On 2 December 1805, the Battle of Austerlitz was fought between the French under Napoleon Bonaparte against the Allies under Mikhail Kutuzov during the Napoleonic Wars.
Why did it happen?
On 14 March 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte sent troops into the neutral state of Baden to kidnap the Duke of Enghien before taking him to France and executing him for treason. This alienated Tsar Alexander I of Russia, who had admired Napoleon and helped shatter the Peace of Amiens. In December 1804, Napoleon declared himself emperor, and in April 1805, British prime minister William Pitt formed the Third Coalition of Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia to try and overthrow the French emperor. After Francis II of Austria rejected Napoleon’s ultimatum on 3 September, an Austrian army of 45,000 under General Mack Von Lieberich was sent to confront him at Ulm in Southern Germany. Napoleon outmanoeuvred the Austrians and forced Mack to surrender on 20 October. On 12 November, Napoleon occupied Vienna, hoping to engage and defeat the Russian army under General Mikhail Kutuzov, who played for time and retreated northeast. On 23 November, Napoleon halted his army at the village of Austerlitz and deliberately withdrew from the Pratzen Heights to tempt the Austro-Russian army into a full-scale assault against his forces.
Who was involved?
The French army at Austerlitz numbered 73,000 soldiers and 139 artillery. Napoleon’s plan at Austerlitz was to lure the Allied forces away from the Pratzen Heights by deliberately weakening the French right wing to lure the Allied forces into attacking it. Once this had been achieved, the bulk of the French army under Soult would advance upon the Pratzen Heights and wheel right, splitting the Allied army in two. While Napoleon and Soult led the centre, Davout commanded the right wing, with Marshals Lanne and Murat in charge of the left wing. The Allied army at Austerlitz numbered 85,000 soldiers (70,000 Russians and 15,000 Austrians) and 278 artillery. Although the Allied army was under the command of General Mikhail Kutuzov, Francis II of Austria and Alexander I of Russia were also present and had set up their headquarters at Krzenowitz. Bagration and Lichtenstein defended the right wing while the left wing was led by Buxhowden and Kollowrath stationed on the Pratzen Heights. The Allied plan was to concentrate a large portion of their forces against the French right wing and destroy it before wheeling right and attacking the French flank.
What happened?
On 2 December, the Allied left wing marched against the sparsely defended French right wing. When Davout sent reinforcements towards the French right wing, the Russians diverted troops away from their centre to support their left wing. At 9am, Soult ordered his infantry to advance onto the Pratzen Heights, storming them and achieving complete surprise. Marshals Lanne and Murat then pinned down the Allied right wing to prevent the Austrians from sending reinforcements to their fast-disintegrating Allied centre on the Pratzen Heights. Upon seeing his centre disintegrating, Mikhail Kutuzov sent his Imperial Guard cavalry to steady the line. Napoleon responded by sending in his Imperial Guard cavalry, which cleared the Pratzen Heights of all Allied troops. At that point, Soult’s troops wheeled south to attack the overextended Allied left wing, effectively splitting the Allied army in two. The Allied left wing was then routed, and many soldiers fled across the frozen lakes, only to drown as their weight and French artillery fire caused the ice to break. The French lost 1,300 killed and 7,000 wounded throughout the battle, while the Allies lost 16,000 killed or wounded and 11,500 captured.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Austerlitz was a decisive French victory. On 4 December, the Austrians sued for peace while the Russians under Kutuzov withdrew to Russia, leaving the Third Coalition in tatters. In the Treaty of Pressburg, Austria agreed to cede large territories to Napoleon’s newly created Kingdom of Italy and his ally Bavaria. The Battle of Austerlitz is widely considered to be Napoleon’s greatest victory, a tactical masterpiece on par with Cannae and Leuthen. Over the next two years, Napoleon would defeat the Prussians at Jena-Auerstadt (1806) and the Russians at Eylau and Friedland (1807), making France the dominant power in Europe until its defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. As stated by Geoffrey Regan, “Austerlitz made Napoleon not only supreme in France but in Europe, and it would take a decade of economic pressure and desperate fighting to unseat him” (Regan, 2002, p.148).
Bibliography
Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Kings and Generals. “Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz 1805 DOCUMENTARY.” YouTube video, 11:19. November 20, 2017. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaoNMLKDCQU
Regan, Geoffrey. Battles That Changed History: Fifty Decisive Battles Spanning Over 2,500 Years of Warfare. London, Andre Deutsch, 2002.