Battle of Montereau

'...The situation of Bonaparte, even after the victory of Montereau, and capture of Troves, was most discouraging. If he advanced on tne grand nrmy of the allies, which he had in front, there was every likelihood that they would retire before him, wasting his force in skirmishes, without a possibility of his being able to force them to a general action while, in the mean time, it might be reckoned for certain that Blueher, master of the Marne, would march upon Paris. On the contrary, if Napoleon moved with his chief force against Blucher, he had, in like manner, to apprehend that Schwartzenberg would resume the route upon Paris by way of the valley of the Seine. Thus, he could make no exertion upon the one side, without exposing the capital to danger on the other...'

Napoleon won a battle at Montereau on February 18, 1814, but his tactical options were not simple, as Walter Scott relates in his 'Life of Napoleon Bonaparte".  In this battle, Napoleon defeated Austrian Prince Schwartzenberg and King Frederick I of Wurttemberg.