Battle of Friedland The Battle of Friedland ( June 14 , 1807 ) saw Napoleon I ' s French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen ' s Russian army about twenty - seven miles ( 43 km ) southeast of Königsberg . The site of Friedland , in the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast since 1945 , received the new name of Pravdinsk in that year . Friedland effectively ended the War of the Fourth Coalition ( 1806 – 1807 ) against Napoleon . After nearly twenty - three hours of fighting , the French took control of the battlefield and the Russian army retreated chaotically over the Łyna River , in which many soldiers drowned while trying to escape . On July 7 , 1807 , Russia and France signed the first of the Treaties of Tilsit , which made the two nations allies after two years of war . France signed a separate treaty with Prussia two days later to ostracize her from the main negotiations . The public terms of Tilsit mentioned the warm feelings between Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia , but the secret terms addressed more substantial issues : France permitted Russia to do as it wished with the Ottoman Empire in return for France gaining the Dalmatian coast and the Ionian Islands ; Russia gained a free hand in Finland to force Sweden out of the coalition against Napoleon ; and Alexander also agreed to join the Continental System if the war with Britain did not end soon . Under the terms of the second treaty France ensured the humiliation of Prussia . All Prussian territory west of the Elbe River became the new Kingdom of Westphalia , with Napoleon ' s own brother , Jérôme as its future King . Historians traditionally regard Tilsit as the height of Napoleon ' s empire . Prelude . Prior to Friedland , Europe had become embroiled in the War of the Third Coalition in 1805 . Following the French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz ( December 2 , 1805 ) , Prussia went to war in 1806 to recover her position as the pre - eminent power of Central Europe . The Prussian Campaign . Franco - Prussian tensions gradually increased after Austerlitz . Napoleon insisted that Prussia should join his economic blockade of Great Britain . This adversely affected the German merchant class . Napoleon ordered a raid to seize a subversive , anti - Napoleonic bookseller named Johann Philipp Palm , and made a final attempt to secure terms with Britain by offering her Hanover , which infuriated Prussia . The Prussians began to mobilize on August 9 , 1806 and issued an ultimatum on August 26 : they required French troops to withdraw to the west bank of the Rhine by October 8 on pain of war between the two nations . Napoleon aimed to win the war by destroying the Prussian armies before the Russians could arrive . 180 , 000 French troops began to cross the Franconian forest on October 2 , 1806 , deployed in a bataillon - carré ( square - battalion ) system designed to meet threats from any possible direction . On October 14 the French won decisively at the large double - battle of Jena - Auerstedt . A famous pursuit followed , and by the end of the campaign the Prussians had lost 25 , 000 killed and wounded , 140 , 000 prisoners , and more than 2 , 000 cannon . A few Prussian units managed to cross the Oder River into Poland , but Prussia lost the vast majority of its army . Russia now had to face France alone . By November 18 French forces under Louis Nicolas Davout had covered half the distance to Warsaw , Augereau ' s men had neared Bromberg , and Jérôme Bonaparte ' s troops had reached the approaches of Kalisz . Eylau . When the French arrived in Poland the local people hailed them as liberators . The Russian general Bennigsen worried that French forces might cut him off from Buxhoevden ' s army , so he abandoned Warsaw and retreated to the right bank of the Vistula . On November 28 , 1806 , French troops under Murat entered Warsaw . The French pursued the fleeing Russians and a significant battle developed around Pułtusk on December 26 . The result remained in doubt , but Bennigsen wrote to the Tsar that he had defeated 60 , 000 French troops , and as a result he gained overall command of the Russian armies in Poland . At this point , Marshal Ney began to extend his forces to procure food supplies . Bennigsen noticed a good opportunity to strike at an isolated French corps , but he abandoned his plans once he realized Napoléon ' s maneuvers intended to trap his army . The Russians withdrew towards Allenstein , and later to Eylau . On February 7 the Russians fought Soult ' s corps for possession of Eylau . Daybreak on February 8 saw 44 , 500 French troops on the field against 67 , 000 Russians . Napoleon hoped to pin Bennigsen ' s army long enough to allow Ney ' s and Davout ' s troops to outflank the Russians . A fierce struggle ensued , made worse by a blinding snowstorm on the battlefield . The French found themselves in dire straits until a massed cavalry charge , made by 10 , 700 troopers formed in 80 squadrons , relieved the pressure on the center . Davout ' s arrival meant the attack on the Russian left could commence , but the assault was blunted when a Prussian force under Lestoq suddenly appeared on the battlefield and , with Russian help , threw the French back . Ney came too late to effect any meaningful decision , so Bennigsen retreated . Casualties at this indecisive battle were horrific , perhaps 25 , 000 on each side . More importantly , however , the lack of a decisive victory by either side meant that the war would go on . Heilsberg . The Russian army , under General Bennigsen , held strong defensive positions in the town of Heilsberg on the Alle . The French army , under Marshals Murat and Lannes , attacked on June 10 . Bennigsen repelled several attacks , resulting in huge French casualties , but had to withdraw towards Friedland the following day . The battle . The Russian forces under General Golitsyn had driven off the French cavalry outposts from Friedland on June 13 , and Bennigsen ' s main body began to occupy the town at night . The army of Napoleon marched on Friedland , but remained dispersed on its various march routes , and the first stage of the engagement became a purely situational battle . Knowing that Napoleon was within supporting distance with at least three corps , Lannes sent aides galloping off with messages for help and waged an expert delaying action to fix Benningsen in place . With never more than 26 , 000 men , Lannes forced Benningsen to commit progressively more troops across the Alle to defeat him . Showing a bold front , and shifting troops where needed to stop Russia n advances , engaged the Russians first in the Sortlack Wood and in front of Posthenen ( 2 . 30 - 3 A . M . on the 14th ) , Lannes held Benningsen in place until the French had massed 80 , 000 troops on the left bank of the river . Both sides now used their cavalry freely to cover the formation of lines of battle , and a race between the rival squadrons for the possession of Heinrichsdorf ended in favor of the French under Grouchy and Nansouty . Benningsen was trapped and had to fight . Having thrown all of his pontoon bridges at or near the bottleneck of the village of Friedland , Benningsen had unwittingly trapped his troops on the west bank . In the meantime Lannes fought hard to hold Bennigsen . Napoleon feared that the Russians meant to evade him again , but by 6 a . m . Bennigsen had nearly 50 , 000 men across the river and forming up west of Friedland . His infantry , organized in two lines , extended between the Heinrichsdorf - Friedland road and the upper bends of the river along with the artillery . Beyond the right of the infantry , cavalry and Cossacks extended the line to the wood northeast of Heinrichsdorf . Small bodies of Cossacks penetrated even to Schwonau . The left wing also had some cavalry and , beyond the Alle river , batteries came into action to cover it . A heavy and indecisive fire - fight raged in the Sortlack Wood between the Russian skirmishers and some of Lannes ' s troops . The head of Mortier ' s ( French and Polish ) corps appeared at Heinrichsdorf and drove the Cossacks out of Schwonau . Lannes held his own , and by noon Napoleon arrived with 40 , 000 French troops at the scene of the battle . Napoleon gave brief orders : Ney ' s corps would take the line between Postlienen and the Sortlack Wood , Lannes closing on his left , to form the centre , Mortier at Heinrichsdorf the left wing . I Corps under General Victor and the Imperial Guard were placed in reserve behind Posthenen . Cavalry masses were collected at Heinrichsdorf . The main attack was to be delivered against the Russian left , which Napoleon saw at once to be cramped in the narrow tongue of land between the river and the Posthenen mill - stream . Three cavalry divisions were added to the general reserve . The course of the previous operations meant that both armies still had large detachments out towards Königsberg . The emperor spent the afternoon in forming up the newly arrived masses , the deployment being covered by an artillery bombardment . At 5 o ' clock all was ready , and Ney , preceded by a heavy artillery fire , rapidly carried the Sortlack Wood . The attack was pushed on toward the Alle . Marshal Ney ' s right - hand division under Marchand drove part of the Russian left into the river at Sortlack , while Bisson ' s division advanced on the left . A furious charge by Russian cavalry into the gap between Marchand and Bisson was repulsed by the dragoon division of Latour - Maubourg . Soon the Russians found themselves huddled together in the bends of the Alle , an easy target for the guns of Ney and of the reserve . Ney ' s attack indeed came eventually to a standstill ; Bennigsen ' s reserve cavalry charged with great effect and drove him back in disorder . As at Eylau , the approach of night seemed to preclude a decisive success , but in June and on firm ground the old mobility of the French reasserted its value . The infantry division of Dupont advanced rapidly from Posthenen , the cavalry divisions drove back the Russian squadrons into the now congested masses of infantry on the river bank , and finally the artillery general Sénarmont advanced a mass of guns to case - shot range . The terrible effect of the close range artillery saw the Russian defence collapsing within minutes , as canister decimated the ranks . Ney ' s exhausted infantry succeeded in pursuing the broken regiments of Bennigsen ' s left into the streets of Friedland . Lannes and Mortier had meanwhile held the Russian centre and right on its ground , and their artillery had inflicted severe losses . When Friedland itself was seen to be on fire , the two marshals launched their infantry attack . Fresh French troops approached the battlefield . Dupont distinguished himself for the second time by fording the mill - stream and assailing the left flank of the Russian centre . This offered stubborn resistance , but the French steadily forced the line backwards , and the battle was soon over . The Russians incurred very heavy losses in retreating over the river at Friedland ; many soldiers drowned . Farther north the still unbroken troops of the right wing drew off by the Allenburg road ; the French cavalry of the left wing , though ordered to pursue , remained , for some reason , inactive . French casualties approximated 8 , 000 , while the Russians suffered nearly 20 , 000 in dead and wounded . Results . The thorough destruction of Bennigsen ' s army persuaded Alexander I of Russia to seek peace terms five days after the battle . The following negotiations led to the Treaty of Tilsit in July , spelling the end of the War of the Fourth Coalition .