The Rise of Napoleon and the Collapse of Prussia

In 1806, Europe stood at a crossroads. Napoleon Bonaparte, the self-crowned Emperor of the French, had already reshaped the continent through his stunning victories at Austerlitz and elsewhere. The once-mighty Prussian kingdom, resting on the laurels of Frederick the Great’s legacy, found itself woefully unprepared for the military revolution Napoleon represented.

The Prussian army, though disciplined and proud, clung to outdated linear tactics while Napoleon’s Grande Armée moved with unprecedented speed and flexibility. When Prussia finally joined the Fourth Coalition against France in October 1806, the confrontation would prove disastrous for Frederick William III’s forces. Within weeks of the declaration of war, Napoleon’s forces delivered crushing defeats at Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806 – twin battles that shattered Prussian military prestige.

The Relentless French Advance

Following the twin victories, Napoleon pursued the retreating Prussians with characteristic vigor. His forces captured key fortresses in rapid succession: Spandau fell on October 25, Stettin on October 29, and the heavily fortified Magdeburg surrendered to Marshal Ney on November 1. By early November, French forces controlled all of western Prussia.

The speed of the French advance caught Berlin unprepared. Shopkeepers hadn’t even had time to remove anti-Napoleonic caricatures from their windows before French troops entered the city. Napoleon, ever conscious of symbolic gestures, ordered the removal of the Quadriga – the famous chariot statue from the Brandenburg Gate – to be taken to Paris, just as he had done with Venetian treasures years earlier.

The Emperor in Berlin: Symbolism and Statecraft

Napoleon’s entry into Berlin on October 27 was a carefully staged spectacle. At the head of a grand procession of 20,000 grenadiers and cuirassiers in full dress uniform, the Emperor himself cut a surprisingly modest figure. Captain Coignet noted the contrast: “The emperor advanced proudly, dressed simply with a small hat bearing a cockade worth one sou… while his men wore full dress. It was a singular spectacle to see the worst-dressed man commanding such a magnificent army.”

From his headquarters in Frederick William’s Charlottenburg Palace, Napoleon dictated harsh peace terms: Prussia must surrender all territory west of the Elbe River. Yet when he further demanded that Prussia become a base for operations against Russia, Frederick William refused, retreating northeast to Königsberg to continue the fight with Russian support.

The Birth of the Continental System

On November 21, 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree, establishing his Continental System – an economic blockade designed to cripple British trade. The decree prohibited all commerce with the British Isles, declared British subjects prisoners of war, and forbade any port under French control from receiving British ships.

Napoleon believed this economic warfare would force Britain to negotiate peace, but the system proved difficult to enforce uniformly across Europe. While it did cause significant economic disruption, particularly in Britain’s 1807-1811 fiscal years, the blockade ultimately harmed France’s continental allies more than it damaged Britain’s global trade network.

The Polish Campaign: From Triumph to Stalemate

As winter approached, Napoleon turned his attention eastward toward Poland, where he hoped to engage the approaching Russian forces. The campaign presented immense logistical challenges: poor roads turned to quagmires under autumn rains, supply lines stretched thin, and the harsh Polish winter loomed.

Despite these difficulties, Napoleon’s forces pressed forward. On December 23, Marshal Davout’s night attack at Czarnowo secured French control of waterways north of Warsaw. However, the subsequent battles at Pultusk and Golymin on December 26 demonstrated the challenges of winter warfare against a determined Russian foe. General Bennigsen’s forces fought effective rearguard actions before withdrawing to winter quarters near Białystok.

The Horrors of Eylau

The campaign reached its bloody climax at the Battle of Eylau on February 7-8, 1807. In blinding snowstorms, 75,000 French troops faced 67,000 Russians in one of the most savage engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The fighting raged through the streets of Eylau and across the surrounding frozen landscape, with neither side able to gain decisive advantage.

Napoleon’s situation became desperate enough that he committed his Imperial Guard – an unprecedented measure. Marshal Murat’s massive cavalry charge (nearly 11,000 horsemen) temporarily stabilized the French position, but the arrival of Prussian reinforcements under L’Estocq nearly turned the tide. Only the belated appearance of Marshal Ney’s corps preserved a French claim to victory.

The cost was staggering: approximately 25,000 French casualties and 15,000 Russian losses. As Napoleon later admitted to Duroc: “The losses have been great on both sides, but mine are more serious because I’m further from my bases.” The battlefield, littered with frozen corpses, stood as grim testament to the changing nature of warfare under Napoleon.

Legacy of the 1806-07 Campaign

The Prussian campaign demonstrated both Napoleon’s military genius and the limits of his power. His lightning victory over Prussia shattered one of Europe’s great military powers in weeks, yet the subsequent struggle against Russia in Poland revealed the challenges of fighting in Eastern Europe’s vast spaces and harsh climate.

The Continental System, born during this campaign, would become a defining feature of Napoleonic Europe – and ultimately a major factor in Napoleon’s downfall. While militarily successful in 1806-07, the campaign planted seeds of future troubles: the growing resistance of conquered peoples, the strain on French resources, and the impossibility of enforcing total economic warfare across an entire continent.

Napoleon’s remark to his soldiers in Potsdam on October 26, 1806 – “We will march to meet them, saving them half their journey” – encapsulated both his aggressive strategy and the relentless campaigning that would eventually exhaust France. The Emperor who could reduce Prussia to ruins in weeks would find that building a lasting European empire proved far more difficult than winning spectacular battlefield victories.