TheBattle of Ulm on 16–19 October 1805 was a series of skirmishes, at the end of theUlm Campaign, which allowedNapoleon I to trap an entire Austrian army under the command ofKarl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich with minimal losses and to force its surrender nearUlm in theElectorate of Bavaria.^[8][9]

Battle of Ulm
Part of theUlm campaign during theWar of the Third Coalition
The Capitulation of Ulm, byCharles Thévenin
Date 16–19 October 1805 Location Ulm,Electorate of Bavaria 48°23′00″N9°59′00″E / 48.3833°N 9.9833°E /48.3833; 9.9833 Result French victory Territorial changes France gains control over Bavaria
Belligerents
France	Austria
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte Michel Ney	Karl Mack von Leiberich  (POW) Johann I Joseph
Strength
80,000[1][2]	40,000[1][3][4]
Casualties and losses
1,500 killed, wounded or captured[5][6][7]	4,000 killed or wounded 27,000 captured[5][6][7]
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

War of the Third Coalition:
Austria

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118miles

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Ulm

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  current battle

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In 1805, theUnited Kingdom, theAustrian Empire,Sweden, and theRussian Empire formed theThird Coalition to overthrow theFrench Empire.^[10][8] WhenBavaria sided withNapoleon, the Austrians, 72,000 strong under Mack, prematurely invaded while the Russians were still marching throughPoland.^[11]

The Austrians expected the main battles of the war to take place innorthern Italy, not Germany, and intended only to protect theAlps from French forces.^[12][3][4]

A popular but apocryphal legend has it that while the Austrians used theGregorian calendar, the Russians were still using theJulian calendar. This meant that their dates did not correspond, and the Austrians were brought into conflict with the French before the Russians could come into line.^[13] This simple but improbable explanation for the Russian army being far behind the Austrian is dismissed by scholarFrederick Kagan as "a bizarre myth".^[14][15]

Napoleon had 177,000 troops of theGrande Armée atBoulogne, ready to invade England.^[16][17] They marched south on 27 August and by 24 September were ready to cross the Rhine fromMannheim toStrasbourg. After crossing the Rhine, the greater part of the French army made a gigantic right wheel so that its corps reached theDanube simultaneously, facing south.^[18] On 7 October, Mack learned that Napoleon planned to cross the Danube and march around his right flank so as to cut him off from the Russians who were marching viaVienna. He accordingly changed front, placing his left at Ulm and his right atRain, but the French went on and crossed the Danube atNeuburg,Donauwörth, andIngolstadt.^[17] Unable to stop the French avalanche,Michael von Kienmayer's Austrian corps abandoned its positions along the river and fled toMunich.^[19]

On 8 October,Franz Xaver von Auffenberg's division was cut to pieces byJoachim Murat'sCavalry Corps andJean Lannes'V Corps at theBattle of Wertingen. The following day, Mack attempted to cross the Danube and move north. He was defeated in theBattle of Günzburg byJean-Pierre Firmin Malher's division ofMichel Ney'sVI Corps which was still operating on the north bank.^[17] During the action, the French seized a bridgehead on the south bank. After first withdrawing to Ulm, Mack tried to break out to the north. His army was blocked byPierre Dupont de l'Etang's VI Corps division and some cavalry in theBattle of Haslach-Jungingen on 11 October.^[18][20]

By the 11th, Napoleon's corps were spread out in a wide net to snare Mack's army.Nicolas Soult'sIV Corps reachedLandsberg am Lech and turned east to cut off Mack fromTyrol.Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte'sI Corps andLouis Nicolas Davout'sIII Corps converged on Munich.Auguste Marmont'sII Corps was atAugsburg. Murat, Ney, Lannes, and theImperial Guard began closing in on Ulm. Mack ordered the corps ofFranz von Werneck to march northeast, whileJohann Sigismund Riesch covered its right flank atElchingen. The Austrian commander sentFranz Jellacic's corps south toward Tyrol and held the remainder of his army at Ulm.^[21]

On 14 October, Ney crushed Riesch's small corps at theBattle of Elchingen and chased its survivors back into Ulm. Murat detected Werneck's force and raced in pursuit with his cavalry. Over the next few days, Werneck's corps was overwhelmed in a series of actions atLangenau,Herbrechtingen,Nördlingen, andNeresheim. On 18 October, he surrendered the remainder of his troops. OnlyArchduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este and a few other generals escaped to Bohemia with about 1,200 cavalry.^[22] Meanwhile, Soult secured the surrender of 4,600 Austrians atMemmingen and swung north to box in Mack from the south. Jellacic slipped past Soult and escaped to the south only to be hunted down and captured in theCapitulation of Dornbirn in mid-November byPierre Augereau's late-arrivingVII Corps. By 16 October, Napoleon had surrounded Mack's entire army at Ulm, and four days later Mack surrendered with 25,000 men, 18 generals, 65 guns, and 40 standards.^[23][22]

Some 20,000 escaped, 10,000 were killed or wounded, and the rest made prisoner.^[6] About 500 French were killed and 1,000 wounded, a low number for such a decisive battle.^[22][24] In less than 15 days theGrande Armée neutralized 60,000 Austrians and 30 generals. At the surrender (known as theConvention of Ulm), Mack offered his sword and presented himself to Napoleon as "the unfortunate General Mack".^{[25][26][5][6]} Mack wascourt-martialed and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.^[27]

TheUlm Campaign is considered an example of a strategic victory, though Napoleon indeed had an overwhelming superior force. The campaign was won with no major battle. The Austrians fell into the same trap Napoleon had set at theBattle of Marengo, but unlike Marengo, the trap worked with success. Everything was made to confuse the enemy.

In his proclamation in theBulletin de la Grande Armée of 21 October 1805 Napoleon said, "Soldiers of theGrande Armée, I announced you a great battle. But thanks to the bad combinations of the enemy, I obtained the same success with no risk ... In 15 days we have won a campaign."^[28][7]

By defeating the Austrian army, Napoleon secured his conquest ofVienna, which was to be taken one month later.^[7][27][21]

Like theBattle of Austerlitz, theUlm Campaign is still taught in military schools worldwide,^[29][9][30] and would continue to influence military leaders to present times, a notable example being that of theSchlieffen Plan developed by Germany to envelope what they assumed and expected would be French-led allied troops and winWorld War I.^[31] Indeed, Dupuy would say about the battle in his Harper Encyclopedia of Military History that it actually "was not a battle; it was a strategic victory so complete and so overwhelming that the issue was never seriously contested in tactical combat. Also, This campaign opened the most brilliant year of Napoleon's career. His army had been trained to perfection; his plans were faultless."^[32]

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• Brooks, Richard (2000). Brooks, Richard; Drury, Ian (eds.).Atlas of World Military History: The Art of War from Ancient Times to the Present Day (4th ed.). New York City:Barnes & Noble.ISBN 978-0760720257.
• Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. (1912)."Map of Central Europe showing the routes taken by Napoleon to defeat the allied Russo-Austrian army at the Battle of Ulm on 16–19 October 1805 and the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805" (Military map). Written atCanberrah, Australia.Sketch Map illustrating Napoleon's Campaign in 1805 (Ulm & Austerlitz). 1:1,600,000. Whitehall Campaign Series. Cartography by Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. London: Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. Vol. 11. Retrieved6 October 2021 – viaTrove (National Library of Australia).
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