Jena (dpa/th) - 216 years after the Prussian-French double battle at Jena and Auerstedt, Emperor Napoleon rode across the historic battlefield again. According to the organizers, around 450 actors from 13 countries staged the part of the battle that took place on October 14, 1806 in front of the gates of the Thuringian university town and cost the lives of thousands of soldiers. According to estimates by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft 1806, several thousand onlookers watched the spectacle that the AG had actually planned for the 215th anniversary last year. However, it was canceled due to the corona pandemic.
The performers came from 13 countries in Europe and overseas. They wore uniforms and weapons modeled after the period. Emperor Napoleon was played by the American actor Mark Schneider, who, like the real Napoleon, commanded his "troops" on a gray horse.
In Jena and in Auerstedt, 25 kilometers away, more than 200,000 soldiers faced each other in the historically significant double battle. The Prussian troops suffered a crushing defeat against the French. The result of the double battle changed the European map, in the following years the states were reorganized according to Napoleon's will.
