Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, inflicted a total defeat on the allied forces of Prussia and Russia. The royal court fled to East Prussia. Peace was made in Tilsit in 1807: Prussian territory was halved, the Prussian army drastically reduced. After Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign, the "Wars of Liberation" began in East Prussia in 1812.
After the revolution of 1789, France waged war against many European countries and finally defeated Prussia under King Frederick William III. As a result of the devastating peace settlement, reform forces prevailed at court in 1807 and were able to enforce social and military innovations.
Prussia was forced to support Napoleon in his march against Moscow in 1812. However, some officers used the French defeat as an opportunity to reunite with Russia and revolt against French occupation. In Königsberg (today’s Kaliningrad) the fight against Napoleon was declared, which grew into a real people's movement and ended victoriously. Prussia attained a new greatness in Europe and developed into the dominant power in the German-speaking world.
Illustration:
Otto Brausewetter (1835-1904): Address by the Duke of Yorck to the East Prussian estates in Königsberg on 5th February 1813, a copy by Ludwig Christoph of a destroyed painting by the East Prussian painter.
Lieutenant General Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg (1759-1830), as the commander of the Prussian auxiliary corps in the French army, initiated the alliance with Russia and signed the "Convention of Tauroggen". In his speech to the Königsberg state parliament he called for the establishment of a Prussian Landwehr (territorial army) comprising all men of military age and thus anticipated the general compulsory military service introduced shortly afterwards. The enthusiasm to resist Napoleon's rule seized large parts of the Prussian population.