After the disaster in 1812 in Russia Napoleon could not believe himself invincible. His enemies were suggesting that since his good genius had failed him once, it might again. The Russian victory was a huge blow to Napoleon's ambitions of European dominance.
When in 1813 the allied armies threatened Napoleon's line of communications through Leipzig, he was forced to concentrate his army in that city. Marbot wrote: "The town of Leipzig is one of the most commercial and richest in Germany. It stands in the middle of a great plain which extends from the Elbe to the Harz mountains, to Thuringia and to Bohemia. Its situation has made it almost always the principal theatre for the wars which have bloodied Germany. The small stream of the Elster, almost insignificant enough to be called a brook, flows from south to north through a shallow valley amid marshy meadows. ... The Pleisse, a still smaller stream than the Elster, flows about a league and a half from it, and joins it under the walls of Leipzig, while north of the town the Partha flows into it. Leipzig ... was surrounded by an old wall having four large and three small gates. The road to Lutzen, by Lindenau, formed the only communication open to the rear of the French army."
On 15th October, it was Friday, Napoleon set out to inspect the battlefield. The Emperor rode to Probstheida, Galgenberg Hill near Liebertwolkwitz, Holzhausen, and then west to Dolitz to confer with Prince Poniatowski. He then rode back to Holzhausen where he spoke to the commander of the Saxon Leib-Grenadier Battalion. In Zuckelhausen Napoleon found Marshal Augereau. Having completed his tour, the Emperor dictated his orders for the following day's operations to his chief-of-staff Marshal Berthier.
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