BERLIN (AP) About 6,000 history buffs have re-enacted the Battle of Nations in Leipzig to mark the 200th anniversary of the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.
The German news agency dpa reported that about 30,000 onlookers watched participants from 24 countries dressed up in historicmilitary costumes as they re-enacted combat situations between infantrymen, cavalrymen and artillery units.
The original battle involved about 500,000 soldiers and pitted the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden and England against the French army outside of Leipzig in 1813.
It ended in a defeat of the French army which sealed the end of Napoleon's hegemony over Europe.
About 90,000 people died on the battlefields outside of Leipzig.
