In 2013, Germany celebrated the bicentennial of the so-called Wars of Liberation (1813–15). These wars were the culmination of the Prussian struggle against Napoleon between 1806 and 1815, which occupied a key position in German national historiography and memory. Although these conflicts have been analyzed in thousands of books and articles, much of the focus has been on the military campaigns and alliances. Karen Hagemann argues that we cannot achieve a comprehensive understanding of these wars and their importance in collective memory without recognizing how the interaction of politics, culture, and gender influenced these historical events and continue to shape later recollections of them. She thus explores the highly contested discourses and symbolic practices by which individuals and groups interpreted these wars and made political claims, beginning with the period itself and ending with the centenary in 1913.

This book explores the history and the construction of memory in Prussia's and Germany's anti-Napoleonic wars of 1806-15.

The military career of a great Prussian commander during the Napoleonic Wars Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was born in Rostock in 1742 and began his military career in 1758 as a hussar in the Swedish Army. He was captured by the Prussians in 1760 and joined the Prussian Army but was forced to resign for insubordination. A farmer until 1786, he returned to the army rising in rank to lieutenant-general in 1801. Today, Blücher is remembered for his cooperation with the Duke of Wellington during 'The Hundred Days' campaign in 1815, which resulted in the allied victory at Waterloo and the final downfall of Napoleon, who never had a more implacable foe than Blücher. He pressed on with unrelenting energy despite his advancing years, through many campaigns and battles and undaunted in his resolution despite suffering numerous military setbacks. The turn of the tide came in 1813 at Leipzig, 'The Battle of the Nations', where at last an army under his command prevailed. After the campaign of 1814 in North-eastern France, Blücher favoured blowing up the Jena Bridge to punish Paris for the sufferings of his homeland. The First Empire of the French had fallen, but the following year Field-Marshal Blücher was again at hand to administer the coup de grace in Belgium. He died in 1819 aged 76 years. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

Excerpt from Blucher and the Uprising of Prussia Against Napoleon, 1806-1815 I have consulted altogether many hundreds of books and articles that it would be useless to mention here without explaining just what I have gained from them and what I have discarded. Nothing is more misleading than such a bare list of authorities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

This is the first comprehensive history of the campaign that determined control of Germany following Napoleon's catastrophic defeat in Russia. Michael Leggiere reveals how, in the spring of 1813, Prussia, the weakest of the Great Powers, led the struggle against Napoleon as a war of national liberation. Using German, French, British, Russian, Austrian and Swedish sources, he provides a panoramic history which covers the full sweep of the battle for Germany from the mobilization of the belligerents, strategy and operations to coalition warfare, diplomacy and civil-military relations. He shows how Russian war weariness conflicted with Prussian impetuosity, resulting in the crisis that almost ended the Sixth Coalition in early June. In a single campaign, Napoleon drove the Russo-Prussian army from the banks of the Saale to the banks of the Oder. The Russo-Prussian alliance was perilously close to imploding only to be saved at the eleventh-hour by an armistice.