After a day of fighting in the suburbs of Paris, the French surrendered on 31 March, ending the War of the Sixth Coalition and forcing Emperor Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile.

With the Russian armies following up victory, the Sixth Coalition was formed with Russia, Austria, Prussia, Portugal, Great Britain, Sweden, Spain and other nations hostile to the French Empire.

The Coalition forces, numbering more than 400,000[citation needed] and divided into three groups, finally entered northeastern France in January 1814.

Utilizing his advantages, Napoleon defeated the divided Coalition forces in detail, starting with the battles at Brienne and La Rothière, but could not stop the latter's advance.

He then launched his Six Days' Campaign against the Coalition army under Blücher, which was threatening Paris from the northeast at the river Aisne.

He successfully defeated and halted it, but Napoleon failed to seize the strategic initiative back in his favor, as Blücher's forces were still largely intact.

The exception was Wintzingerode's 10,000-strong cavalry detachment and eight horse batteries which were to follow and mislead Napoleon that the Coalition army was still pursuing him southwards.

Napoleon had left his brother Joseph Bonaparte in defense of Paris with about 23,000[citation needed] regular troops under Marshal Auguste Marmont, although many of them were young conscripts, along with an additional 6,000 National Guards and a small force of the Imperial Guard under Marshals Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey and Édouard Mortier.

By 7:00 a.m. the Russians attacked the Young Guard near Romainville in the center of the French lines and after some time and hard fighting pushed them back.

The Russians attempted to press their attack but became caught up by trenches and artillery before falling back before a counterattack of the Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guard continued to hold back the Russians in the center until the Prussian forces appeared to their rear.

The Prussian guardsmen suffered heavy losses, but the heights eventually remained in the Allied hands, there Yermolov placed an artillery battery.

Shortly afterwards, he marched his soldiers to a position where they were quickly surrounded by Coalition troops; Marmont then surrendered, as had been agreed.