It was an awful year. Prussia reentered the war against Napoleon in March. Swiftly rebuilding his forces, which had been decimated during the 1812 Russian campaign, the self-proclaimed French Emperor led major offensives at Lützen (southwest of Leipzig) and then in the Eastern region of Saxony at Bautzen, before a cease-fire was established in early June. Saxony was no stranger to strife. In October 1806, Napoleon had decisively crushed the Prussian and Saxon army at Jena-Auerstädt, before marching on to Berlin. Saxony then joined the Rhineland Confederation (Rheinbund) forged by Napoleon following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Together with Bavaria, Saxony became one of the largest members of the Confederation, and was similarly elevated to the status of a Kingdom (Königreich) while lacking much genuine political authority. King Friedrich August I endeavored to remain uncommitted as the Wars of Liberation (Befreiungskriege) were launched, but Saxony's neighboring position to Prussia made active participation inevitable. At the end of August, the scale of war escalated substantially. Non-Prussian Germans fought under Napoleon to defeat the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians at Dresden. Napoleon's allies and fortunes changed at Leipzig, however, when the so-called Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlacht) ended on October 19 with his army driven westward back to France. More than five hundred thousand soldiers were involved at Leipzig; the losses on both sides were enormous. Following Napoleon's ultimate defeat in 1815, Saxony was substantially reduced in geographical scope before it joined the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund).