It is memorable as the scene of a decisive battle on the 6 September 1813, in which Marshal Ney, with an army of 58,000 French, Saxons and Poles, was defeated with great loss by an allied army with 100,000 Prussians, Swedes and Russians under Generals Bülow (afterwards Count Bülow of Dennewitz) and Tauentzien. The allied army was led by the Swedish prince Karl Johan and field marshal Kurt von Stedingk. The site of the battle is marked by an iron obelisk.