Wars of Liberation

• Napoleon's defeat in Russia


  1812
• After the defeat in Russia, in which most of his 200,000 German conscripts died, Napoleon was weak enough to encourage Prussia to again declare war on France
• King Frederick William III appealed to all Germans, not just Prussians, calling on his '[my] people' to fight for the fatherland against the foreign invader
• Battle of Leipzig

  Prussia's army, largely funded by public 'Gold for Iron' donations & including 120,000 Lutzow Free Corps volunteers wearing black, red & gold armbands, drove Napoleon from central Europe
• Although sometimes described as the first collective action of the German nation, Germans did not fight at Leipzig alone; Russia & Austria were present at the battle & Saxony fought on Napoleon's side