In the spring of 1813, a new coalition against France (the sixth) had just been concluded between the Russians, the Prussians and the English. Poland had been invaded, then Germany as far as the Elbe River. In response, Napoleon I brought together the forces he had from across the Rhine and personally led them. The Saxony campaign would last nearly seven months.

We followed the Emperor's wanderings day after day, and captured in images the current appearance of the places in this campaign, as far as possible. Indeed, some cities, two centuries later, have become gigantic by absorbing all the surrounding villages, such as Dresden or Leipzig ... The iconography will be enriched with each of the future stays that we will be able to make in these regions.
April 1813

- April 16 - Emperor Napoleon I arrived in Mainz, after a 40-hour journey from Saint-Cloud .
- April 17 to 23 - He stayed in Mainz, staying at the Teutonic Order Hotel [Deutschhaus] , which had the rank of imperial palace.
- April 24 - He left Mainz at 8 p.m. for Frankfurt-am-Main where he spent the late evening at the Thurn und Taxis Palace, residence of the Prince Primate and Grand Duke of Frankfurt, Karl Theodor von Dalberg [this palace, badly damaged during the World War II, was demolished and then partially rebuilt ]. He then continued on to Hanau.
- April 25 - Napoleon arrived in Erfurt in the evening. He stayed there until the 28th.
- April 28 - He left Erfurt at 11 a.m. for Weimar, where he spent two hours at the Weimarer Stadtschloss, then continued to Eckartsberga where he dined with the Duke of Weimar (Carl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) and stayed at an inn [51.12248, 11.56146].
- April 29 - He arrived in Naumburg in the middle of the afternoon, in pouring rain.
- April 30 - He continued, still heading east-northeast, to Weißenfels.
May 1813

- May 1st - Napoleon left Weissenfels around 9 am. During a fight in a field [51.22675, 12.06876] near the village of Rippach , Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières was killed by a cannonball. The Emperor set up his Headquarters in Lützen; he slept in the bailiwick's house.
- May 2nd - The Battle of Lützen (also called Gross-Görschen) saw the French defeat the Allied troops, although not decisively.
- May 3rd - Napoleon left Lützen for Pegau, where he slept in a house on Kirchplatz [current no. 9, now the municipal library] known since then under the name of Napoleonhaus.
- May 4 - He was in Borna .
- May 5 - He continued east and reached Colditz.
- May 6 - He headed east-southeast to reach Waldheim.
- May 7 - He continued east, to Nossen.
- May 8 - Learning of the occupation of Dresden , a city of some 60,000 inhabitants on the Elbe River and capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, Napoleon went to this city where he slept at the Royal Palace [Dresdner Residenzschloss].
- May 9 - He went to inspect the banks of the Elbe River at Priessnitz [Briesnitz], a few kilometers downstream from Dresden, and ordered that a bridge be built there.
- May 10 and 11 - In Dresden, Napoleon inspected the reconstruction of the city's bridge [Augustusbrücke], which had been partially destroyed on March 19 by the retreating French.
- May 12 - Napoleon held a review near the Grosser Garten , which adjoined the city to the southeast, and then inspected all the guard posts.
- May 13 to 15 - He had several interviews with the King of Saxony Frederick August I (Friedrich August I.) , who returned to his capital on the 12th.
- May 16 - Napoleon received in the evening Count Ferdinand von Bubna und Littitz , charged by Metternich to bring him a list of Austrian demands. A new interview took place the following day.
- May 18 - After taking leave of the king, Napoleon left Dresden in an easterly direction, stopping at Harthau Castle [51.10763, 14.10598], shortly before Bischofswerda.
- May 19 - He crossed Bischofswerda and reached Klein-Fortgen [Kleinförstchen], 14 kilometers further.
- May 20 - This was the first day of the Battle of Bautzen. Napoleon witnesses the operations of crossing the river Spree
- May 21 - Second day of the Battle of Bautzen. Napoleon was successively at Jenkwitz, at a place called Monarchenhügel [51.17047, 14.49190] , then on the heights of Niederkaina [51.19180, 14.47727] finally to Klein-Purchwitz [Neupurschwitz], where he spent the night near the inn .
- May 22 - The French pursued the enemy, who retreated eastward. Arriving at Markersdorf , during a stop near the Hanspach farm [51.14596, 14.88196] , a cannonball fired by the Russians from a hill 2.4 kilometers away killed General of the General Staff François-Joseph Kirgener du Planta and mortally wounded the Marshal of the Palace Géraud Michel Duroc, just a few meters from Marshal Édouard Mortier and Napoleon. The Emperor, painfully affected, went at nightfall to embrace Duroc one last time. The latter would only survive twelve hours from his injuries.
- May 23 and 24 - Napoleon arrived in the afternoon in Görlitz, a town on the banks of the Neisse River [today's border with Poland] in Lusatia. He stayed there for two days, staying in a house of the Obermarkt [current n° 29] who had already hosted the tsar Alexander I (Александр I Павлович Романов) the previous month.
- May 25 and 26 - He arrived at Buntzlau [Boleslawiec], 45 kilometers further east. It was in this city that Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (Михаил Илларионович Голенищев-Кутузов) had died on the previous 28th.
- May 27 and 28 - He continued on to Liegnitz [Legnica], 44 kilometers further east.
- May 29 - He settled in a tiny farm in the hamlet of Rosenig [Rogoźnik], 14 kilometers further [51.17179, 16.33246].
- May 30 - He pushed on to Neumarkt [Środa Śląska], 19 kilometers further, where he set up his headquarters; he would stay there for six days.
June 1813

- June 4 - An armistice was signed at Pleiswitz [Pläswitz, Pielaszkowice] between France and the Prusso-Russian allies, which provided for a suspension of hostilities until July 20. Napoleon therefore decided to return to Dresden, and Neumarkt would ultimately be the easternmost point of his travels during the campaign in Saxony.
- June 5 - Leaving at 4 a.m., he arrived in Liegnitz where he spent the night.
- June 6 - He slept in Haynau [Chojnów].
- June 7 - Still marching west, he spent the night in Buntzlau [Boleslawiec].
- June 8 - He slept in Görlitz.
- June 9 - He stopped only a few hours during the night in Bautzen, then continued on his way.
- June 10 to 18 - Back in Dresden, Napoleon settled in the Brühl-Marcolini Palace, in the suburb of Friedrichstadt [today, only part of it remains, in which the municipal hospital has been established]. Also staying there were Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Armand de Caulaincourt and Hugues Bernard Maret.
- June 19 - In the afternoon he visited the villages of Neudorff, Pieschen and Trachau on the right bank of the Elbe River [today suburbs of Dresden].
- June 20 - In the afternoon he went to the fortress of Koenigstein [50.91902, 14.05673], 30 kilometers to the southeast, then returned via the castle of Pirna.
- June 21 - Napoleon remained in Dresden.
- June 22 - Early in the morning, he left for an inspection at Loschowitz [Loschwitz] then Pillnitz, Loben [Lohmen] and Velen [Stadt Wehlen], before returning to Dresden.
- June 23 and 24 - He remained in Dresden.
- June 25 - He went on inspection to Königsbruck, 28 kilometers to the north-northeast.
- June 26 - All afternoon, for nine hours without a break and without witnesses, The Emperor had a stormy interview with the Austrian Foreign Minister, Klemens von Metternich, at the Brühl-Marcolini Palace. Metternich was the bearer of an autograph letter from Emperor Francis I, who proposed a mediation, which was violently rejected by Napoleon.
- June 27 - He did not leave Dresden.
- June 28 - He left in the afternoon for an inspection at Stolpen, 26 kilometers to the east.
- June 30 - Having just received news of the defeat of his troops on the 21st at Vitoria, in Spain, Napoleon had a new four-hour interview with Metternich. The Emperor of the French finally accepted the principle of mediation by the Emperor of Austria, and the armistice was extended until August 10.
July 1813

- July 1st and 2nd - Napoleon remained in Dresden.
- July 3rd - In the afternoon he went on inspection at Radeburg and at the French camp in the forest, then returned to Dresden, where he would not move the next day.
- July 5 - New inspection, at Moritzburg, Radeberg, and return via Volkersdorf.
- July 6 - Early in the morning, he went to visit Ohnad Castle in Seidlitz [probably Großsedlitz Castle near Dohna], property of the King of Saxony.
- July 7 to 9 - Napoleon remained in Dresden.
- July 10 - Having left Dresden early in the morning, he had lunch in Torgau, and arrived in the late afternoon in Wittenberg, 130 kilometers northwest of Dresden.
- July 11 - After reviewing three divisions and inspecting the city's fortifications, he left Wittenberg for Dessau, 32 kilometers further west.
- July 12 - Leaving Dessau in the middle of the night, he reached Magdeburg in the morning.
- July 13 - In Magdeburg, he reviewed the I Army Corps of General Dominique Vandamme on the glacis, then left the city in the afternoon to descend on Leipzig, 10 kilometers to the south-southeast.
- July 14 - Arriving at one o'clock in the morning in Leipzig, he went down to the king's apartments, and during the day reviewed the III Cavalry Corps of General Jean-Thomas Arrighi de Casanova, both in the city and in the village of Mockau [today in the north-eastern suburbs]. Napoleon left Leipzig at 6 o'clock in the afternoon to return to Dresden.
- July 15 to 19 - He remained in Dresden. On the 16th he wrote to Empress Marie-Louise to ask her to come and meet him in Mainz.
- July 20 - He left at noon for Luckau, in Lower Lusatia [Niederlausitz], 100 kilometers to the north.
- July 21 - Napoleon visited the towns of Lübben then Guben and Hoyerswerda, before returning to Dresden.
- July 22 to 24 - He did not leave Dresden.
- July 25 - Napoleon left Dresden between 2:30 and 3:00 in the morning heading west. Most sources indicate a passage through Frankfurt at 9 p.m., which seems unlikely to us (423 kilometers separating the two cities by the shortest route, which would make an average of more than 22 km/h, not sustainable over such a long distance at that time); he probably passed through there the next day.
- July 26 - He arrived in Mainz between 10 and 11 p.m., where he would stay until August 1st in the company of the Empress, who had come to join him there as he had requested.
August 1813

- August 2nd - Having left Mainz the day before at 6 p.m., Napoleon arrived at Zelle [Zell am Main] and then Wurzburg, two adjoining towns on the Main River. He left again at 11 a.m. for Bamberg, 85 kilometers further east. He set off again at nightfall.
- August 3rd - Arriving at 6 a.m. in Bayreuth, he reviewed the French and Bavarian troops, then continued on his way to Hof, which he reached at 2 p.m. and from which he left again at 4 p.m.
- August 4 - Having traveled all night, he arrived in Dresden at 9 a.m.
- August 5 to 14 - He remained in Dresden, awaiting a possible resumption of hostilities. He learned on the 14th that the Prussian general-in-chief Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher had resumed them.
- August 15 - On his birthday, Napoleon received his ambassador in Vienna [Wien] General Louis Marie de Narbonne-Lara , who was returning from Prague [Praha] bringing him Austria's declaration of war. He left Dresden at 5 p.m. for Bautzen.
- August 16 - Having reached Bautzen at night, he met Joachim Murat, King of Naples, who also arrived there.
- August 17 - He stopped at Reichenbach, staying in a house who had also hosted the King of Prussia in May.
- August 18 - He went to Görlitz where he met Armand de Caulaincourt returning from the Congress of Prague.
- August 19 - He went down to Gabel [Jablonné v Podještedí], a Bohemian town 50 kilometers to the south, which he captured. He then returned to sleep in Zittau.
- August 20 - Napoleon was in Görlitz, where he reviewed the troops from the balcony of the house who had given him shelter, he then set off for Lauban [Lubań], 25 kilometers further east, to meet Blücher.
- August 21 to 23 - He continued to Löwenberg [Lwówek Slaski], a town 23 kilometers further on the banks of the Bober River [Bóbr], and spent the night there.
- August 22 - He continued his pursuit towards Goldberg in Schlesien [Złotoryja], but halfway there he turned back when he heard that the enemy had crossed the Katzbach River [Kaczawa], and so he returned to Löwenberg.
- August 23 - Being informed around noon that the Austrian army commanded by Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg, who had left Bohemia, was invading Saxony, Napoleon decided to return immediately to Dresden. In the evening, he slept in Görlitz.
- August 24 - He was in Bautzen.
- August 25 - Heading towards Pirna, he stopped at Stolpen, 31 kilometers to the west-southwest.
- August 26 - He went directly to Dresden. This was the first day of the battle of the same name.
- August 27 - On the second day of the battle, in terrible weather, he directed the operations with his customary energy, but fell ill.
- August 28 - Due to his state of health, Napoleon could not supervise the pursuit as closely as he would have done in ordinary times. He was at Rödnitz, then at Nöthnitz, whose castle had served as a coalition headquarters during the battle, finally he pushed on to the area around Pirna.
- August 29 - After another round trip to Pirna, he returned to Dresden where he would stay until September 3rd.
September 1813

- September 3rd - Napoleon left Dresden in the late afternoon heading east, to attack Marshal Blücher's army. He slept at Harthau Castle [Großharthau], just before Bischofswerda.
- September 4 - The Prussians having retreated, he went to Hochkirch [51.14891, 14.57082] , between Bautzen and Lobau; he slept there in the presbytery.
- September 5 - He returned to Bautzen.
- September 6 - He returned to Dresden, where he arrived at the end of the afternoon and learned of the defeat of Marshal Ney at Dennewitz against the Prussians of Marshal Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow .
- September 7 - He went to Mügeln, 58 kilometers west-northwest of Dresden, to meet Marshal Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, who commanded the XIV Corps.
- September 8 - He headed southeast, drove the enemy out of the village of Dohna (15 kilometers from Dresden) and spent the night there.
- September 9 - He continued south, passed through Sedlitz [Niederseidewitz?] and reached Liebstadt where he settled in the castle.
- September 10 - He pushed on to Breitenau [50.80740, 13.88967], near the border with Bohemia, and slept there.
- September 11 - He went to Peterswald [Petrovice u Chabarovic], then to the heights of Nolendorf [Nakléřov] [50.74611, 13.97722] then to Pirna, 25 kilometers further north, where he spent the night in a house from Marktplatz [current no. 20].
- September 12 - Napoleon returned to Dresden, where he remained for three days.
- September 15 - Learning that the Russian general-in-chief Peter Wittgenstein (Пётр Христианович Витгенштейн) presented himself at Peterswald, the Emperor went to Gieshubel [Berggießhübel], then returned to Pirna.
- September 16 and 17 - He was on the peaks of Peterswald, grappling with the Prussians. On the 17th, the battle of Peterswalde saw the 1st Polish Lancer Regiment of the Imperial Guard defeat the 1st Silesian Hussar Regiment, commanded by Blücher's son (who was taken prisoner at the end). The allies were pushed back into the Töplitz valley [Teplice], to the south.
- September 18 - He arrived around noon at Arbesau [Varvažov], near Telnitz, in Bohemia.
- September 19 and 20 - He returned to Pirna.
- September 21 - He returned to Dresden.
- September 22 - The Emperor moved again against Marshal Blücher, first at Weissig [Weißig am Raschütz], 37 kilometers to the north, then at Harthau [Großharthau], where he slept.
- September 23 - He stayed in Harthau.
- September 24 to 30 - He returned to Dresden, where he would stay until October 7.
October 1813

- October 7 - Napoleon left Dresden in the morning, for Meissen (23 kilometers to the northwest, on the river Elbe) where he had lunch, then Seerhausen (20 kilometers further) where he spent the night.
- October 8 - He continued towards Leipzig and reached Wurzen, after 41 kilometers.
- October 9 - He went to Eilenburg, northeast of Leipzig, on the Mulda River.
- October 10 to 13 - He headed north along the Mulda to Düben [Bad Düben], where he settled for three days in the castle. There he learned of the defection of Bavaria.
- October 14 - He entered Leipzig and then went to Reudnitz [now part of the city, in the Zentrum-Südost sector], where he set up his headquarters at the intersection of the Taucha and Wurzen roads, in a pavilion belonging to the banker Wester (or Vetter) of Leipzig.
- October 15 - From Reudnitz he went with Joachim Murat to Dölitz where they met General Józef Antoni Poniatowski, who was made a field marshal that day. Then the Emperor went to Connewitz and Lossnig, met Marshal Augereau between Dösen and Markkleburg [Markkleeberg] , passed through Wachau [51.27512, 12.43086] where its center was, then Liebertwolkwitz where Jacques Alexandre Law de Lauriston was located. Finally he returned to Reudnitz.
- October 16 - This was the Battle of Wachau, the first day of the Battle of Leipzig (also known as Battle of the Nations). The Emperor was successively at Gossa [Güldengossa] then Wachau and Dölitz.
- October 17 - Second day of the Battle of Leipzig. Napoleon was in Dölitz, in his tent, in an unusual state of inaction.
- October 18 - Third day of the Battle of Leipzig. He left his bivouac at 1 a.m., and went to a hill called Thonberg near Probstheyda, where Johann Gottlob Quandt's snuff mill was located; it was there that he decided to settle with his staff [on the site of the mill, destroyed during the fighting, a memorial monument named Napoleonstein has been erected ]. He then went to Reudnitz, Lindenau , west of Leipzig on the banks of the Luppe River , Stötteritz , Thonberg again, finally to Leipzig. He spent the night there at the Prussian Arms Inn, on the Horse Market Boulevard.
- October 19 - After taking leave of the King of Saxony, he left the city by the Lindenau Bridge over the White Elster River [Weiße Elster] . He learned from Murat and Augereau of the premature explosion of the bridge, which left the troops of Macdonald, Lauriston, Reynier and Poniatowski trapped in the city, at the mercy of the enemy. He fell back to Markranstaedt, to the west.
- October 20 - The retreat began. Napoleon crossed the Poserna Pass , 15 kilometers to the southwest, then arrived at Weißenfels where he met up with General Henri Gatien Bertrand 's IV Infantry Corps.
- October 21 - The retreat continued westward, through Freyburg and then southwest to Eckartsberga .
- October 22 - The French were now at Ollendorf, 50 kilometers further.
- October 23 and 24 - They reached Erfurt.
- October 25 - Departure for Gotha.
- October 26 - They arrived at Vacha.
- October 27 - Still heading southwest: Hünfeld.
- October 28 - Having left Hünfeld before daybreak, Napoleon passed through Fulda and Neuhof and then stayed in the afternoon at Rothenbergen, at Peter Schmick's inn (Gasthaus Fass) , then he went to the monastery of Schlüchtern .
- October 29 - Napoleon moved to Langenselbold Castle [50.17407, 9.03791] , home of Prince Carl Friedrich von Isenburg-Birstein, 12 kilometers before Hanau.
- October 30 - He arrived in the Lamboy Forest , northeast of Hanau. What followed was a battle against an Austro-Bavarian army of 43,000 men, commanded by Field Marshal Karl Philipp von Wrede , who intended to block his path to Frankfurt. In the evening, the Emperor bivouacked in the forest .
- October 31 - Arriving in Frankfurt-am-Main, Napoleon stayed in the country house of the banker Simon Moritz von Bethmann [of which only the park remains, converted into a Chinese garden at the end of the 20th century] .
November 1813

- November 1st - Napoleon left Frankfurt for Hoechst, ten kilometers away on the right bank of the Main.
- November 2nd - He crossed the Rhine River [Der Rhein] and entered Mainz.
- November 3 to 6 - He stayed in Mainz.
- November 7 - He left Mainz at 10 p.m. and returned to Saint-Cloud, which he reached two days later via Metz, Verdun and La Ferté.
All of Napoleon's movements from 1769 to 1821
Photos credits
Photos by Lionel A. Bouchon.Photos by Didier Grau.
Photos by Michèle Grau-Ghelardi.
Photos by Marie-Albe Grau.
Photos by Floriane Grau.
Photos by various authors. Thanks to Mrs. Christiane Deshaies-Da Luz for the photo of the Eckartsberga Castle she kindly offered us.