Only eight days before, Emperor Napoleon I of France invaded the Electorate of Saxony with a large army and quickly inflicted two minor setbacks on his enemies.

[2] In the center, Brunswick concentrated at Erfurt, Hohenlohe defended Rudolstadt in the east, and Rüchel held Gotha and Eisenach in the west.

General Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach's division of Rüchel's right wing felt south toward the French line of communications.

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

Brunswick marched the main army north from Weimar, while Hohenlohe stood on the defensive near Jena as a flank guard.

[8] The double Battle of Jena-Auerstedt occurred on 14 October as Napoleon attacked Hohenlohe while Brunswick ran into Marshal Louis Davout's III Corps.

The emperor instructed Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's untouched I Corps to march to Bad Bibra north of Auerstedt so that he could prevent the fleeing Prussians from escaping east across the Elbe River.

Murat's horsemen charged and drove Jung-Larisch's cavalry back across the river, capturing an artillery battery.

[12] At 2:30 PM, Murat sent French Colonel Claude Antoine Hippolyte Préval into Erfurt under a flag of truce.

After joining with General Johann Friedrich Winning's detachment, he commanded 12,000 troops and 24 guns in 14 battalions, 30 squadrons, and three batteries.

[13] Altogether, about 12,000 Prussian and Saxon troops under command of the Prince of Orange became prisoners and 65 artillery pieces were captured.

Colors (in parentheses) from the following units were surrendered to the victors, Infantry Regiments Grenadier Garde # 6 (2), Schenck # 9 (4), Wedel # 10 (4), Arnim # 13 (1), Brunswick # 21 (1), Winning # 23 (4), Zenge # 24 (1), Alt-Larisch # 26 (1), Hohenlohe # 32 (2), Prince Ferdinand # 34 (2), Prince Heinrich # 35 (2), Zweiffel # 45 (1), Hessen # 48 (4), and Wartensleben # 59 (2), and Dragoon Regiment Irwing # 3 (4).

[16] As the first batch of prisoners were being marched from Erfurt to Frankfort-on-the-Main, the column encountered 50 troopers of the Pletz Hussar Regiment # 3.

[17] Historian Francis Loraine Petre remarked that Erfurt was the first of a series of "pusillanimous capitulations" by Prussian fortress commanders.