The establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine, which was one of the great consequences of Austerlitz, rendered Napoleon in effect, sovereign of a large part of Germany. The kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, Prince Murat, the Grand Duke of Berg, and several other sovereigns of Germany, had leagued together in an alliance with the French Empire; and they constituted so formidable a power that the Emperor added a new title to his name—the "Protector" of this confederacy. Thus Napoleon became sovereign of a principal part of Germany, and his allies were obliged to furnish, at his call, 60,000 armed men. The only method of counteracting the consolidation of French power over all Germany seemed to be that of creating another confederacy in the Northern circles, capable of balancing the league of the Rhine, and to be known as the Northern Alliance. This alliance Napoleon determined to suppress. The relations between France and Prussia continued in an unsettled state, Prussia refusing on the one hand to embrace the Confederation proposed by the cabinet of Berlin, and yet declining on the other to form part of the Rhenish league to which Bonaparte had frequently and urgently invited it.

A year had elapsed since the Emperor of Russia had signed the famous treaty of Potsdam, wheedling the pliant King of Prussia and his wife with all sorts of promises, including an offer on the part of England to pay the costs of another campaign against Napoleon and his Empire. For some weeks strong hopes were entertained of a satisfactory conclusion to peace overtures, but in the end the negotiations broke up, on the refusal of Napoleon to concede Malta to England, unless England would permit him to conquer Sicily from the unfortunate sovereign whose Italian kingdom had already been transferred to his brother Joseph.

The death of Fox, according to Napoleon himself, was the immediate cause of the failure of these negotiations. The Emperor maintained that had the great English statesman lived—he died on the 23rd of January, 1806—the negotiations would have been resumed and pushed to a successful close. When the Emperor of Russia went to Berlin he offered Prussia all the forces of his own great Empire. War-like preparations of every kind filled the Kingdom of Prussia during August and September 1806. Notwithstanding the protestations made almost daily by the Prussian government, through its minister at Paris, towards the middle of August her preparations assumed such a decided character that her real object could no longer be concealed. A friendly letter was even dispatched from the King of Prussia to Napoleon and the French ambassador at Berlin was treated with due consideration but which was far from honest at heart.

On the 21st of September Napoleon wrote to the princes of the Confederation of the Rhine, requesting them to furnish their contingent troops for his army, and which was complied with, according to treaty. On the 25th the Emperor quitted his imperial residence to place himself at the head of the army. While at the theatre at St. Cloud he received a dispatch from Murat containing an account of an attack made on French troops by some Prussian detachments. "I see they are determined to try us," he said to Count Rapp and orders were immediately given to prepare for departure to the frontier. He arrived at Mayence on the 28th and on the 1st of October passed the Rhine.

On this same day the Prussian minister at Paris presented a note to Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, an ultimatum in which Prussia demanded, among other things, that the formation of a Confederacy in the North of Germany should no longer be thwarted by French interference, to renounce the kingdoms of Holland and Italy, and that the French troops within the territories of the Rhenish league should recross the Rhine into France by the 8th of the same month of October,—a virtual declaration of war.

The conduct of Prussia in thus rushing into hostilities, without waiting for the advance of her allies, the Russians, was as rash as her holding back from Austria during the campaign of Austerlitz was cowardly. Napoleon had not patience to finish reading this document, conveying those demands, but threw it down with contempt.

Napoleon made answer to the Prussian note from his headquarters at Bamberg on October 6th. He addressed a proclamation to his army to inform them of the enemy they were about to fight. "Soldiers," said he, "the war-cry has been heard at Berlin; for two months our provocation has been increased each day ... Let us march—let the Prussian army meet with the same fate it evinced fourteen years ago on the plains of Champagne." Thiers, the eminent historian, says in his "History of the Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon": "It was the height of imprudence on the part of Prussia to enter into a contest with Napoleon at a moment when the French army, returning from Austerlitz, was still in the heart of Germany, and more capable of acting than any army ever was."

It was evident that Napoleon did not feel the least concern about the approaching war. He wrote to his brothers in Naples and in Holland at this time assuring them that the present struggle would be terminated more speedily than the preceding. He called upon them to observe in what manner a German sovereign still dared to insult the soldiers of Austerlitz. Napoleon was then on the German side of the Rhine in person. The Prussian Council had directed their army to advance towards the French instead of lying on their own frontier, and the army accordingly invaded the Saxon provinces. The Elector of Saxony was compelled to accept the alliance which the cabinet of Berlin urged on him, and reluctantly joined his troops with those of Prussia.

At Bamberg, on the same day he issued his proclamation to his soldiers, Napoleon said to Berthier: "Marshal, we have a rendezvous of honor appointed for the 8th; a Frenchman never fails to keep them; but as we are told that a beautiful queen wishes to be a witness of the fight, let us be courteous, and march, without sleeping, for Saxony." Napoleon alluded to the Queen of Prussia who was with the Prussian army, dressed as an Amazon, wearing the uniform of her regiment of dragoons, "writing twenty letters a day" said the first bulletin sent to Paris, "to fan the flame in all parts."

No sooner did Napoleon learn that the Prussians had advanced into the heart of Saxony than he formed his plan of campaign: and they, persisting in their advance, and taking up a position on the Saale, afforded him the means of repeating at their expense, the very manoeuvres which had ruined the Austrians in the preceding campaign. The French commander at once perceived that the Prussian army was extended upon too wide a line, thus enabling him the better to destroy it in detail. He also discovered that the enemy had all its principal stores and magazines at Naumburg to the rearward, and he resolved to commence operations by an attempt to turn the flank and seize the magazines ere the main body of the Prussians, lying at Weimar, could be aware of his movement. The Emperor quitted Bamberg on the 8th, at three in the morning, and arrived on the same day at Cronach. Every corps of the army was then in motion.

The French came forward in three great divisions; the corps of Ney and Soult in the direction of Hof; Davoust, Murat and Bernadotte towards Saalburg and Schleiz, and Lannes and Augereau upon Coburg and Saalfeld. These last generals were opposed at Saalfeld with much firmness by Prince Louis of Prussia, cousin-german to the king, who imprudently abandoned the bridge over the Saale,—which he might have defended with success,—and came out into the open plain where his troops were overpowered by the French. Fighting hand to hand with a subaltern who ran up to him and cried, "Surrender, General!" the brave young officer in brilliant uniform and adorned with all his decorations, replied with a sabre cut, and was immediately struck down by a mortal thrust in the face with a sabre, which occasioned it to be remarked in the second bulletin that "the first blow of the war had killed one of its authors."

Prince Frederick Christian Louis of Prussia had been very impatient to commence the war and urged and hastened hostilities. He was, besides, a man of great courage and talent. Rapp in his "Memoirs" says: "Napoleon, who did not like this petulant eagerness, was conversing with us one evening respecting the generals of the enemy's army. Some one present happened to mention Prince Louis. 'As for him' said he, 'I foretell that he will be killed in this campaign.' Who could have thought the prediction would so soon have been fulfilled?"

The Prussians fled, leaving the bridge which gave the French access to the country behind the Saale. The flank of the Prussian position was turned; the French army passed entirely around them, and Napoleon seized and blew up the magazines at Naumburg. The explosion announced to the King of Prussia and his generalissimo, the Duke of Brunswick, that Napoleon was in their rear. From this moment the Prussians were isolated and completely cut off from all their resources—as completely as the army of Mack was at Ulm the year before. The engagement at Schleiz contributed to hasten the retreat of the enemy which threw away upon the roads a great number of muskets and hats, and leaving in the hands of the French 400 prisoners and as many killed or wounded. But the moral effect of the action was greater than the material, the Prussians learning for the first time the sort of soldiers they had to deal with.

Napoleon was extremely pleased with this first action at Schleiz, as it proved how little the Prussian cavalry, though excellently mounted and very skillful in the management of its horses, was to be feared by his solid infantry and bold horse soldiers.

The Duke of Brunswick who flattered himself that the French could not debouch, hastily endeavored to concentrate his forces for the purpose of cutting his way back again to the frontier which he had so rashly abandoned. Napoleon, meanwhile, had posted his divisions so as to watch the chief passages of the Saale, and awaited the coming of his outwitted opponent.

The manifesto of Frederick William had arrived at the capital a day or two after Napoleon had quitted Paris for the camp, and it was now that he found time to answer it by calling on his own marshals to witness how "The French army has done as it was bidden; this is the 8th of October, and we have evacuated the territories of the Confederation of the Rhine!"

To the King of Prussia Napoleon wrote: "Believe me, my strength is such that your forces cannot long balance the victory. But wherefore shed so much blood? To what purpose? I will hold to your Majesty the same language I held to the Emperor Alexander two days before the battle of Austerlitz: 'Why should we make our subjects slay each other? I do not prize a victory which is purchased by the lives of so many of my children.' If I were just commencing my military career, and if I had any reason to fear the chances of war, this language would be wholly misplaced. Sire, your Majesty will be vanquished; you will have compromised the repose of your life, the existence of your subjects, without the shadow of a pretext. At present you are uninjured, and may treat with me in a manner conformable with your rank; before a month has passed you will treat, but in a different position."

On learning of the fall of Naumburg, the Prussian king knew full well the imminent danger of his position. His army was at once set in motion in two great masses, one commanded by himself, advancing towards Naumburg, the other attempting in like manner to force its passage through the French line in the neighborhood of Jena. The king's march was arrested at Auerstadt by Davoust, who, after a severely contested action, at length repelled the assailant. Napoleon himself, meanwhile, was engaged with the other great body of the Prussians.

Arriving on the evening of the 13th of October at Jena, he at once perceived that the enemy was ready to attempt the advance next morning, while his own heavy train was still thirty-six hours' march in his rear. "But," as the Emperor said in his bulletin of the battle fought next day, "there are moments in war when no consideration can balance the advantage of being before-hand with the enemy, and of attacking first."

On the heights from Jena to Landgrafenberg he placed Gazan's division on the left, in the right Souchet's division, and in the centre and rear the foot guard. He made the latter encamp in a square of 4000 men, and in the centre of this square overlooking the plains below, he established his bivouac. Ever since that time the people have called that height "Napoleonsberg," marking by a heap of rough stones the spot where the Emperor had spent part of that memorable night.

The Emperor labored hard, torch in hand, directing and encouraging his soldiery to cut a road through a ledge of rocks and draw up by that means such light guns as he had at command to a position on a lofty plateau in front of Jena. It was a most formidable position, and one that was destined to prove more decisive than that of a much larger one might have been under other circumstances. Napoleon spent the entire night among the men, helped drag the guns to the cliffs, and offering rewards for every piece of cannon that should be placed on the heights. He reminded his followers that the Prussians were about to fight—not for honor, but for their lives.

"The night," says Napoleon, "offered a spectacle worthy of observation; that of the two armies, one of which embraced with its front an extent of six leagues, and peopled the atmosphere with its fires, the other, whose apparent fires were concentrated in a small point, and in both encampments activity and motion. The fires of the two armies were within half cannon-shot; the sentinels almost touched each other, and not a movement could be made without being heard."

At about 5 o'clock Napoleon asked Marshal Soult, "Shall we beat them?"

"Yes, if they are there," answered the marshal; "I am only afraid they have left."

At that moment the first musketry was heard, "There they are," said the Emperor joyfully; "there they are! The business is beginning."

Napoleon then rode through the ranks addressing his soldiers. He bade them remember that, a year ago, at the same period, they had conquered Ulm and recommended that they be on their guard against the Prussian cavalry, which had been represented as so formidable. "This cavalry," he said, "must be destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the Russian infantry at Austerlitz." He told them that if they should succeed in endeavoring to fight their way through any point, the corps that would suffer them to pass, must forfeit its honor and character.

The soldiers answered his animated discourse by demanding to be led against the enemy; and the cries of, "Forward! Let us march!" were heard in every direction.

Again, as at Austerlitz, a cloud of mist completely enveloped the contending hosts. Both armies were almost in the heat of battle before the different divisions were distinguishable. Augereau commanded the right wing, Soult the left, Cannes the centre and Murat the reserve of cavalry. Escorted by men carrying torches, Napoleon again went along in front of the troops, talking to the officers and soldiers. He exhorted them to keep on their guard against the Prussian cavalry and to receive it in square with their usual firmness. His words everywhere drew forth shouts of "Forward! Vive l'Empereur!" At that moment the corps of Lannes set itself in motion on a signal from Napoleon.

The battle began on the right and left and the conflict proved terrible. Davoust, in particular, was placed in a situation sufficient to try a man of the most determined courage and firmness but Bernadotte refused to support him. He paraded around Apolda, while 26,000 French troops were engaged with 60,000 picked men, commanded by the Duke of Brunswick and the King of Prussia. Thus, says General Gourgaud, he caused the death of five or six thousand Frenchmen and hazarded the success of the day, for which he experienced a very short disgrace. Napoleon on this occasion observed that Bernadotte did not behave well, and that he would have felt gratified had Davoust been defeated; "but," added the Emperor, "the affair reflects the highest honor on the conqueror, and the more so, as Bernadotte rendered his situation a most difficult one." Bernadotte's conduct was such that a decree was signed by Napoleon that must have resulted in his being shot, but out of regard to his wife the Emperor destroyed the order the moment he was about to put it into the hands of one of his officers.

A hand to hand struggle followed the first charge of the Prussians. It was received by Soult and was a doubtful engagement until Ney appeared with a fresh division and drove the Prussians back. Nothing but the smoke of battle now obstructed the view, the famous sun of Napoleon having mounted the heavens was throwing a flood of light on a terrific engagement. Charge after charge followed, both sides maintaining their positions with firmness and valor. The commanders were constantly executing manoeuvres as though on parade. At one time the Emperor observed Ney, whom he had supposed to be in the rear, engaged with the Prussians. He hastened up greatly displeased, but on discovering the brave marshal defending himself in the centre of two weak squares against the whole of the Prussian cavalry, his displeasure gave way to admiration, and an immediate relief was ordered and brought up by Bertrand and Lannes. During the time that elapsed before relief arrived he fought as intrepidly as before, and was not in the least disconcerted by his hazardous position. Davoust's plans were so well laid, and his generals and troops displayed such courage and skill, that Blucher, with 12,000 cavalry, had not the satisfaction of penetrating through a single company. The king, the guards, and the whole army, attacked the French without obtaining better success. Amidst the deluge of fire that surrounded them on all sides, they preserved all their national gaiety. A French soldier, nick-named "the Emperor" impatient at the obstinacy of the Prussian guards, exclaimed, "On with me, grenadiers! Come, follow the Emperor!" when, rushing into the thickest of the battle, the troops followed, and the enemy was penetrated. For this deed he was raised to the rank of a corporal.

Napoleon, field-glass in hand, at length ordered a general onslaught all along the lines, to be followed by a bold charge of Murat's cavalry at a point where the Emperor had detected a weakness in the enemy's lines. As the signal blast for advancing was sounded, the eager squadrons that had been smelling the smoke of battle for hours with impatience, rushed onward to glory or to death. On, on they charged with all the vehemence and impetuosity of the French cavalryman, each of whom believed that on him, and him alone, rested the fate of the day, and as on so many similar occasions, they were victorious. The sturdy Prussian columns were broken,—infantry, cavalry, guards and grenadiers were mowed down by thousands. The French infantry gave fresh proof of their valor and sustained their reputation at this engagement. In one of the charges which the divisions under Morand had to sustain from the numerous Prussian cavalry under Prince Henry, the 17th regiment, before presenting arms, placed their caps at the ends of their bayonets, crying, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Why not fire then?" exclaimed Colonel Lanusse who apprehended the enemy would be upon them before they were ready. "Oh, time enough for that" they replied, "at fifteen paces you shall see." In fact a murderous discharge at that distance made the Prussians turn their horses' heads and retire.

The ardor of the troops on this important day was such that some corps, which circumstances prevented from taking part in the engagement, loudly expressed their dissatisfaction. One of these traits is sufficiently characteristic of the soldier and the Emperor under whose eyes they fought. At an early period of the conflict, while the French cavalry was anxiously expected, Napoleon seeing his infantry wings in a state of agitation, being threatened by the enemy's cavalry, set off at a full gallop to direct the manoeuvres and change the front into squares. The infantry of the imperial guard, seeing all the rest of the troops engaged, while the Emperor left them in inaction, many voices were heard to cry "Forward!" "Who is that?" asked the Emperor quickly, as he presented himself in front of the battalions; "This is some beardless young man, who wishes to anticipate what I intend to do. Let him wait until he has commanded in thirty pitched battles, before he pretends to give me advice."

Out of the 70,000 Prussians who had appeared on the field of battle, not a single corps remained entire, not one retreated in order. Out of the 100,000 French, composed of the corps of Marshals Soult, Lannes, Augereau, Ney, Murat and the Guard, not more than 50,000 had fought, and they had been sufficient to overthrow the Prussian army.

This rout ended in the complete breaking up of the Prussian army, horse and foot all flying together, in the confusion of panic, upon the road to Weimar. At that point the fugitives met and mingled with their brethren, flying as confusedly as themselves, from Auerstadt.

In his account of the battle of Jena Napoleon spoke with pleasure of the enthusiasm shown by his soldiers during the heat of battle. In conclusion he said: "In so warm a fight, in which the enemy lost almost all their generals, we should thank that Providence which watched over our army, that no man of note has been killed or wounded. Marshal Lannes had his breast scratched without being wounded. Marshal Davoust had his hat carried away and a great number of balls in his clothes." To Josephine, who was awaiting the results of the campaign at Mayence, he wrote on October 16th: "Everything has turned out as I planned, and never was an army more thoroughly beaten and destroyed." The Emperor confessed, that, during the night before the battle of Jena, he had been exposed to the most imminent danger, and might have disappeared without anyone knowing clearly his fate. He had approached the bivouacs of the Prussians in the dark, to reconnoitre, having only a few officers about his person. The French army was almost everywhere on the alert, under a persuasion that the Prussians were strongly addicted to nocturnal attacks. Returning from that survey, the Emperor was fired at by the first sentinel of his own camp, which proved a signal for the whole line; and he had no resource left but to throw himself flat on his face until the mistake should be discovered. His principal apprehension, however, was not realized; he feared least the Prussian line, then very near him, might act in the same manner.

When the conflict ended 20,000 Prussians lay dead on the battle field, or were taken prisoners, including twenty generals. Among the trophies of war were 300 cannon and sixty royal standards.

The Queen of Prussia was a fearless horsewoman and had faced great dangers at Jena. When she rode before her troops in her helmet of polished steel, shaded by a plume, in her glittering golden cuirass, her tunic of silver stuff, her red boots with gold spurs, she resembled Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into cries of enthusiasm as they saw their warlike queen: before her were bowed the flags she had embroidered with her own hands and the old, torn, and battle-stained standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she was obliged to take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the French hussars.

The Duke of Brunswick, who had contended with Napoleon in this memorable engagement, was wounded in the face with a grape-shot early in the battle and was carried off the field never to recover.

The various routed divisions roamed about the country seeking separately a means of escape, and fell an easy prey to the French. The Prince of Hohenlohe at length drew together not less than 50,000 of these wandering soldiers and threw himself at their head into Magdeburg, but that great fortress had been stripped of all its stores for the service of the Duke of Brunswick's army before Jena, and Hohenlohe was compelled to retreat. He was defeated in a number of skirmishes, and at length, finding himself devoid of ammunition or provisions, laid down his arms. The Duke of Wurtemburg, one of the Prussian generals, had taken a position at Halle and Bernadotte marched upon him. He attacked the enemy with the bayonet, killing and routing all who dared oppose him. The slaughter was dreadful and Napoleon, visiting the field of battle the ensuing day, was struck with the sight of the heaps of dead surrounding the bodies of the French soldiers. Observing on the uniforms some of the buttons of the 32d, he said with a sigh, "So many of that regiment were killed in Italy, Egypt, and elsewhere, I thought none could be remaining."

General Blucher was shortly afterwards compelled to lay down his arms after a loss of 4,000 men out of 10,000 at Lubeck, where a severe action was fought in the streets of the town on the 6th of November. The fortresses of the Prussian monarch now capitulated as fast as their commanders were requested to do so, and Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph on the 25th of October. The honor of taking possession of that city Napoleon reserved for Davoust's corps, which had contributed so much to the victory at Jena.

The Prussians could not comprehend the rapid marches and the promptitude with which they were met in their flights. As the Emperor said in his 14th bulletin: "These gentry are doubtless accustomed to the manoeuvres of the 'Seven Years' War.' They would demand three days to bury their dead. 'Think of the living' replied the Emperor, 'and leave the care of interring the dead to us; there is no need of a truce for that.'"

Thus in a campaign of a week's duration had the proud Prussian monarchy been leveled to the ground. The people, believing that the fall of the military meant necessarily the fall of the monarchy itself, the pride and strength of the nation disappeared and every bond of union among the various provinces of the crown seemed to be at once dissolved.

On the 25th of October, 1806, after passing in review the Imperial foot guards, commanded by Lefebvre, Napoleon visited the tomb of Frederick the Great at Potsdam where were stored a number of mementos of the great warrior. The court of Prussia had fled with so much precipitancy from Potsdam, that nothing had been carried away. Even the sword of Frederick the Great, the belt and the cordon of his orders, were left there.

On finding that the court had not thought of placing these relics out of the reach of invasion, the Emperor took possession of them. As he displayed the sword of Frederick, he said: "I prefer these trophies to all the King of Prussia's treasures. I will send them to my veterans who served in the campaigns of Hanover. I will present them to the Governor of the Hospital of the Invalides, who will preserve them as a testimony of the victories of the army, and the revenge it has taken for the disasters of Rosbach."

"The door of the monument was open," says General SÉgur; "Napoleon paused at the entrance in a grave and respectful attitude. He gazed into the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, and stood thus for nearly ten minutes motionless, silent, as if buried in deep thought. There were five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, an aide-de-camp and I. We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, imagining the two great men face to face, identifying ourselves with the thoughts we ascribed to our Emperor before that other genius whose glory survived the overthrow of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity as in success."

During his stay at Berlin Napoleon issued the famous "Berlin Decrees" by which he attempted to establish the "continental system," whose object was to shut out the commerce and intercourse of Great Britain from the Continent of Europe. The ruin of France's maritime power at Trafalgar, and the almost universal supremacy of the French Empire on land left Napoleon in his own judgment, no other means of retaliation. Through this continental system he endeavored, for several years, to annihilate all commercial intercourse between the continent and England.

The Prince of Hatzfeld was detected, during Napoleon's stay at Berlin, in sending secret information of the state and movements of the French army to the enemy. One of his letters fell into the hands of the French and he was arrested. His wife gained access to Napoleon's apartments, and, ignorant of her husband's conduct, spoke with the boldness of innocence in his favor. On being handed the letter written by her husband she was completely overcome and fell on her knees before the Emperor, imploring his forgiveness. "Throw that paper into the fire, madam," said Napoleon, "and the military commission will then have no proof of his guilt."

With a cry of joy the princess did as she was directed and the order of arrest, which would have resulted in Hatzfeld's death in an hour, was recalled.

While at Berlin the Emperor addressed his troops in a proclamation in which he said: "Our entrance into Potsdam and Berlin had been preceded by the fame of our victories. We have made 60,000 prisoners, taken sixty-five standards, among which are the colors of the King of Prussia's guards, six hundred pieces of cannon, and three fortresses. Among the prisoners there are upwards of twenty generals; yet, notwithstanding all this, more than half our troops regret their not having fired a single shot *** Soldiers, the Russians boast of coming to meet us, but we will advance to encounter, and save them half their march; they shall meet another Austerlitz in the heart of Prussia. A nation that can so soon forget our generous treatment after that battle,—owed their safety only to the capitulation we granted them,—is a power that cannot successfully contend against us. We will not again be the dupes of a treacherous peace."

Before leaving Berlin Napoleon received a deputation of the Senate, sent from Paris to congratulate him on the success of his campaign. Accompanied by representatives from the army, he made them the bearer of the trophies of his recent victories. He then prepared to extinguish whatever resistance existed in a few garrisons of the Prussian monarchy and to meet, before they could reach the soil of Germany, those Russians who were now advancing, too late, to the assistance of Frederic William.