The Battle of Saint-Julien (1 March 1814) saw Imperial French troops led by Jean Gabriel Marchand attack Austrian soldiers under Johann Nepomuk von Klebelsberg.

The battle was part of operations in which a French army led by Marshal Pierre Augereau squared off against Austrian forces under Ferdinand, Graf Bubna von Littitz.

The 1814 Campaign in Northeast France pitted Emperor Napoleon against the main Allied armies of Field Marshals Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher to the east of Paris.

On his extreme right flank, Marchand's division recaptured parts of Savoie and advanced to the gates of Geneva, which was an important Austrian base.

Alarmed for the safety of his supply line to Germany, Schwarzenberg quickly dispatched massive forces to guard his southern flank.

Rather than directly invading France from the east across the Rhine, the Army of Bohemia under Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg moved south into Switzerland.

On 21 December 1813, Austrian formations of the army crossed the Rhine at Basel, Grenzach, Laufenburg and Schaffhausen while Swiss military units stood aside.

[4] The German VI Corps under Prince Philipp of Hesse-Homburg initially numbered 9,250 soldiers from Hesse-Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Isenburg, Reuss and Würzburg.

[5] When Bubna reached Geneva on 30 December 1813, its French commander promptly had a paralyzing stroke and his 1,500-man garrison quickly surrendered to the Austrians.

Napoleon assigned Marshal Pierre Augereau to defend Lyon, mount a threat to the Allied south flank and recapture Geneva.

[7] Augereau reached Lyon on 14 March where Louis François Félix Musnier informed him that only 1,200 soldiers and 500 raw conscripts were available to defend the city.

Believing his shaky soldiers would not be able to hold, Musnier moved them to the west bank of the Saône River on 17 January, evacuating the city.

[9] The Austrian II Corps began blockading Besançon on 11 January[10] while most of the Army of Bohemia continued moving northwest where it captured Langres on the 17th.

On 31 January Zechmeister's Austrians were repelled in an attack on Fort Barreaux in which 10–12 year old boys from the nearby village carried ammunition to the defenders.

The 2,000 French cavalry was led by Alexandre, vicomte Digeon and a reserve was created from 3,000 National Guards that were unfit for front line duty.

Pannetier's division moved north and captured Villefranche-sur-Saône on 18 February and Mâcon the next day, driving 3,000 Austrians before him and taking 300 prisoners.

Schwarzenberg detached Frederick Bianchi with the I Corps, a reserve division and additional troops with orders to march rapidly for Dijon.

Francis wrote, "We must not forget that the enemy can, from the South of France, move against our left, where the allies have few men, and that it is very necessary to hold strongly the road which, in case of a check, would serve for retreat".

On 24 February, Marchand's leading brigade under Joseph Serrant left Aix-les-Bains and drove an Austrian force out of Albens where the road forks.

[27] On 1 March 1814 at 8:00 am, Serrant began pressing back the Warasdiner Kreuzer Grenz Infantry from Le Petit Châble into its main defense line at La Place near Archamps.

A half-battalion of the Wenzel Colloredo Infantry Regiment held up the French advance until being outflanked by one of Dessaix's columns moving from Songy.

[30] Marchand was spared from retreating when Bardet captured Fort l'Écluse and advanced along the north bank of the Rhône River toward Geneva.

[27] When he heard that Augereau's column reached Saint-Cergue near Nyon, Bubna realized he must either prepare to be besieged in Geneva or take the field, risking the loss of the city.

Bardet's division occupied Saint-Genis-Pouilly on the west side of Geneva while Marchand held the south bank of the Arve River.

He gathered together the divisions of Pannetier, Musnier and Digeon and prepared to march northeast to Besançon where he planned to defeat Liechtenstein's II Corps.

Hearing of the French change of strategy, Bubna stayed in Geneva, knowing that Marchand did not have sufficient means to capture the place.