Armistice of Pläswitz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pläswitz Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

The armistice of Pläswitz (also called armistice of Poischwitz ). It was concluded on June 4, 1813 between the troops of Napoleon and the alliance of Prussia and Russia as part of the wars of liberation . It was named after the towns of Pläswitz in the district of Striegau and Poischwitz in the district of Jauer in Silesia .

prehistory

During the spring campaign, Napoleon had achieved success in the battles of Großgörschen and Bautzen, among others . Therefore the allies had to withdraw from Saxony to Silesia. However, both battles were costly for Napoleon as well. Numerous soldiers in his army were sick and his supply lines were constantly threatened by troops. Both sides were therefore ready to take a break from fighting in order to be able to reorganize their troops.

Content of the agreement

On June 1, both sides agreed to an initially 36-hour weapon break in Pläswitz. The village was declared a neutral zone where negotiators from both sides could meet. Armand de Caulaincourt negotiated for the French , Pawel Andrejewitsch Schuwalow for Russia and Friedrich von Kleist for Prussia . An armistice was agreed until July 20, 1813. The deadline was later extended to August 10. There was a six-day notice period.

The two sides established demarcation lines behind which the troops were to withdraw by June 12th. A neutral buffer zone with a width of about 25 to 30 kilometers was created between the armies in Silesia. The Allies gave up Hamburg , Napoleon Wroclaw . The demarcation line stretched from the Oder through Silesia to the Bohemian border. The Oder itself also separated the two sides. All of Saxony, with Anhalt-Dessau and various other territories should be under the control of the French and all of Prussia under the control of the allies. The Prussian exclaves in Saxony were considered neutral and were not allowed to be occupied by any side. The Elbe was also a line between the fronts. The enclosed French garrisons in the fortresses of Danzig , Modlin , Zamość , Stettin and Küstrin were to be supplied with food by the opposing troops. Neutral zones were established around the besieged cities.

consequences

Both sides used the time to arm themselves and to strengthen their troops. At the same time diplomatic efforts took place. In the Reichenbach Convention of June 27, 1813, Metternich promised that Austria would enter the war on the side of the Allies if Napoleon did not fulfill various peace conditions. It came to the failed peace congress in Prague , which began on July 12th. After Napoleon had not responded to Metternich's ultimatum by the end of the armistice, Austria declared war on France. A short time after the end of the armistice, the fighting began again, which ended with Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig . Napoleon later described the armistice as the greatest mistake of his life.

literature

  • Hans Eggert Willibald von der Lühe. Military Conversation Lexicon Vol. VI. Adorf 1837, pp. 543-546
  • Gerhard Taddey (ed.): Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War. 2nd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-520-81302-5 , 969f.
  • Christian Ludwig Enoch Zander, History of the War on the Lower Elbe in 1813 , Volume 1, S.159f

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pläswitz and Poischwitz are 27 km apart. It is possible that negotiations took place in both places, but more likely that the error can be traced back to a wrong spelling by Pläswitz in the French documents. In any case, the agreements were made in Pläswitz. According to: Hugo Weczerka (Ed.): Handbook of historical sites . Volume: Silesia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 316). Kröner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-520-31601-3 , p. 413f.
  2. ↑ For the ambiguities see also Ludwig Häusser : German history from the death of Frederick the Great to the foundation of the German Confederation , 4th volume. Hendel, Meersburg, Naunhof, Leipzig 1933, p. 156; in the photomechanical reprint of the first edition from 1869 (2015) p. 163

Coordinates: 50 ° 2 ′ 50 ″  N , 16 ° 30 ′ 53 ″  E