Convention of Tauroggen

Background. Under the Treaty of Paris, French-occupied Prussia was obliged to support Napoleon's invasion of Russia with an army corps. Prussia accordingly sent an auxiliary corps, and some Prussian officers left their army rather than serve the French. Yorck, second in command to General Grawert, assumed command after Grawert retired, the two having disagreed over the French alliance.

Negotiation and Isolation. Between October and December 1812 Yorck received repeated Russian requests to change sides. When Marshal Étienne Macdonald, Yorck's immediate French superior, retreated before Diebitsch's corps, Yorck was left isolated and eventually surrounded. Through Clausewitz, Diebitsch negotiated with Yorck, who weighed his soldier's duty to break through against his Prussian patriotism and the risk to his own head.

Aftermath and Significance. The news of the armistice was received with wild enthusiasm, but the Prussian Court dared not yet abandon the French alliance and ordered Yorck suspended pending a court-martial; Diebitsch refused the bearer passage, and Yorck was absolved only when the Treaty of Kalisz placed Prussia with the Allies. The convention left the East Prussian border completely undefended, and Yorck's act is traditionally considered a turning point of Prussian history, triggering an insurgency against Napoleon in the Rheinbund.