and Oppenheim (16 January 1794). In 1793, he was
promoted to the rank of colonel, the following year to
the rank of major-general, and in 1801 he was made a
lieutenant general.
When the French leader naPoleon began his sec-
ond war of conquest of Europe in 1803, Blücher became
a constant opponent to his aims. The Prussian leader’s
first major clash against French forces under the French
commander Marshal Louis-Nicholas daVout was at
Auerstädt (also called Jena, 14 October 1806). The Prus-
sians lost some 22,000 men in their defeat to the French,
who suffered 11,000 casualties. Blücher then withdrew
his troops to Pomerania. When part of the Prussian
army under the Prince of Hohenlohe was cut off and
forced to surrender, Blücher joined the army of Prince
William of Brunswick-Oels at Mecklenburg. To cut off
the French, he moved onto the city of Lübeck, but the
French fought him near there and forced his surrender
at Ratkau on 6 November 1806. He was subsequently
exchanged for the French general Claude Victor Perrin
and returned to the Prussian ranks, where he was put in
charge of the defense of Pomerania’s Coastline. It was
not until 1813 that he was placed back in command of
regular troops.
Following Napoleon’s disastrous withdrawal from
Russia in early 1813, Blücher again fought the French
general. At Lützen (2 May 1813) and Bautzen (20 May
1813), he lost to Napoleon’s forces; however, at Katzbach
on 26 August 1813, he defeated French General Étienne
MacDonald, and at Leipzig on 16–18 October 1813, he
defeated Napoleon himself. For this battle, Blücher was
promoted to the rank of field marshal. He led the ad-
vance into France, crossing the Rhine River and winning
a decisive victory at La Rothière on 1 February 1814, but
a series of small defeats pushed him back to Châlons. On
9–10 March 1814, Blücher defeated Napoleon at Laon,
with the French losing some 6,000 dead and wounded.
Blücher and his army marched into Paris on 31 March,
and Frederick William III of Prussia styled Blücher as the
prince of Wahlstadt for his services to the nation.
Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, but he
escaped in 1815, returned to France, took power a sec-
ond time, and went on the offensive once again. Blücher
went back into action as commander of the Army of
the Lower Rhine. In June 1815, Blücher, commanding
an army of some 124,000 Prussians, marched to join
Arthur Wellesley, duke of Wellington, and his force
of 95,000 English and Dutch troops, but was attacked
by Napoleon on the way. The writers of The Wordsworth
Dictionary of Military Biography write:Although taken by surprise, Blücher reacted
promptly, and by the evening of 15 June had
positioned part of his forces at Sombreffe, while
Wellington was concentrated fifteen miles to
the west. The key point linking was the small
crossroads village of Quatre Bras. On the fol-
lowing day Napoleon fell on Blücher at Ligny,
rocking him back; believing that [Marshal Peter]
Ney had captured Quatre Bras, he ordered him
to strike Blücher’s right flank and thereby com-
plete the victory. But following a gallant defense
by a British brigade and procrastination by the
French marshals, the center of the Allied line was
temporarily held. Blücher, initially defeated and
himself wounded, retreated north to Wavre, but
the French commander, [Emmanuel] Grouchy,
failed to maintain contact with the retreating
Prussians and gave Blücher time to reorganize
his forces.Blücher’s march back into the battle (for which he
earned the nickname “Marshal Vorwärts” or “Marshal
Forwards”) finally turned the tide for the duke of Wel-
lington at the Battle of Waterloo, completing the allied
victory and Napoleon’s final defeat. The Frenchman
was forced into exile at St. Helena, where he died a few
years later. Blücher again marched into Paris and was
rewarded with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Iron
Cross. He retired to an estate in Prussia.
Blücher died in Krieblowitz, Prussia (now Katy
Wroclawskie, Poland), on 12 September 1819 at the
age of 76. Historian Michael Lanning writes: “Blücher,
never a master of tactics or strategy, was unsurpassed in
his personal bravery. What he lacked in finesse and re-
finement he compensated for in his ability to motivate
his soldiers, who admired his excessive indulgences in al-
cohol, tobacco, and other vices. At times, Blücher’s allies
as well as his enemies doubted the field marshal’s sanity
because of his strange actions, including claims at one
time that he was pregnant with an elephant. Regardless
of whether his erratic behavior resulted from real mental
instability, heavy consumption of gin, or his own mis-
guided sense of humor, Blücher’s reputation as a fighter
could strike fear into his opponents by his mere appear-
ance on the battlefield.” blücheR, gebhARD lebeRecht von