Lützen, Battle of

In the Thirty Years' War, Swedish victory 16 November 1632 over an Imperial army under Albrecht von Wallenstein 45 km/28 mi west of Leipzig, Germany. The Swedish army, about 19,000 troops was led by King Gustavus Adolphus who was killed in the battle.

Gustavus was marching from Naumburg when he heard that Wallenstein, at the head of a similar-sized force, had sent some of his troops off on a foraging expedition. He turned and advanced on Wallenstein, hoping to seize the opportunity to fall upon a weakened enemy.

Wallenstein's army was drawn up ready for battle. The Swedish cavalry, on the flanks of Gustavus' line, quickly defeated their opposite numbers; meanwhile the infantry, in the centre of the lines, had a long and bitter struggle, in which Gustavus Adolphus was killed, and the Imperial forces began to have some success. Prince Bernhard took command of the Swedes, rallied them, and regained the lost ground and guns. Wallenstein's cavalry then reappeared and battle was joined again; in the subsequent battle the cavalry's commander was killed. Swedish reserves were now thrown in and the Imperial forces were finally defeated. At nightfall, a thick fog descended and Wallenstein was able to disengage using the fog as cover. Although he managed to withdraw his troops from the field, he had to abandon his artillery.

Lützen, Battle of

In the Napoleonic Wars, disastrous surprise attack on Napoleon Bonaparte by a joint Prussian and Russian army under Count Wittgenstein 2 May 1813.

Napoleon was moving toward the Elbe with about 200,000 troops and directed his advanced guard to Lützen. Wittgenstein decided to attack the advance guard with a small detachment, while directing the major part of his army against Napoleon's right and rear. The attack on the head of the French column began about 9 a.m., and Napoleon, hearing Wittgenstein's artillery, immediately realised what was intended. He took charge of his force, detailed off a reserve and withdrew it, leaving the rest to hold off the Allies. Waiting until both sides in the ensuing battle had fought themselves to a standstill, he then sent in a grand battery of 100 guns to blow a hole in the Allied line with case shot, through which he then threw his reserve force. This so disrupted the Allies that during the night their two kings ordered a retreat. The Allies lost about 20,000 troops, the French about half that number.