sending a force of 30,000 to keep the passes from Bo hemia to Dresden. Bliicher judiciously retreated before the French troops, and while Napoleon was following him, the allied army in Bohemia came down upon Dresden. In place, however, of at once beginning the attack, it was delayed till Bonaparte, who had been informed of their movements, had time to arrive. The attack was commenced on 28th August, and kept up with great fury during the day ; but in the evening a series of sallies were made from the town, which took the besiegers completely by surprise, and compelled them to withdraw. Napoleon had now re ceived sufficient reinforcements to enable him to give battle, which he did the next day. He was then able to muster 130,000 men, while the allies numbered about 160,000. The fight was maintained for some time with great bravery on both sides, but at length a body of French troops under Murat succeeded in turning the flank of the allied left wing, and then attacking them suddenly on flank and rear; they were thus thrown into confusion, and the great body of them killed or made prisoners. The allies lost on this occasion about 26,000 men, of whom about 13,000 were prisoners. A French force under Vandamme had been sent to cut off the retreat of the allies, but this was engaged near Culm (29th August) by a body of Russians under Ostermann, and a desperate struggle took place, which was renewed the next day, and only ended by the appearance in the rear of the French of a large body of Prussians, when the leader and most of his troops were made prisoners. The French lost in the two days 18,000 men, of whom 7000 were prisoners. Napoleon, on quitting Silesia, had left Macdonald with an army of 80,000 men to oppose Bliicher. The latter suddenly attacked them with great fury on the Katzbach (26th August), and defeated them with great slaughter. The fight was several times renewed during the three fol lowing clays when the allies were in pursuit, and in all the French lost about 7000 men in killed and wounded, and 18,000 prisoners. Nor was the French army under Oudi- nct more successful, for it sustained a severe defeat at Gross Beeren (23d August), and in that and subsequent engagements lost about 4000 in killed and wounded, and an equal number of prisoners. Napoleon was strongly affected by these reverses, the more so that they were quite unexpected. He gave the command of the army in the north to Ney, and set out himself against Bliicher. Ney engaged the allied army at Dennewitz, and a desperate battle was fought (6th September), in which the French were at length beaten and put to flight with a loss of 13,000 men, of whom one-half were prisoners. The army in Bohemia now again resumed the offensive, and was preparing to fall upon Dresden, when Napoleon suddenly returned and drove them back. He again marched against Bliicher, but returned to Dresden without effecting any thing. He then resolved to enter Prussia and take Berlin, but was obliged to give up this project on learning that Bavaria had joined the allies (8th October). Now fearing that his retreat might be cut off, he directed his march towards the Rhine, and reached Leipsic on the loth of October. Here the combined allied armies under Schwarzen- bsrg, Bliicher, and Bernadotte assembled, and on the 16th an indecisive battle was fought, which to the French was equivalent to a defeat, and the same evening Napoleon made proposals for peace, but no answer was returned. The battle was renewed on the 18th. The French army numbered about 175,000 men, while the allied forces amounted to about 290,000. The French strength was also weakened by two Saxon brigades of foot and one of cavalry passing over to the enemy during the engagement. Notwithstanding these disadvantages the French fought with great bravery and determination but were at length beaten on every side. Next day they were in full retreat, and Leipsic was taken by the allies after a gallant defence. The total loss of the French during these four days exceeded 60,000 men. The emperor reached Erfurt on the 23d October, and there collected the scattered remains of his army. The Bavarians, under Wrede, attempted to inter cept his retreat at Hanau, but though aided by some of the allied troops, they were defeated with great slaughter (30th October). The Rhine was crossed on 1st November, and on the 9th Napoleon arrived in Paris. Thus Germany regained its independence, and the Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved. Austria, as we have seen, had a principal share in bringing this about ; but the Emperor Francis was opposed to the adoption of extreme measures against Napoleon, being desirous that the sceptre of France should continue in the hands of his daughter and her de scendants. Other views, however, prevailed. The war was 1814. carried into the enemy s country, and at length, not with out a good deal of fighting, the allies entered Paris on 31st March 1814. On llth April Napoleon resigned the im perial crown.
In the end of September following a congress was assem bled at Vienna to adjust the claims and the mutual rela tions of the several states. This, however, was found to be a matter of no small difficulty. Russia demanded the whole of Poland, and Prussia laid claim to Saxony. Austria, France, and England were opposed to these claims, and determined to resist them, so that at one time it appeared as if war was again to break out ; but more peaceful views began to prevail, and when the news arrived that Napoleon 1815. had secretly quitted Elba, all minor differences were for gotten in the presence of this pressing danger. They at once declared him an enemy and a disturber of the peace of the world, and prepared to bring against him an army of upwards of half a million of men. But before these had all been collected, Wellington and Bliicher had brought the military career of Bonaparte to a close on the field of Waterloo. In the new partition of Europe, which was fixed by the Congress of Vienna (1815), Austria received Lom- bardy and Venice, the Illyrian provinces, Dalmatia, the Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Salzburg, the Innviertel, and Hausruck- viertel, together with the part of Galicia formerly ceded by her, making in all about 3,200 square miles of territory. The emperors of Austria and Russia and the king of Prussia also entered into a " Holy Alliance," by which they bound themselves to remain united in the bands of true and brotherly love, to mutually help and assist each other, to govern their people like fathers of families, and to main tain religion, peace, and justice in their dominions. This alliance, beautiful in theory, was made, in fact, the means of maintaining absolute power in the hands of the rulers, and of suppressing free institutions and almost every form of liberty among the people. This was particularly the case in Austria, under the direction of Metternich, who did everything in his power to carry out these principles. A strict censorship of the press was established, not only to overlook the home press, but also to superintend the in troduction of foreign publications. A system of secret police was also organised to observe and report what was said and done by the people in private. Besides this, Austria was ever ready to aid in the suppression of revolu tionary movements in other states. In the construction of the German Confederation she used her influence to sup press the popular voice in all matters of government ; her armies were employed in quelling the popular insurrections in Naples and Piedmont in 1822; and by diplomacy she aided in the suppression of the popular movement in Spain in 1 823. During the insurrection in Greece the influence of Austria was exerted against it ; and when Greece was estab lished as a kingdom (f827), under the protection of England,
