180614 October 1806 · Jena and Auerstedt, Thuringia
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
On a single day Napoleon routed one Prussian army on the plateau above Jena while Marshal Davout, heavily outnumbered, beat the main Prussian force at Auerstedt. Prussia's army, still drilled in the ways of Frederick the Great, collapsed within weeks and the French entered Berlin. The humiliation drove the Prussian reforms of army, state and education that shaped 19th-century Germany.
Sites
- Site 1: Museum 1806, Jena-CospedaBattle museum with a large diorama, in a village at the heart of the fighting.Map ↗
- Site 2: Napoleonstein on the WindknollenStone marking Napoleon's command post on the plateau above Jena.Map ↗
- Site 3: Hassenhausen, Auerstedt battlefieldVillage at the centre of Davout's battle, with memorials to the fallen.Map ↗
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