After the defeat of the French at the 1st Battle of Kulm on 30 August, the Coalition armies of Prussia, Russia, and Austria commanded by Schwarzenberg bivouacked in Bohemia for a period of approximately a week to recuperate and bring up reinforcements.

In addition to the battlefield losses, the strategy kept Napoleon off-balance and weakened his core army at Dresden as he frequently led his men out and back in exhausting but useless attempts to go to the aid of his lieutenants.

In response, Napoleon reorganized his corps in and around Dresden and made the decision to drive Schwarzenberg’s troopers back across the Erzgebirge Mountains and force a battle on the plains of Kulm.

Schwarzenberg meanwhile had continued his withdrawal out of the mountains south to a point close to Kulm where he repositioned his army to resist Napoleon’s entry onto the plain.

Although haze and fog enveloped his position, Napoleon made the decision to initiate an attack on the Coalition forces and sent his battalions down the mountain on the road and through the woods.

[13][14] As Napoleon responded to these threats by partially re-ascending the heights and using reserves to defend at Knienitz, nightfall and a violent rainfall caused the armies in the field to become obscured.