Battle of Jena–Auerstedt 1806
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 14 October 1806 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1806 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Germany | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Napoleonic Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Electorate of Saxony, First French Empire, Kingdom of Prussia | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.9500, 11.5750 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Jena–Auerstedt was fought on Tuesday 14 October 1806, near Jena and Auerstedt (then in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar and Kingdom of Prussia, now in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany), being the decisive engagement of the War of the Fourth Coalition. The Grande Armée under the command of Emperor Napoleon I defeated a combined Prussian and Saxon army. One force was an imperial French force under the command of Napoleon I at Jena, while the other comprised an imperial French corps under the command of Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout at Auerstedt. The opposing forces consisted of a Prussian army under the command of Prince Hohenlohe at Jena, and the main Prussian army under the command of Duke Charles William Ferdinand and King Frederick William III at Auerstedt.
The Prussians did not forget the military glory of Frederick the Great and venerated it, but by the time of the war, changes were needed for victory, despite the fact that Prussia showed itself well in the French Revolutionary Wars. By 1806, Prussian military doctrines had been unchanged for more than 50 years—tactics were monotonous, and the wagon system was obsolete.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (revision 1380396030), 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.
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