October 21, 1805 · Atlantic / Naval Theater

Off Cape Trafalgar on the southwestern coast of Spain, Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson led the British fleet in a bold perpendicular attack against the combined Franco-Spanish fleet. Breaking the enemy line in two columns, the British achieved a tactical masterpiece, capturing or destroying 22 of 33 enemy ships without losing a single vessel of their own. Nelson was mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter during the height of the battle and died below decks, his last words reportedly being 'Thank God I have done my duty.' His victory was decisive and absolute.

December 2, 1805 · Central Europe Theater

Widely regarded as Napoleon's greatest tactical triumph, Austerlitz was fought on the first anniversary of his coronation near the Moravian town of Brno. Feigning weakness on his right flank, Napoleon deliberately enticed the Allied commanders to strip troops from the Pratzen Heights to envelop what appeared to be a vulnerable French position. When the Allied center had been sufficiently weakened, Marshal Soult's corps stormed the Pratzen with devastating speed, splitting the Allied army in two. The flanking Allied force became trapped between French wings and was driven onto frozen ponds, where artillery fire broke the ice, drowning hundreds. The battle lasted barely nine hours.

October 14, 1806 · Central Europe / Prussia Theater

Fought simultaneously at two locations ten miles apart, the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt shattered Prussian military power in a single day. At Jena, Napoleon with 96,000 men crushed Prince Hohenlohe's 53,000 Prussians. Meanwhile, the more remarkable action unfolded at Auerstedt, where Marshal Davout with just 27,000 men defeated the main Prussian force of 63,000 under the Duke of Brunswick, who was mortally wounded. Napoleon initially refused to believe Davout's report, unable to credit that one corps had beaten the larger Prussian army. The pursuit that followed was relentless — within weeks the French had occupied Berlin.

February 7–8, 1807 · Eastern Europe / East Prussia Theater

Fought in a blinding blizzard across the frozen plains of East Prussia (present-day Bagrationovsk, Russia), Eylau was the bloodiest battle Napoleon had fought to that point. The Russian army under Bennigsen fought stubbornly and nearly broke the French center when a massive artillery bombardment devastated Augereau's corps. In desperation, Napoleon ordered Marshal Murat to lead the largest cavalry charge of the Napoleonic era — 10,700 horsemen thundering through the snowstorm — buying time until Ney's corps arrived to stabilize the line. When the smoke cleared, the field was carpeted with dead on both sides and the result was inconclusive.

July 5–6, 1809 · Central Europe / Austria Theater

Fought on the Marchfeld plain northeast of Vienna, Wagram was one of the largest battles yet seen in Europe, involving over 300,000 men across two days. After his repulse at Aspern-Essling two months earlier, Napoleon meticulously prepared his crossing of the Danube and struck with overwhelming force. Archduke Charles executed a skilled defense and nearly separated the French army on the first day. On the second day, Napoleon concentrated a massive battery of over 100 guns and launched a colossal frontal assault under Macdonald's corps while Davout outflanked the Austrian left. Archduke Charles, seeing the position turning, ordered a fighting withdrawal rather than risk annihilation.

September 7, 1812 · Russia Theater

The largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, Borodino was fought 70 miles west of Moscow as Kutuzov's Russian army made a stand to defend the ancient capital. The battle centered on a series of earthwork fortifications — the Great Redoubt, the Bagration Flèches, and the Shevardino Redoubt — which the French stormed in brutal frontal assaults throughout the day. General Bagration was mortally wounded defending the flèches that bore his name. Napoleon refused to commit his Imperial Guard, later citing this as his greatest mistake. By day's end the French held the field, but the Russian army had not been destroyed and withdrew in good order.

November 26–29, 1812 · Russia Theater

As Napoleon's shattered Grande Armée retreated westward through the bitter Russian winter, Russian forces converged from three directions to trap the French at the Berezina River, which had partially thawed making it impassable by foot. In a remarkable feat of improvisation, General Eblé's pontoon engineers worked for three days and nights in freezing water, constructing two bridges under fire. French rear-guard corps fought desperate actions on both banks to hold the crossing open while the remnants of the army staggered across. Thousands of stragglers, camp followers, and wounded who reached the bridges too late were killed or captured when the bridges were destroyed.

October 16–19, 1813 · Central Europe / Germany Theater

The largest battle in history before the First World War, Leipzig brought together over half a million men over four days of savage fighting around the Saxon city. Napoleon found himself surrounded by three converging Coalition armies — Schwarzenberg from the south, Blücher from the north, and Bernadotte from the northeast. He fought brilliantly on the defensive for two days, but the odds were impossible. On October 18 the Saxon corps treacherously switched sides mid-battle, firing on their former French allies. The next day, with retreat becoming a rout, the bridge over the Elster was prematurely blown while thousands of French troops were still in the city. Marshal Poniatowski drowned attempting to swim the river.

June 16, 1815 · Belgium / Hundred Days Theater

Two days before Waterloo, Napoleon struck the Prussian army under Blücher at the village of Ligny in Belgium, inflicting his last significant tactical victory. The fighting was ferocious throughout the afternoon as Napoleon hammered the Prussian center with veteran troops while waiting for d'Erlon's corps to arrive and complete the encirclement. D'Erlon never arrived — his corps marched back and forth between Ligny and Quatre Bras without engaging at either battle. In the early evening the Imperial Guard broke the Prussian center and Blücher himself was nearly captured when his horse was shot and fell on him. The Prussians retreated but, crucially, northward rather than eastward — toward Wellington rather than away from him.

June 16, 1815 · Belgium / Hundred Days Theater

Fought simultaneously with Ligny, Quatre Bras was a hard-fought engagement at a road junction critical to keeping Wellington's and Blücher's armies in communication. Marshal Ney initially faced a small Allied force and should have overwhelmed it quickly, but hesitated fatally in the morning hours. As the afternoon progressed, Wellington fed reinforcements piecemeal into the battle, narrowly preventing a French breakthrough. General Picton's Scottish infantry repulsed a massive French cavalry charge, and the Highlanders of the 92nd Regiment won particular glory. D'Erlon's corps, which might have been decisive at either Quatre Bras or Ligny, was marched back and forth by conflicting orders and contributed nothing to either engagement.

June 18, 1815 · Belgium / Hundred Days Theater

The most famous battle of the nineteenth century, Waterloo ended Napoleon's rule and the Hundred Days. Wellington's Anglo-Allied army held a ridge at Mont-Saint-Jean south of Brussels while awaiting Prussian reinforcement. Napoleon delayed his attack until late morning to allow the ground to dry, a fatal hesitation. Throughout the afternoon, massive French infantry assaults and repeated cavalry charges broke against Wellington's stubborn defense anchored on the farm complexes of Hougoumont and La Haie Sainte. As evening approached, Napoleon committed his Imperial Guard in a last desperate gamble. The Guard advanced in columns through smoke and cannon fire but was met by withering musket volleys and thrown back — for the first time in their history, the Old Guard had been repulsed. The cry 'La Garde recule!' spread panic through the French army. At that moment the Prussians crashed into Napoleon's right flank, and the entire French army dissolved into a rout.