the First French Empire under Joseph Bonaparte. The French soldiers put up a stout resistance at the capital's eastern suburbs on 30 March but were steadily driven back by the overwhelmingly superior Allied forces. Faced with a hopeless situation, Marshals Auguste de Marmont and Édouard Mortier agreed to a ceasefire with the Allies in the late afternoon. The French evacuated Paris on 31 March according to the terms of the convention reached with the Allied leaders Tsar Alexander I of Russia, King Frederick William III of Prussia, and Austrian Field Marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg. This defeat marked the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition and soon forced Emperor Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile.
Background
After being decisively defeated by the Coalition armies at the Battle of Leipzig on 16–19 October 1813, Napoleon with 60,000–70,000 French soldiers retreated across the Rhine River in November 1813. Garrisons numbering 100,000 men in the German fortresses would be lost to Napoleon in the 1814 campaign. All the former French allies in Germany such as the Kingdom of Bavaria now switched sides and joined the Coalition. Napoleon spread out his weak forces in a thin cordon along the Rhine while trying to raise a new army to face the Coalition. To oppose the numerically superior allies, Napoleon could deploy only 129,106 men on 1 December 1813. Against this, the Allies had 156,868 men in the Army of Bohemia under Schwarzenberg, 77,100 soldiers in the Army of Silesia under Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, 30,000 Prussians under Lieutenant General Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, and 36,000 Russians under Lieutenant General Ferdinand von Wintzingerode.
Three Coalition armies prepared to invade France. The Army of Bohemia deployed on the upper Rhine while assigning 12,000 men to occupy Switzerland. The Army of Silesia stood on the middle Rhine. Bülow and Wintzingerode of the North Army prepared to invade the Netherlands. The Army of Bohemia crossed the upper Rhine near Basel on 20 December 1813. The Army of Silesia under Blücher passed the middle Rhine on 1 January 1814. Wintzingerode crossed the lower Rhine on 6 January. At first, the French defenders made hardly any resistance at all. In addition to recruiting new soldiers, Napoleon transferred troops from the armies of Marshals Jean-de-Dieu Soult and Louis-Gabriel Suchet that were opposing the British, Portuguese, and Spanish armies in southwest France.
Prelude
Campaign in northeastern France
The First Battle of Bar-sur-Aube on 24 January 1814 was an indecisive clash between 20,000 French led by Mortier and the Army of Bohemia's 3rd Corps under Feldzeugmeister (FZM) Ignaz Gyulai. At this time, Napoleon arrived at the front and with 36,000 troops attacked Blucher's 28,000 men at the Battle of Brienne on 29 January. The Allies defeated Napoleon by concentrating 80,000 men against 45,000 French at the Battle of La Rothière on 1 February. Elated by their victory, the Allies decided to make a two-pronged advance toward Paris. Schwarzenberg's army moved toward Troyes along the Seine River, while farther north Blücher pressed forward toward Meaux along the Marne River.
Napoleon turned against Blücher who had allowed his army to become so strung out, that his advance elements were 44 mi (71 km) ahead of his rearguard. In the Six Days' Campaign between 10 and 14 February 1814, Napoleon mauled the Army of Silesia. During this period, Blücher's 56,000-strong army suffered 16,000 casualties and lost 47 guns, while French losses numbered only around 4,000. Nevertheless, the Army of Silesia was soon reinforced to a total of 53,000 men. While the Army of Silesia recovered from its drubbing, Napoleon turned against Schwarzenberg, whose advance elements were across the Seine. On 17 February, Napoleon crushed Schwarzenberg's advance guard at the Battle of Mormant and the next day routed Crown Prince William of Württemberg at the Battle of Montereau. This caused Schwarzenberg to retreat and to call Blücher to join him.
On 20 February 1814, Schwarzenberg received news that Marshal Charles-Pierre Augereau's French army in the south was menacing Geneva and Besançon. Earlier, the 2nd Corps (Austrian) was detached from the Army of Bohemia to support operations near Switzerland. To face this new threat to his south flank, Schwarzenberg sent the 1st Corps (Austrian) to Dijon, reducing his army to 90,000 men. Together with Blücher, the Coalition still had 140,000 soldiers to face Napoleon with 75,000, but Schwarzenberg ordered another withdrawal. However, Blücher moved northwest in another lunge at Paris after getting permission to separate from the Army of Bohemia. Since only a scanty force under Marmont and Mortier stood between Blücher and Paris, on 26 February, Napoleon set out in pursuit of the Army of Silesia.
There was a clash at the Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes at the end of February 1814. Napoleon pursued Blücher north across the Aisne River where the troops of Wintzingerode and Bülow joined the Army of Silesia. This reinforcement gave Blücher 110,000 troops against the 48,000 French opposed to him. After the Battle of Craonne on 7 March, Napoleon attacked Blücher at the Battle of Laon on 9–10 March and was defeated. Next, Napoleon rapidly switched his forces to oppose an Allied corps under GL Guillaume Emmanuel Guignard, vicomte de Saint-Priest that had captured Reims. On 13 March, Napoleon's forces attacked the Allies in the Battle of Reims, killing Saint-Priest and routing his corps.
While Napoleon was tilting with Blücher in the north, Schwarzenberg's host slowly advanced, beating the French at the Second Battle of Bar-sur-Aube on 26–27 February 1814 and the Battle of Laubressel on 3–4 March. Napoleon now turned against Schwarzenburg, who paused his advance after hearing the news of Reims. Thinking he had Schwarzenberg on the run, Napoleon found himself involved in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube on 20–21 March when his normally cautious opponent decided to fight. Enjoying a numerical superiority of 80,000 to only 28,000 French, the Allies defeated Napoleon, though they failed to pursue. The French emperor moved east to cut the Army of Bohemia's supply line and to add the garrisons of Verdun and Metz to his army. Emperor Francis I of Austria at Bar-sur-Aube fled to Dijon and missed being captured by French cavalry by only a few hours.
Defenses of Paris
Since the disaster in Russia and the start of the war, the French populace had become increasingly war-weary. Napoleon felt that fortifying his own capital would make him look weak in the eyes of the French population. Joseph Bonaparte was responsible for defending Paris, but because of his shortcomings, military organization and administration was poor. Marshal Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey was in charge of the National Guard. There were also some regular army units and Imperial Guard reserves. In January 1814, a plan was proposed to fortify Paris with earthworks, but it was rejected by Napoleon. Later, 56 wooden barricades were built to deter cavalry raids. These were armed with 40 4-pounder guns and 20 8-pounder guns. The rejected fortification plan was revived, but Joseph insisted on delaying it until it could be approved by Napoleon. Because of this, Paris remained virtually unfortified. Meanwhile, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was at Paris, intriguing against Napoleon.
Tsar Alexander's initiative
The Allies captured an uncoded message from Napoleon to his empress. It read, "I have decided to move on to the Marne in order to push the enemy's armies farther from Paris and to draw myself nearer my fortresses." An intercepted message from Chief of Police Jean René Savary to Napoleon stated that Paris' magazines were empty and its population was demanding peace. Tsar Alexander read the captured dispatches and realized that the proper objective was Paris. He asked the opinions of Generals Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Hans Karl von Diebitsch, and Karl Wilhelm von Toll. Barclay de Tolly wanted to follow Napoleon. Diebitsch wanted to send 40,000 or 50,000 men to Paris and follow Napoleon with the remainder. Toll argued for advancing on Paris with most of the armies while sending 10,000 cavalry under Wintzingerode after Napoleon as a diversion. Since Toll's opinion matched what Alexander believed, the King of Prussia and Schwarzenberg were convinced to accept this strategy. Orders were also sent to Blücher to cooperate in the march on Paris.
Marmont and Mortier did not realize that the Army of Bohemia was advancing directly toward them. On 25 March 1814, their 19,000 soldiers encountered Coalition forces in the Battle of Fère-Champenoise and were badly beaten, suffering 6,000 casualties and losing 45 guns. In addition, a nearby French force of 4,300 men and 16 guns under General of Division (GD) Michel-Marie Pacthod was surrounded and wiped out. Blocked from retreating directly to Meaux by part of Blücher's army, the forces of Marmont and Mortier managed to escape to Paris via Provins. Meanwhile, Napoleon won a useless victory over Wintzingerode's 10,000 horsemen in the Battle of Saint-Dizier on 26 March. By the next day, Napoleon realized that his opponents had a three-day lead in the race for Paris. He ordered the army to march to Paris via Troyes. Empress Marie Louise and her son the King of Rome left Paris on 29 March and traveled south.
Forces
Coalition forces
By the evening of 29 March 1814, the main Coalition armies stood in front of Paris. According to historian Francis Loraine Petre, the Allied force before Paris numbered 107,000 men. To defend against Napoleon, GL Fabian Gottlieb von der Osten-Sacken's Russian army corps and GL Karl Philipp von Wrede's Bavarian-Austrian 5th Corps were stationed near Trilport. Bülow's Prussian corps was besieging Soissons. When nearing Paris, Russian troops broke ranks and ran forward to get their first glimpse of the city.
Historian George Nafziger estimated the Coalition strength (145,500) as follows.
Nafziger also gave the following lower Coalition strength estimate, based on data from von Damitz. Sacken and Wrede are gray because they were at Triport guarding against Napoleon's possible intervention.
French forces
The French order of battle is listed in the following table. It shows that there were 25,526 regular army troops. In addition, the National Guards numbered 12,000 but only about half were armed with muskets; most of the weapons were distributed between 27 and 30 March.
Joseph Bonaparte commanded at Paris and his chief-of-staff was GD Maurice Mathieu.
Battle
Dispositions
Joseph ordered Marmont's right wing to defend Romainville, Pantin, and Le Pré-Saint-Gervais on the east side of Paris. Mortier's left wing was directed to hold Montmartre, La Chapelle, and La Villette on the north side. The National Guards, who were described as "unenthusiastic", were to defend the barricades around the city of Paris. On Marmont's extreme right wing was the cavalry of Bordesoulle and Chastel. From right to left, Arrighi posted his troops in Bagnolet and Montreuil. Lagrange's division defended the road from Romainville to Belleville, Paris with Ricard's soldiers in the second line. Ledru's division held Le Pré-Saint-Gervais with Compans' troops covering its front in the Romainville forest. Boyer de Rebeval was posted behind Pantin.
From right to left on Mortier's front, one of Michel's brigades was with Boyer de Rebeval near Pantin while the other brigade was holding Aubervilliers. Though technically an Imperial Guard unit, Michel's men were not crack troops. Next in line was Charpentier's division while Curial's troops were in reserve supporting Michel. Christiani held the ground between La Villette and La Chapelle. The cavalry of Roussel and Ornano were located on the far left flank. There were two 12-gun 12-pounder batteries, one at La Rouvrai near Pantin and the second at Le Pré-Saint-Gervais. Smaller batteries of lesser caliber were positioned near Montreuil, Charonne, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, and Montmartre.