The Battle of Jena was a comprehensive French victory over the combined Prussian and Saxon armies on the 14th of October 1806 at Jena, Germany during the Napoleonic Wars.
During the campaign of Austerlitz in 1805, there were causes of dispute between Napoleon and Prussia, and the Austrians counted on Prussian help but it was not until Bonaparte was leading his victorious troops back to France that Prussia declared war. Napoleon acted promptly. On October the 3rd his army of 190,000 men was resting on the line of the Maine from Lichtenfels to Wurzburg, and he immediately began a movement north to pass the defiles of. the ThuringianForest.
The Elbe was the natural defensive line for the Prussians, but they had always attacked, and their commander, the duke of Brunswick, moved forward to Thuringia and joined the Saxons. He had about 143,000 men, untried, with old-fashioned leaders and methods; and 44,000 were semi-independent, under Prince Hohenlohe. Brunswick had decided to pass the forest on October the 10th, but Napoleon had the initiative, and the Prussians concentrated about Weimar. On the 9th the French had crossed the Saale, and Napoleon, pivoting his left on that river, decided to swing round his right to crush Hohenlohe, and cut off the Prussians from the Elbe. Brunswick attempted to cross the Saale, his main body towards Naumburg and Hohenlohe to Jena, but Napoleon had seized both these crossings on the 12th, Davout with 27,000 being at Naumburg, Napoleon and the main body at Jena.
Thus, on the 14th, Napoleon had the easier task. The valley of the Saale widens out at Jena, but there are hills on the left bank, the highest of which he had seized on the 13th. He ascended the hill himself, thinking he had the bulk of the enemy in front of him, and made his dispositions accordingly. The morning of the 14th was misty, and, unobserved, he strengthened his force on the hill, also sending corps round each side.
Hohenlohe attacked the hill, thinking he had only a small body in front of him. His inexperienced infantry, when received by French fire, simply halted to return the fire, and could not progress even when reinforced; the German cavalry made futile squadron attacks. At 2 pm. Napoleon launched the Guard corps and his cavalry to complete the victory, and drove Hohenlohe's disorganized force to meet the stream of fugitives from Auerstadt. Brunswick's command was routed with a loss in. both battles of 40,000 men and 200 guns. The French loss was about 14,000. But so decisive were the battles that Napoleon was able to march without serious opposition to Berlin, and this disaster led to the complete overhaul and re-organisation of the Prussian Army which laid the foundations for its subsequent military prowess. Research Battle of Jena
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