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Updated: September 12, 2025
"Yes, I am migrating thither from Erfurth, for I desire to study under one whom I consider the great light of the age, Dr Martin Luther," answered Eric. "Then you have never met Dr Martin," said the stranger. "Not personally, but I know him by his works," answered Eric. "That way methinks we may know a man far better than those we may see every day who have written nothing for our instruction.
At that time the thin Prussian lines were spread out over a front of eighty-five miles, the Saxons being near Gera, the chief army, under Brunswick, at Erfurth, while Rüchel was so far distant on the west that he could only come up at Jena just one hour too late to avert disaster. And yet with these weak and scattered forces, Prince Hohenlohe proposed a bold move forward to the Main.
The army of the empire, commanded by the prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen, and that of the French under the prince de Soubise, making together about fifty thousand men, half of which were French, had by this time joined, and advanced as far as Erfurth in Saxony; upon which his Prussian majesty, finding that all his endeavours could not bring the Austrians to an engagement, set out from Lusatia, accompanied by mareschal Keith, with sixteen battalions and forty squadrons of his troops, and arrived at Dresden on the twenty-ninth of August, leaving the rest of the army in a strong camp, under the prince of Bevern.
I recognized at the first glance the long gray cloaks which we had received on the 22d of October, on the glacis at Erfurth; they had become quite green from the snow and wind and rain. It was worse than after the battle of Leipzig. The old shakos were full of ball holes, only the flag was new, in its beautiful case of oil-cloth, with the fleur-de-lis at the end.
On the 11th of August, the armistice came to an end. Its rightful term was the 17th; but the current of events swept over it. Napoleon was then in Dresden, which he held as the key and pivot of his position, and to cover it, he had constructed a large and formidable entrenched camp along the bases of Lilienstein and Königstein. Of the situation of these two enormous rocks I have spoken elsewhere. They stand about twelve English miles from Dresden, like giant sentinels, that guard the debouches of Bohemia and Silesia, while between them flows the Elbe, now passable only by a ferry, but by Napoleon's care, then bridged over. Here a position was marked out for not less than sixty thousand men, whence, as from a centre, it was competent for the French to pass either into Bohemia, where the Grand Army of the Allies seemed preparing to assemble, or to Silesia and Lusatia. But it was not on this side of the Saxon capital exclusively, that Napoleon fixed a vigilant eye. His real line was the line of the Elbe, from Hamburg to Dresden; his communications with France were kept open by Erfurth, and through the Thuringian forest; and he took care that all the approaches to Dresden should be so guarded, as that, while the city itself continued secure from insult, the force in possession might have free avenues through which to operate on any threatened point in this enormous circle. "Dresde," said he, "est le pivot, sur lequel je veux manoeuvrer pour faire face
Some time in the month of September the Emperors Napoleon and Alexander met at Erfurth, where they jointly offered to treat for peace with England; but these pacific overtures were, as usual, rejected by the British ministers.
But by the time he arrived at Erfurth, which was on the fourteenth of September, the enemy had retreated towards Gotha; and upon his further approach, they retired to Eyesenach, where they intrenched themselves in a very strong camp. His majesty's headquarters were at Kirschlaben, near Erfurth.
Alexander called upon Sweden to unite in this confederacy against England. The Swedes declined. Alexander overran the whole of Finland with his troops, and in 1809 it was permanently annexed to the Russian empire. Just before this event, in September, 1808, Napoleon and Alexander held another interview at Erfurth.
I have been informed on unquestionable authority that Staps set out from Erfurth with the intention of assassinating the Emperor; but he wanted the necessary courage for executing the design. He was armed with a large dagger, and was twice sufficiently near Napoleon to have struck him. I heard this from Rapp, who seized Stags, and felt the hilt of the dagger under his coat.
The fundamental principle of the government of the empire was honor to merit, not to birth. The two emperors wrote as follows to the King of England, imploring peace: "Sire The present situation of Europe has brought us together at Erfurth.
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