invaded France; but, unable to force the
passes of Argonne, decimated by disease
in Champagne, and beaten by Dumouriez,
the invaders finally retreated in great
disorder. The only result of the invasion was
the massacre of September and the execution
of Louis.

In Napoleon's first war with Austria,
Prussia, being promised Hanover, selfishly
rejoiced at the discomfiture of her old rival.
In that great campaign, which ended in
the crushing blow at Austerlitz, Napoleon,
no doubt aware that Alexander and the
King of Prussia had sworn upon the tomb
of the great Frederick to liberate Germany,
violated the neutrality of Prussia
by sending Bernadotte to march straight
upon General Mack, through the territories
of Anspach and Baireuth. In a short time
Mack, cooped up in Ulm, surrendered, and
his twenty thousand men at once laid
down their arms. Napoleon, knowing that
Prussia was certain soon to fly at him,
was careless what steps he took, so he
could cut off Mack from his Austrian and
Russian reinforcements.

Trafalgar balanced Austerlitz; but the
conqueror still went on, striking down
enemy after enemy. Austria and Russia
now silenced, Prussia broke into a flame.
In 1806 war was declared, and one hundred
and fifty thousand Prussians took the field.
The people were eager for war, and full of
ardour; but their general, the Duke of
Brunswick, was old and obstinate. The
French, as usual, were the first to
commence operations. Napoleon began in
Franconia by a series of partial actions,
intending to separate the Prussians from
their supplies, and force them to a general
and final battle. The Germans, struggling
from Weimar to Mulhausen, had left a
space of ninety miles between their
extreme flanks. The French advanced in
three divisions upon Hof, Saalburg, and
Coburg, Napoleon's object being to cross
the Saale, and cut off the Duke of Brunswick
from his distant supplies at Naumburg.
Prince Louis, who was guarding
the Saale, by his rashness in advancing
on Lannes, left the Saale open to the
French. In this engagement the prince
was killed. Napoleon instantly advanced
on Naumburg, burnt all the Prussian
magazines, and stood between the duke's
rambling army and Saxony. The duke
at last roused, advanced to recover
Naumburg, and engaged Davoust and his
division of thirty-six thousand men. The two
armies met in a thick mist in the village
of Hasen-Hausen. The Prussian cavalry
threw themselves on the French squares,
but were repeatedly repulsed. After three
hours of desperate and incessant charges,
the duke himself was wounded in the face
by a grape-shot. The King of Prussia,
receiving intelligence that his right wing
was being beaten to pieces at Jena by
Napoleon himself, ordered a general charge
to be made along the whole line. This
also failed. The French bayonets pierced
the Prussian centre and wings; a retreat
became universal, and the king himself
fled across the fields, escorted by a handful
of cavalry.

In the mean time Jena had been fought.
The Prussians commenced by attacking
Angereau, who held a village and a forest
on the right wing. Lannes coming to his
support with Soult, at length drove back
the Prussians, whose discipline kept them
in huge masses, that advanced and retired
like machinery. On this repulse Napoleon
pushed forward Ney and a large reserve
of cavalry, at the same time launching his
centre — the Imperial Guards, who were
fresh and in high spirits. As the Prussians
loosened and wavered, Murat's dragoons
and the cavalry of reserve broke down upon
them, and drove them back to Weimar,
where they lost all shape, and scattered
towards Magdeburg. In the mean time,
Bernadotte at Apolda had also routed a
Prussian detachment. In this fatal battle the
Prussians lost twenty thousand men, three
hundred guns, twenty generals, and sixty
standards.

The next day Mollendorf surrendered at
Erfurt. Soon after, General Kalkreuh's
division was routed in attempting to cross
the Hartz Mountains. Prince Eugène of
Wurtemburg's sixteen thousand men were
also overthrown by Bernadotte at Halle.
Prince Hohenlohe, retreating from Magdeburg
with fifty thousand men; escaped for
the time, but soon after laid down his
arms on the heights of Prenzlow. Blucher
alone, with forty thousand men, passed the
Elbe into Lower Saxony, and driven to bay
by Soult and Bernadotte, threw himself into
Lubeck. In a desperate battle in the streets
of that town he lost four thousand men,
but fought his way out to Schwerta, where
he had to surrender. City after city then
threw open its gates to the French. Spandau,
Stettin, Custrin, Hameln, Magdeburg,
made no resistance. Eleven days
after the battle of Jena Napoleon entered
Berlin. He proved himself a harsh and
tyrannical conqueror, and loaded the