section_path: Ruler of France/French Empire/War of the Sixth Coalition
section_name: War of the Sixth Coalition
paragraph_text: War of the Sixth Coalition
  
  The French, pursued by the Russians, withdrew from most of Poland and Prussia over the winter of 1812–13 while both sides rebuilt their forces. Sweden and Prussia declared war on France in March 1813. In April, Napoleon assumed command of an army of 200,000 troops, and defeated the coalition at Lützen and Bauzen. Britain formally joined the coalition in June followed by Austria in August, but the allies were again defeated in the Battle of Dresden (August 1813).
  
  The coalition, however, had a growing advantage in infantry, cavalry, reserves and armaments. In the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the coalition was victorious at Leipzig in October. Although coalition casualties were 54,000 men, the French lost 38,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 taken prisoner. Up to 50,000 more were lost to death, illness and desertion during the French retreat to the Rhine.
  
  The Frankfurt proposals were peace terms offered by the coalition in November 1813 under which Napoleon would remain emperor, but France would be reduced to its "natural frontiers." That meant that France would retain control of Belgium, Savoy and the west bank of the Rhine, while withdrawing from Spain, Holland, Italy and Germany. Napoleon did not accept the terms and the allies crossed the Rhine into French territory on 1 January 1814. Wellington's British forces had already crossed the Pyrenees into south-western France.
  
  In north-eastern France, Napoleon led about 70,000 troops against a coalition army of 200,000. After a defeat at La Rothière, the French won a series of victories in February which induced the coalition to offer peace on the basis of France's 1791 frontiers. Napoleon, however, decided to fight on.
  
  After a series of battles in March, the allies forced Napoleon to retreat at the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube (20–21 March). The coalition then moved towards Paris, whose defence was under the command of Joseph Bonaparte. On 29 March, a coalition army of 200,000 began their attack on the Belleville and Montmartre heights. Empress Marie Louise fled Paris that evening with her son, the King of Rome. With an army of only 38,000 to defend the capital, Joseph authorized the French marshal Auguste de Marmont to capitulate on 31 March. The following day, the allies accepted Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord as head of a provisional government. On 2 April, the Senate deposed Napoleon.
  
  Meanwhile, Napoleon was in Fontainebleau with an army of 40,000 to 60,000. He contemplated a march on Paris but, on 4 April, his senior commanders persuaded him to abdicate in favour of his son, with Marie Louise as regent. Tsar Alexander, however, demanded an unconditional abdication and Napoleon reluctantly complied on 6 April.
  
  In his farewell address to the soldiers of the Old Guard on 20 April, Napoleon said:
  
  "Soldiers of my Old Guard, I have come to bid you farewell. For twenty years you have accompanied me faithfully on the paths of honor and glory....With men like you, our cause was lost, but the war would have dragged on interminably, and it would have been a civil war.... So I am sacrificing our interests to those of our country....Do not lament my fate; if I have agreed to live on, it is to serve our glory. I wish to write the history of the great deeds we have done together. Farewell, my children!"