In the Battle of Halle on 17 October 1806 a French corps led by Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte fought the Prussian Reserve under Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg.

Emperor Napoleon I of France invaded the Electorate of Saxony and inflicted two disastrous defeats on the Prussian-Saxon armies on 14 October 1806.

As the beaten armies fled, Marshal Bernadotte's corps marched north and found Duke Eugene's unblooded Reserve located at Halle.

Later in the day, Bernadotte's troops stormed out of Halle and attacked Eugene's Reserve which was drawn up to the southeast of the city.

Napoleon's decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 profoundly affected the balance of power in Europe.

After this event, Emperor Francis I of Austria sued for peace and Tsar Alexander I of Russia withdrew his crippled army from Austrian territory, ending the War of the Third Coalition.

Prussia was caught at a diplomatic disadvantage since her emissary Christian Graf von Haugwitz was on the point of delivering an ultimatum to Napoleon when the war ended, a fact which the French emperor was well aware.

[2] In February 1806, Napoleon pressured a cowed Prussia into handing over several territories to France and her allies in return for the state of Hanover, which was under French occupation.

[4] The peace-minded Haugwitz was dismissed and, goaded by his Queen, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, on 7 August King Frederick William III of Prussia decided to go to war against the First French Empire.

His troops were massed in a batallion carré (battalion square) made up of three columns of two army corps each, plus the Imperial Guard, the Cavalry Reserve, and a Bavarian contingent.

[8] The next day, Marshal Jean Lannes' V Corps attacked the 8,300-man division of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia at the Battle of Saalfeld.

[9] Napoleon became convinced that his enemies lay near Erfurt, so he ordered his batallion carré to make a left wheel on 12 October.

Brunswick was to take the main army north from Weimar to Merseburg, while Hohenlohe protected the move by standing on the defensive near Jena.

[11] On 14 October, the double Battle of Jena-Auerstedt occurred as Napoleon attacked Hohenlohe while Brunswick ran head-on into the III Corps of Marshal Louis Davout.

Brunswick's army suffered 13,000 casualties and its commander was mortally wounded, while the combined forces of Hohenlohe and Rüchel lost as many as 25,000.

[13] In the early hours of 14 October, Davout received a courier from Berthier in which he wrote: "If the Prince of Ponte Corvo [Bernadotte] is with you, you may both march together, but the Emperor hopes that he will be in the position which had been indicated at Dornburg."

At this time criticism developed of Napoleon's dispositions in misplacing the location of the Prussians and allowing III Corps to become so dangerously isolated.

[15] The emperor is said to have remarked to General of Division Anne Jean Marie René Savary,[19] "This business is so hateful that if I send him before a court-martial it will be the equivalent of ordering him to be shot; it is better for me not to speak to him about it, but I shall take care he shall know what I think of his behavior.

[24] The 1st Division consisted of General of Brigade Marie François Rouyer's 9th Light Infantry Regiment, three battalions, General of Brigade François Marie Guillaume Legendre d'Harvesse's 32nd and 96th Line Infantry Regiments, two battalions each, and two foot artillery batteries of 12 total guns.

[24] The 2nd Division included General of Brigade Michel Marie Pacthod's 8th Light Infantry Regiment, two battalions, General of Brigade Nicolas Joseph Maison's 45th and 54th Line Infantry Regiments, two battalions each, and one horse and one foot artillery battery of 12 total guns.

[29] At the close of the Jena-Auerstedt battle, Bernadotte had the divisions of Drouet and Rivaud near Apolda while Dupont's and the corps artillery remained at Dornburg.

He deployed his main force on high ground on Halle's south side, with his battle line facing northwest toward the city and his left bent back.

From Halle, which is entirely on the east bank, radiated roads to Magdeburg in the north, to Dessau and Wittenberg in the northeast, to Leipzig in the southeast, and to Merseburg in the south.

Racing along the embanked road in columns and flanked by skirmishers, the French punched through the defenders to seize the first bridge and the island.

Reinforced by the remainder of Dupont's division, the French improvised defenses at the Steinthor and Galgenthor and in the gardens along the edge of Halle.

The right wing fell back in good order, pausing at Mötzlich and at Oppin where a cavalry charge discouraged further pursuit.

The Prussian horsemen managed to repulse the French cavalry near Rabatz,[39] but were driven off by Drouet's newly arrived 94th Line.

[39] General-Major Karl Peter von Treskow with his regiment, finding the highway blocked by Drouet's division at Nietleben, tried to reach Halle by moving to the north of the Dolau wood.

As he approached the Halle bridges, Treskow's progress was checked by Maison and a few infantrymen of the 8th Line until Drouet arrived on the scene.

[40] Prevented from escaping through the Dolau wood by a blocking force left there by Drouet, Treskow retreated north along the west bank in two battalion squares.