Editing Six Days' Campaign (section)

==Strategic situation==
{{main|Campaign in north-east France (1814)}}

By the start of 1814 the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|Sixth Coalition]] had defeated the French both in Germany (see [[German Campaign of 1813 ]]) and in Spain (see [[Peninsular War#End of the war in Spain|Peninsular War § End of the war in Spain]]), and were poised to invade France from the north-east and south-west.

On the north-eastern front three Coalition armies were preparing to invade France, however by the time that Six Days' Campaign ended only two armies had crossed the frontier into France:
* The ''Army of Bohemia'' or the ''Grand Army'', with 200,000{{sfn|Maude|1911|p=232}}–210,000{{sfn|Hodgson|1841|p=504}} Austrian, Russian, Bavarian, and Wurttemberg soldiers under Prince [[Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg|Schwarzenberg]], passed through Swiss territory (violating the cantons' neutrality) and crossed the Rhine between Basel and Schafhausen on 20 December 1813.{{sfn|Hodgson|1841|p=504}}
* The ''Army of Silesia'', with 50,000–56,000{{sfn|Maude|1911|p=232}}{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=976}}{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=70–71}} Prussians and Russians under Prince [[Gebhard von Blücher|Blücher]], crossed the Rhine between Rastadt and Koblenz  on 1 January 1814.{{sfn|Hodgson|1841|p=504}}

At the same time [[Duke of Wellington|Wellington]] [[Campaign in south-west France (1814)|invaded France over the Pyrenees]]. Leaving Marshals [[Marshal Soult|Soult]] and [[Marshal Suchet|Suchet]] to defend south-west France, Napoleon commanded the French resistance in north-east France.

Napoleon had about 200,000 men in all, of whom upwards of 100,000 were held by the [[Duke of Wellington]] on the Spanish frontier (see [[Campaign in south-west France (1814)|Invasion of south-west France]]), and 20,000 more were required to watch the [[Debouch#Military|debouch]]es from the Alps. Hence less than 80,000 remained available for the east and north-eastern frontier. If, however, he was weak in numbers, he was now operating in a friendly country, able to find food almost everywhere and had easy lines of communication.{{sfn|Maude|1911|p=232}}