Corrections? Though the victory was dampened by Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's triumph at Trafalgar the next day, the Ulm Campaign effectively opened the way to Vienna which fell to French forces in November. Austerlitz brought the War of the Third Coalition to a rapid end, with the Treaty of Pressburg signed by the Austrians later in the month. The northern part of the battlefield was dominated by the 700-foot (210-meter) Santon Hill and the 880-foot (270-meter) Zuran (Žuráň) Hill, both overlooking the vital Olomouc/Brno road, which was on an east/west axis. The battle began with the French army outnumbered. Fighting around Sokolnitz continued to rage throughout the day. Critically, victory at Austerlitz permitted the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of German states intended as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe. France and Austria agreed to an armistice immediately and the Treaty of Pressburg followed shortly after, on 26 December. Conducting a brilliant campaign of maneuver, Napoleon swung north and descended on the Austrian rear. Under pressure from their senior commanders, it was finally decided that an attack would be made against the French right (southern) flank which would open a path to Vienna. The Battle of Austerlitz was fought December 2, 1805, and was the deciding engagement of the War of the Third Coalition (1805) during the Napoleonic Wars (1803 to 1815). [64] At the time, the planners thought this slowing was disastrous, but later on it helped the Allies. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Austerlitz, HistoryNet - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz, Military History Encyclopedia on the Web - Battle of Austerlitz, Nicolas-Jean de Dieu Soult, duke de Dalmatie. [57] Kutuzov's plan to retreat further to the Carpathian region was rejected, and the Allied forces soon fell into Napoleon's trap. I am pleased with you). [8] In 1797, after five years of war, the French Republic subdued the First Coalition, an alliance of Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Spain, and various Italian states. Orphaned children were adopted by Napoleon personally and were allowed to add "Napoleon" to their baptismal and family names. Having taken much of Germany, Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and established the Confederation of the Rhine as a buffer state between France and Prussia. In what is widely regarded as the greatest victory achieved by Napoleon, the Grande Armée of France defeated a larger Russian and Austrian army led by Emperor Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. Austria agreed to recognize French territory captured by the treaties of Campo Formio (1797) and Lunéville (1801), cede land to Bavaria, Wurttemberg, and Baden, which were Napoleon's German allies, and pay 40 million francs in war indemnities, and Venice was given to the Kingdom of Italy. [63] On 28 November Napoleon met with his marshals at Imperial Headquarters, who informed him of their qualms about the forthcoming battle. [80] The Emperor provided two million golden francs to the higher officers and 200 francs to each soldier, with large pensions for the widows of the fallen. "[89] In the 2005 bicentennial, however, controversy erupted when neither French President Jacques Chirac nor Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin attended any functions commemorating the battle. If the Russian force leaves the Pratzen Heights in order to go to the right side, they will certainly be defeated. Mounting a relentless diplomatic campaign, Prime Minister William Pitt concluded an alliance with Russia in early 1805. He objected to Austrian annexation of the land recently under Napoleon's control, because this would make the local people distrust the allied force. [31], The Russian army in 1805 had many characteristics of Ancien Régime organization. [16] The tense situation only worsened when Napoleon sent an expeditionary force to crush the Haitian Revolution. The resulting battle is often considered Napoleon's finest victory and saw the combined Austro-Russian army driven from the field. Estimates of how many guns were captured differ: there may have been as few as 38 or more than 100. Battle of Austerlitz, also called Battle of the Three Emperors, (December 2, 1805), the first engagement of the War of the Third Coalition and one of Napoleon’s greatest victories. Order of Battle at the Austerlitz campaign, Austerlitz 2005: la bataille des trois empereurs, Austerlitz: The Battle of the Three Emperors, Bellum.cz – "Battle of Austerlitz 2nd December 1805", England expects that every man will do his duty, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Austerlitz&oldid=984833839, Battles of the War of the Third Coalition, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles containing explicitly cited English-language text, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Articles with German-language sources (de), Articles with Czech-language sources (cs), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 October 2020, at 11:24. The meeting was another part of the trap, as Napoleon intentionally expressed anxiety and hesitation to his opponents. This act quickly pushed the Allied army into her grave. He intended to use this force, amounting to 150,000 men,[23] to strike at England, and was so confident of success that he had commemorative medals struck to celebrate the conquest of the English. As the horsemen battled, General Jean-Baptiste Drouet's division deployed on the flank of the fighting. Their arrival was crucial in determining the success of the French plan. [51] According to Kutuzov's plan, the Allies would retreat further to the Carpathian region[53] and "at Galicia, I will bury the French. This deadly barrage forced the French out, and at about the same time, the third column attacked the castle of Sokolnitz. Prussian intentions were unknown and could be hostile, the Russian and Austrian armies had converged, and French lines of communication were extremely long, requiring strong garrisons to keep them open. Napoleon did not succeed in defeating the Allied army as thoroughly as he wanted,[82] but historians and enthusiasts alike recognize that the original plan provided a significant victory, comparable to other great tactical battles such as Cannae. While Marshal Louis Davout’s corps of 10,500 men stubbornly resisted this attack, and the allied secondary attack on Napoleon’s northern flank was repulsed, Napoleon launched Marshal Nicolas Soult, with 20,000 infantry, up the slopes to smash the weak allied centre on the Pratzen Plateau. On December 1, the Russian and Austrian leadership met to decide their next move. The discrepancy arises because about 7,000 men of Davout's. Prussian music critic E.T.A. Moving with speed and efficiency, 200,000 French troops departed their camps near Boulogne and began crossing the Rhine along a 160-mile front on September 25. Anticipating that they would strike at his right, he thinned it to make it more alluring. [40] On 25 September after a feverish march in great secrecy,[41] 200,000 French troops began to cross the Rhine[42] on a front of 260 km (160 mi). Sources also differ about casualties, with figures ranging between 200 and 2,000 dead. He wanted to pursue, but Murat, who was in control of this sector in the battlefield, was against the idea. ‘when the enemy is making a false movement we must take good care not to interrupt him.’" [85] In subsequent accounts this Napoleonic quote would go through various changes until it became: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Bringing in artillery, General Count Louis de Langéron commenced a bombardment and his men succeeded in taking the village, while a third column assaulted the town's castle. [14][15] Napoleon was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta. Battle of Austerlitz (December 2, 1805), the first engagement of the War of the Third Coalition and one of Napoleon’s greatest victories. The Confederation rendered the Holy Roman Empire virtually useless, so the latter collapsed in 1806 after Francis abdicated the imperial throne, keeping Francis I of Austria as his only official title. Responding to the threat, Austrian General Karl Mack concentrated his army at the fortress of Ulm in Bavaria. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... …Russian and Austrian armies at Austerlitz in Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). [38], In August 1805, Napoleon, Emperor of the French since December the previous year,[39] turned his sights from the English Channel to the Rhine to deal with the new Austrian and Russian threats. [87] Some historians suggest that Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz that he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one" after the battle. Hoffmann's Beethoven Criticism," 19th Century Music, 1995. [32] There was no permanent formation above the regimental level,[33] and senior officers were mostly recruited from aristocratic circles; commissions were generally given to the highest bidder, regardless of competence. Moving forward, they adopted a plan devised by Austrian Chief of Staff Franz von Weyrother which called for four columns to assault the French right. [28] By 1805, the Grande Armée had grown to a force of 350,000 men,[30] who were well equipped, well trained, and led by competent officers.

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