Battle of Courtrai (1814) 1814
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 31 March 1814 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1814 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Belgium | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War of the Sixth Coalition | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.8333, 3.2667 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Courtrai (31 March 1814) saw Johann von Thielmann's Saxon troops and a few Prussians encounter an Imperial French force under Nicolas Joseph Maison near Kortrijk (Courtrai), a city south-west of Ghent in what is now Belgium. Thielmann attacked only to find himself facing the bulk of Maison's I Corps. The action ended in a rout of the Saxons, most of whom were under fire for the first time.
While Napoleon battled the main Coalition armies: the Army of Bohemia (or the Grand Army), under the command of the Austrian Prince Schwarzenberg and the Army of Silesia under the command of the Prussian General Prince Blücher in a major campaign in north-east France, a secondary campaign was waged in the Low Countries to the north. A third Coalition body, Army of the North led by Prince Jean Baptiste Bernadotte sent major elements into the Low Countries to drive out the Imperial French occupation forces. In time, the Coalition forces, joined by a British expedition and other reinforcements, succeeded in driving the local French forces back to Lille and isolating most of the remainder in Antwerp.
Badly outnumbered by the Coalition forces under Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Maison mounted a daring operation.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Courtrai (1814) (revision 1370437724), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Courtrai (1918) 1918 · 0 km
- Battle of Courtrai (1794) 1794 · 0 km
- Battle of the Golden Spurs 1302 · 1 km
- Battle of Menin (1793) 1793 · 11 km
- Siege of Menin (1706) · 11 km
- Battle of Mouscron 1794 · 12 km
Other battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition
- Battle of Kulm 1813
- Battle of Sehested 1813
- Siege of Breda (1813) 1813
- Siege of Danzig (1813) 1813
- Siege of Mainz (1814) 1813
- Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube 1814
- Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes 1814
- Battle of La Rothière 1814
- Battle of Limonest 1814
- Battle of Mâcon (1814) 1814
All 22 battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition →
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