The IV Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. It consisted several different units and commanders.

Under Soult

Marshal

Marshal of France

The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...

 Nicolas Soult took command of IV Corps in 1805.

IV Corps formed part of the extended center of the French line at the Battle of Austerlitz

Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...

 in December 1805. On the 2nd, Napoleon ordered Soult to attack the Pratzen Heights, from which the Allies had been attacking the French right wing. Repeated attacks from the Russians under General Kutusov almost collapsed IV Corps' line, but aid from Bernadotte

Bernadotte

The House of Bernadotte, the current royal house of Sweden, has reigned since 1818. Between 1818 and 1905, it was also the royal house of the Norway...

's I Corps

I Corps (Grande Armée)

The I Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars. It were different troops in French service commanded by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in 1805 and 1806, General Claude Victor-Perrin in 1807 and Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout during the 1812 invasion of Russia.- Size...

 allowed the French to maintain their control of the Heights. The survivors then moved south and enveloped Buxhowden's column, sending the Allies into a retreat.

IV Corps formed the right wing of the French line at the Battle of Jena in October 1806. At Eylau

Battle of Eylau

The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...

 in February 1807, IV Corps was beaten back by the Russian army under Generals Tutchkov and Dokhturov

Dmitry Dokhturov

Dmitry Sergeyevich Dokhturov was a Russian Infantry General and a prominent military leader during the Patriotic War of 1812....

.

In 1808 Soult was transferred to Spain, where he took command of II Corps

II Corps (Grande Armée)

The II Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars. It was commanded by Marshal Nicolas Oudinot during the 1812 invasion of Russia, at which point its size was roughly 40,000 men....

 in the Peninsular War

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

.

Danube Campaign in 1809

When Austrian went to war in 1809 many French units nominaly belonged to IV Corps were not concentrated yet. It were detached under command Marshals Bessiers and Massena and took part in battles of Landshut, Neumarkt and Ebelsberg. Later reorganised IV Corps under Massena fought in Battles of Aspern-Esling and Wagram.

Invasion of Russia in 1812

The IV Corps consisted mainly of the Army of Italy

Army of Italy (France)

The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...

 during the 1812 invasion of Russia. It was commanded by Napoleon

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

's stepson Eugène de Beauharnais

Eugène de Beauharnais

Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and 1st Prince of Eichstätt ad personam was the first child and only son of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la...

. The IV Corps most notably participated in the Battle of Borodino

Battle of Borodino

The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...

, where it formed the left wing of the French line. Later it also fought hard at Malojaroslavec and Viazma. The IV Corps suffered heavy casualties during winter retreat.