sourced story
14 October 1806Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

Two simultaneous battles destroy Prussia's army and its reputation in a single day

On the timeline · around 14 October 1806 · The Empire at Its HeightThe Empire at Its HeightOverreachThe Battle of Jena-Auerstedt1807

Quick facts

Location
Jena and Auerstedt, Saxony
Date
14 October 1806
Key commander
Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout (Auerstedt)
Result
Prussian army destroyed; Berlin falls 25 October 1806

What happened

On 14 October 1806, French forces fought two separate battles roughly 12 miles apart: Napoleon himself defeated one wing of the Prussian army at Jena, while Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's single corps, heavily outnumbered more than two to one, defeated the main Prussian army under the Duke of Brunswick at Auerstedt. At Jena the French lost about 6,000 men against 27,000 Prussian casualties, and at Auerstedt Davout's III Corps lost around 7,100 men against 15,000 Prussian losses. The Prussian army, built on the reputation Frederick the Great had earned half a century earlier, collapsed so completely that French forces captured Berlin eleven days later, on 25 October, with little further resistance.

Why it matters

Prussia's supposedly formidable military, still fighting with tactics from the Seven Years' War, was destroyed in an afternoon by an army organized into independent corps that could fight and win even when badly outnumbered, as Davout's did at Auerstedt. The defeat forced Prussia into subjugation under the First French Empire and triggered the military reforms that would eventually help defeat Napoleon at Waterloo.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia's account of the twin battles gives the casualty figures for both engagements and documents the fall of Berlin eleven days later.

Sources

See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.

Part of a timelineThe Napoleonic Wars23 events · How one artillery officer from Corsica remade Europe's map, then lost it all twiceView all →
The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt · The Napoleonic Wars · SourcedStory