Battle of Austerlitz December 2, 1805

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[url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_austerlitz.html[History Of War

Background

 

The battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805), or the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's most impressive victories and saw him inflict a crushing defeat on an Austro-Russian army, in the process knocking Austrian out of the War of the Third Coalition.

 

At the start of the War of the Third Coalition the Austrians and Russians prepared for operations on a wide front. The largest Austrian army, under the Archduke Charles, was sent to Italy where Napoleon had won his earlier great victories and where he was expected to return in 1805. A smaller Austrian army, under General Mack, advanced west along the Danube to invade Bavaria, and ended up at Ulm. A number of Russian armies were making their way into Austria and were expected to arrive soon.

 

Napoleon didn't act as expected. Instead he decided to attack across the Rhine in the hope that he could defeat Mack's army before the Russians arrived, then eliminate the Russians before Charles could return from Italy. The first part of the plan was a great success. The French crossed the Rhine and swept through Germany, reaching the Danube well to the east of Ulm. Mack missed a number of chances to escape from the trap after all but one division of the French army moved to the south bank of the river, but Napoleon soon recovered from this mistake, and on 20 October Mack and most of his command surrendered at Ulm.

 

The triumph at Ulm was followed by Napoleon's first failure of the campaign. The first of the Russian armies, under Kutuzov, had finally crossed the Danube and was advancing west towards Ulm when Mack surrendered. Kutuzov was now Napoleon's next target, but the Russians were able to outrun the French, and crossed to the north bank of the Danube to the west of Vienna. The French were able to occupy the Austrian capital and also captured a key bridge across the Danube intact, but Kutuzov was able to escape north to Olmutz where he joined up with a second Russian force under Buxhowden and some scattered Austrian forces. He was also joined by Tsar Alexander and the Emperor Francis. Napoleon followed the Russians north from Vienna, before calling a halt to the pursuit and pausing for a rest at Brunn, south-west of the Allied position. At their most advanced the French positions extended past Austerlitz, which Soult's infantry captured on 21 November.

 

Napoleon was now in a very dangerous position. His army was tired and was hundreds of miles from home in the middle of enemy territory. He had to detach strong forces to guard his flanks, while his opponents were expected sizable reinforcements. The Archduke Ferdinand was approaching from the north-west. The Archdukes Charles and John were coming from Italy, although would probably arrive too late. Nearer to hand were 4,000 Austrians under Merveldt and 12,000 Russians under Essen. These two forces actually joined the defeated Allied army two and four days after the battle! Napoleon was already outnumbered and the situation could only get worse. He realised that his best chance of avoiding a potentially disastrous retreat was to win a crushing battlefield victory. Even a standard victory wouldn't be enough, with enemy reinforcements on their way from every direction.

 

(Snip)

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