The Monument and the Great Battle

1 - The monument can be seen from far away. It is 91 meters tall and stands on a hill 30 meters high. It is about four kilometers from Leipzig city center. 2 - It commemorates a bloody battle. From October 16 to 19, 1813, more than 500,000 soldiers from 10 different countries fought one another. On one side were soldiers from the kingdoms of Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Austria, and Sweden, along with their allies. Their opponents were soldiers from the French Empire and its allied countries, including the Kingdom of Saxony at the time. 3 - The French troops were commanded by Emperor Napoleon. In the years leading up to this battle, Napoleon had brought large parts of Europe under his rule. He had defeated Austria and Prussia. Napoleon controlled Germany—which at the time consisted of several kingdoms and many principalities—as far as the Elbe. All the conquered countries had to pay tribute, and above all, many young men had to go to war for Napoleon. 4 - The emperor fought many wars and usually emerged victorious. In 1812, he finally marched east with about 475,000 soldiers and 200,000 horses to defeat Russia as well. But this time Napoleon failed. He returned defeated; more than half of his soldiers were killed in battle, while others died of disease and hunger or froze to death. 5 - Nevertheless, Napoleon managed to raise a new army once again. But the European powers—Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Austria, and Sweden—now saw a chance to free themselves from French domination. Their armies outnumbered Napoleon’s troops. 6 - The battle took place near Leipzig. Most soldiers fought on foot, some on horseback. They shot at one another with rifles and cannons, fought with sabers, and pierced one another with lances. Russian Cossacks still used bows and arrows, while an English unit was already firing incendiary rockets. The slaughter lasted three days. By the end, 100,000 soldiers had lost their lives. 7 - Napoleon left the battlefield defeated. He later saw “the Saxons’ betrayal” as a major reason for his defeat. On October 18, the Saxon troops switched sides and fought against Napoleon’s soldiers, with whom they had been allied until then. 8 - Emperor Napoleon retreated to France. At the end of March 1814, he was forced to abdicate and exiled to the island of Elba. A few months later, he secretly left Elba and raised another army. After losing the Battle of Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic. He died in 1821, and his body is buried at Les Invalides in Paris. 9 - A hundred years after the battle, a huge monument was erected near Leipzig. Germany had by then become a unified empire ruled by an emperor. The monument was intended not only to commemorate the dead, but above all to celebrate German courage and willingness to make sacrifices. 10 - Twelve warrior statues stand on the outside, each twelve meters high. Inside, 324 horsemen are depicted at nearly life size. In front of the entrance stands an eleven-meter-tall statue of the Archangel Michael, who was considered the patron saint of soldiers. The monument was also intended to celebrate victory over France, which was then regarded as the “hereditary enemy.” 11 - A year after the Monument to the Battle of the Nations was inaugurated, World War I began in August 1914. It lasted four years and cost far more lives than the battle, which until then had been considered the largest in history.