Era IV · 1789 to 1815
The Napoleonic era
From Valmy in 1792 to Waterloo in 1815, the wars of revolutionary France and of Napoleon spread across Europe from Spain to the road to Moscow. In the same years Nelson won at Trafalgar, Polish armies fought for the survival of their state at Zieleńce and Racławice, and the United States fought Britain in the War of 1812.
56 battles · 8 commanders
Image: The Battle of Austerlitz, François Gérard, 1810, Palace of Versailles. Public domain.
Where the battles were fought
Every battle of the era with a story in the Field Dispatch. Tap a dot to read it.
Europe in close-up
Eastern North America in close-up
Not on the map: Battle of La Tremblaye, Battle of Wattignies, Battle of Fuengirola, Battle of Tarutino.
Basemap: Natural Earth, public domain. Modern coastlines.
The battles in order
- 1789Battle of Rymnik
Suvorov's Russians and Coburg's Austrians march through the night and storm the Ottoman camps on the Rymnik river.
- 1792Battle of Valmy
Kellermann and Dumouriez stop Brunswick's Prussians in an artillery duel; the French Republic is born the next day.
- 1792Battle of Zieleńce
Poniatowski's 15,500 men beat Morkov's 11,000 Russians. Four days later the king created the Virtuti Militari.
- 1793Battle of La Tremblaye
The Vendéen general Lescure was shot in the head and the rebels gave up Cholet. With a map.
- 1793Battle of Savenay
Kléber and Marceau destroyed the Vendéen remnant, killing several thousand. Then the repression.
- 1793Battle of Wattignies
How Jourdan's untested Army of the North broke the Austrian covering force and lifted the siege of Maubeuge.
- 1794Battle of Kobyłka
About 450 killed and some 800 captured, but the corps reached Warsaw. Map and FAQ.
- 1794Battle of Racławice
On 4 April 1794 Kościuszko's army, with peasant scythemen, defeated a Russian force at Racławice, the first great victory of the Kościuszko Uprising.
- 1794Battle of Tourcoing
Six Allied columns lost touch and Souham crushed Otto and the Duke of York. Losses and the road to Fleurus.
- 1794Glorious First of June
Lord Howe takes six French ships of the line far out in the Atlantic, but the grain convoy France needed gets home.
- 1796Battle of Montenotte
Rampon holds the Monte Legino redoubt, Masséna turns Argenteau's flank and Bonaparte wins his first battle as an army commander.
- 1797Battle of Cape St. Vincent
Jervis cut a Spanish fleet twice his size in two, and Nelson broke the line to board two enemy ships in turn.
- 1797Battle of Fishguard
About 1,400 French troops landed in Wales to start a revolt and gave up two days later. See how a bluff and wine beat them.
- 1798Battle of Vinegar Hill
On 21 June 1798 General Lake's Crown forces stormed the Wexford rebels' camp above Enniscorthy. Strengths, losses, legacy.
- 1798Battle of the Nile
Why Brueys fought at anchor in Aboukir Bay, how Nelson doubled the French line, L’Orient’s explosion and the losses.
- 1798Battle of the Pyramids
Bonaparte's divisional squares beat Murad Bey's Mamluk cavalry at Embabeh and open the road to Cairo.
- 1799Battle of Cassano
Suvorov's Russians and Austrians cross the Adda on a 15-mile front, break Moreau's line and take Milan two days later.
- 1799Battle of the Trebbia
Suvorov's Russians and Austrians beat Macdonald's French, and Dąbrowski's Polish Legion suffers heavy losses.
- 1801Battle of Abukir
How Abercromby's army rowed ashore under fire, took the dunes with the bayonet and began the end of the French army in Egypt.
- 1803Battle of Assaye
On 23 September 1803 Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, defeated a much larger Maratha army at Assaye in the Deccan, at a heavy cost.
- 1803Battle of Vertières
Dessalines' army storms the French forts outside Cap-Français, and Rochambeau gives up the last French stronghold.
- 1805Battle of Austerlitz
How Napoleon lured two emperors into a trap and won what is often called his greatest victory, the masterpiece of his career.
- 1805Battle of Caldiero
From 29 to 31 October 1805 Masséna fought Archduke Charles at Caldiero, east of Verona. Who won is still argued, but Charles then retreated from Italy.
- 1805Battle of Trafalgar
How Nelson's daring column attack destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleet off Spain and secured British command of the sea for a century.
- 1806Battle of Czarnowo
How Davout's corps crossed the Wkra by night under Napoleon's eye and opened the winter campaign in Poland.
- 1806Battle of Pułtusk
How Lannes attacked a Russian army twice his size in mud and snow, and why both sides claimed the day.
- 1806Jena-Auerstedt
Napoleon broke Prussia on 14 October 1806 in twin battles at Jena and Auerstedt, where Davout's outnumbered corps beat the main army. Pursuit and reforms.
- 1807Battle of Friedland
Napoleon traps Bennigsen's Russians against the river Alle and wins the peace of Tilsit.
- 1807Copenhagen
From 16 August a British army besieges the Danish capital, shells it for three nights and seizes the Danish fleet before Napoleon can.
- 1808Battle of Medina de Rioseco
Marshal Bessières routs the larger Spanish armies of Cuesta and Blake and secures the road for King Joseph.
- 1808Battle of Somosierra
At Somosierra in 1808 Napoleon sent his Polish light cavalry charging up a defended mountain pass at the Spanish guns, storming the road to Madrid.
- 1808Battle of Zornoza
Lefebvre beat Blake's Spanish army at Zornoza on 31 October 1808, attacking in fog against orders. Blake escaped, spoiling Napoleon's trap. Losses, FAQ.
- 1809Battle of Almonacid
Sebastiani's corps, with the Polish Division in the lead, breaks Venegas's Army of La Mancha south of Toledo.
- 1809Battle of Ocaña
How 33,500 French and allied troops, a Polish division in their front line, routed a Spanish army of over 50,000 south of Madrid.
- 1809Battle of Raszyn
How Poniatowski's small Duchy of Warsaw army fought a much larger Austrian corps to a standstill before Warsaw. The full story.
- 1809Second Battle of Porto
Four wine barges carry Wellesley's redcoats across the Douro in daylight, and Soult is driven out of the city and out of Portugal.
- 1810Battle of Bussaco
Wellington's British and Portuguese army throws back Masséna's attacks on a steep ridge in central Portugal.
- 1810Battle of Fuengirola
How a Polish garrison in Sohail Castle beat an Anglo-Spanish landing on the Spanish coast and captured Lord Blayney.
- 1811Battle of Tippecanoe
On 7 November 1811 Harrison's troops repelled a dawn attack near Prophetstown, a clash that weakened Tecumseh's Native confederacy on the frontier.
- 1812Battle of Borodino
On 7 September 1812 Napoleon and Kutuzov fought at Borodino, the bloodiest single day of the Napoleonic Wars, and opened the road to a ruinous Moscow.
- 1812Battle of Maloyaroslavets
The French held Maloyaroslavets on 24 October 1812, but Kutuzov barred the road to Kaluga and Napoleon turned north onto a stripped road. Who really won.
- 1812Battle of Tarutino
Kutuzov's army surprised Murat's vanguard south of Moscow, and the next day Napoleon began to leave the city.
- 1813Battle of Hanau
In October 1813, retreating from Leipzig, Napoleon found Wrede's Austro-Bavarian army across his road at Hanau and blasted it aside with the Guard's guns.
- 1813Battle of Lake Erie
On 10 September 1813 Oliver Hazard Perry's squadron captured the entire British fleet on Lake Erie, winning control of the lake in the War of 1812.
- 1813Battle of Leipzig
The coalition beat Napoleon at Leipzig, 16 to 19 October 1813, in Europe's largest battle before 1914, with over half a million men. Each day, with a map.
- 1813Battle of the Thames
How Harrison's Americans routed the British and their Native allies in Upper Canada, and how Tecumseh died. The full story.
- 1814Battle of Baltimore and Fort McHenry
In September 1814 Americans held off a British attack on Baltimore; the bombardment of Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner.
- 1814Battle of Bladensburg
On 24 August 1814 Ross's veterans routed Winder's militia in Maryland and burned Washington: causes, Barney's stand, losses.
- 1814Battle of Champaubert
Napoleon falls on Olsufiev's isolated Russian corps and destroys it, splitting Blücher's army on the road to Paris.
- 1814Battle of Chippawa
Winfield Scott's drilled brigade beats British regulars in open battle on the Niagara, a first in the War of 1812.
- 1814Battle of Montmirail
Napoleon's Guard and raw conscripts beat Sacken's Russians and Yorck's Prussians in the mud the day after Champaubert.
- 1815Battle of Ligny
Napoleon beat Blücher at Ligny on 16 June 1815, two days before Waterloo, but the Prussians, who lost about 16,000, escaped to Wavre. Blücher's fall, FAQ.
- 1815Battle of New Orleans
On 8 January 1815 Andrew Jackson's outnumbered defenders crushed a British assault at New Orleans, a stunning American win in the War of 1812.
- 1815Battle of Quatre Bras
Wellington held the crossroads against Ney while d'Erlon's corps missed both battles. The losses.
- 1815Battle of Waterloo
Wellington and Blücher beat Napoleon at Waterloo on 18 June 1815, ending the Hundred Days. The ridge, the squares, the Prussians and the Guard, with maps.
- 1815Battle of Wavre
At Wavre on 18 and 19 June 1815, his 33,000 French fought Thielmann's Prussian rearguard while Blücher marched to Waterloo.
Wars and nations
Wars of this era
Each war told in full: its causes, its course and all its battles in the Field Dispatch.
- French Revolutionary Wars 1792 to 1802
- Napoleonic Wars 1803 to 1815
- Peninsular War 1807 to 1814
- French invasion of Russia 1812
- War of 1812 1812 to 1815
- Waterloo campaign 1815
Nations
Countries and peoples that fought the battles of this era, by number of battles. Each page tells that country's military history across every era.
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