The Battle of Dresden (1813)

   During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon had just returned from Russia, and prepared to try and stop the advancing Allies of the Sixth Coalition in Saxony. He had ordered Marshal Saint Cyr to Dresden to hold it with his corps in order to facilitate the main army's movement. On 26 August 1813, Saint-Cyr was attacked by 200,000 men of the Austrian Army of Bohemia. Saint-Cyr's Corps dutifully filled its role of holding the enemy until the main army arrived, which it quickly did. Now Present at the battle were four monarchs: Napoleon, Emperor of France, The Tsar of Russia, The Emperor of Austria, and The King of Prussia. The battle itself was a smashing success for Napoleon. The Weißeritz river flooded, cutting off the left wing of the Allied army, which was exploited to great success by Murat, who captured or killed 13000 Allied troops (also capturing 13 colours). Murat's cavalry further inflicted heavy causalities on another division during a rainstorm who, in the damp, could not fire their weapons.  Napoleon had to leave the field of battle because of gastric spasms, and his absence allowed the allies to escape being totally surrounded, and they lived to fight another day, leaving 38,000 casualties and prisoners of war behind.

The Battle Of Dresden by Naudet