| War of the Third Coalition | |||||||||
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| Part of theNapoleonic Wars and theCoalition Wars | |||||||||
 Click an image to load the appropriate article. Left to right, top to bottom: Battles ofUlm,Trafalgar,Durenstein,Schöngrabern andAusterlitz | |||||||||
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Austrian Empire: 20,000 killed or wounded 70,000 captured Russia: 25,000 killed or wounded 25,000 captured Naples: 20,000 killed, wounded or captured Total casualties: 160,000 killed, wounded or captured | France: 13,500 killed 37,000 wounded 5,000 captured Italy: 350 killed 1,900 wounded Spain: 1,200 killed 1,600 wounded Bavaria: 300 killed 1,200 wounded Total casualties: 62,050 killed, wounded or captured | ||||||||
TheWar of the Third Coalition[note 1] (French:Guerre de la Troisième Coalition) was a European conflict lasting from 1805 to 1806 and was the first conflict of theNapoleonic Wars. During the war,France andits client states underNapoleon I and its allySpain opposed an alliance, the Third Coalition, which was made up of theUnited Kingdom, theAustrian Empire, theRussian Empire,Naples,Sicily, andSweden.Prussia remained neutral during the war.
Britain had already been at war with France following the breakdown of thePeace of Amiens and remained the only country still at war with France after theTreaty of Pressburg. From 1803 to 1805, Britain was under constant threat of aFrench invasion. TheRoyal Navy, however, assured its naval dominance at theBattle of Trafalgar in October 1805.
The Third Coalition itself came to full fruition in 1804–05 as Napoleon's actions in Italy and Germany (notably the arrest and execution of theDuc d'Enghien) spurred Austria and Russia into joining Britain against France. The war would be determined on the continent, and the major land operations that sealed the swift French victory involved theUlm Campaign, a large wheeling manoeuvre by theGrande Armée lasting from late August to mid-October 1805 that captured an entire Austrian army, and the decisive French victory over a combined Austro-Russian force underAlexander I of Russia at theBattle of Austerlitz in early December. Austerlitz effectively brought the Third Coalition to an end, although later there was a small side campaign against Naples, which also resulted in a decisive French victory at theBattle of Campo Tenese.
On 26 December 1805, Austria and France signed the Treaty of Pressburg, which took Austria out of both the war and the Coalition, while it reinforced the earlier treaties ofCampo Formio and ofLunéville between the two powers. The treaty confirmed the Austrian cession of lands in Italy to France and in Germany to Napoleon's German allies, imposed an indemnity of 40 million francs on the defeated Habsburgs, and allowed the defeated Russian troops free passage, with their arms and equipment, through hostile territories and back to their home soil. Victory at Austerlitz also prompted Napoleon to create theConfederation of the Rhine, a collection of German client states that pledged themselves to raise an army of 63,000 men. As a direct consequence of those events, theHoly Roman Empireceased to exist when, in 1806,Francis II abdicated the Imperial throne, becoming Francis I, Emperor of Austria. Those achievements, however, did not establish a lasting peace on the continent. Austerlitz had driven neither Russia nor Britain, whose fleet protected Sicily from a French invasion, to cease fighting. Meanwhile, Prussian worries about the growing French influence inCentral Europe sparked theWar of the Fourth Coalition in 1806.
Historians differ on when the War of the Third Coalition began and when it ended {{Citation needed}}. From the British perspective {{Citation needed}}, the war started when Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803, but it was still on its own. It was not until December 1804 when Sweden entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom, not until 11 April 1805 when Russia joined the alliance, not until 16 July when Britain and Russia ratified their treaty of alliance, and only thereafter Austria (9 August) and Naples–Sicily (11 September) completed the fully-fledged coalition.
Meanwhile,Bavaria sided with France on 25 August following theTreaty of Bogenhausen, andWürttemberg joined Napoleon on 5 September. No major hostilities between France and any member of the coalition other than Britain (Trafalgar campaign March–November 1805) occurred until theUlm Campaign (25 September – 20 October 1805). This was in part becauseNapoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom was not called off until 27 August 1805, when he decided to use his invasion forcecamped at Boulogne against Austria instead.
Likewise, no major battles occurred after the Battle of Austerlitz and the signing of thePeace of Pressburg on 26 December 1805, which forced Austria to leave the Third Coalition and cease hostilities against France. Some historians conclude that Austria's departure "shattered the fragile Third Coalition" and "ended the War of the Third Coalition".[1]
This narrative leaves out the subsequentFrench invasion of Naples (February–July 1806), which theoccupying Anglo-Russian troops hastily evacuated and the remaining Neapolitan forces relatively quickly surrendered. Other scholars argue the southern Italian campaign should be included into theWar of the Second Coalition, and criticise ignoring the Mediterranean front by only focusing on land battles in Central Europe and the Trafalgar campaign.[2]
In March 1802, hostilities between France and the Allies came to an end. However it was clear to the leading European politicians, and especially to Napoleon, that the peace treaties of Lunéville (1801) and Amiens (1802), which ended the Second War of Coalition, were not a lasting solution. Tensions between Napoleon-ruled France and Great Britain had been rising again since the second half of 1802. The fact that Napoleon played an active role in the Caribbean contributed to this. There were also indications that he was once again interested in Egypt and the Middle East. There were reports in French newspapers that 10,000 men would be enough to reconquer Egypt.In Italy, Napoleon increased his influence when he transformed the Cisalpine Republic into the Italian Republic and made himself president. He annexed Piedmont to France. Contrary to the peace treaty of Amiens, the French army was not withdrawn from the Netherlands; instead, the Batavian Republic was given a new constitution based on the French model. The Helvetic Republic was also closely dependent on France. Napoleon had given the country a new federalist constitution with the Act of Mediation. At the same time, the country had had to bind itself politically to France for fifty years.
The peace treaty stipulated that Great Britain was to return all conquered territories except Ceylon and Trinidad to their respective previous owners. Minorca to Spain and Malta to the Order of St. John. In return, France was to leave Egypt and Naples and guarantee the independence of Portugal and the Ionian Islands.[3] In order to prevent Napoleon from advancing further into the Levant, it was necessary for Great Britain to keep Malta and a fleet in the Mediterranean. Russia's interest in Malta offered Napoleon an ideal opportunity for a war in which he hoped to play Britain and Russia off against each other. Napoleon indirectly threatened war on 13 March 1803 when he criticized Britain's refusal to fully implement the terms of the Treaty of Amiens to British ambassador Lord Whitworth. Whitworth returned to London and shortly afterwards, on May 18, Great Britain declared war on France.[4][5]
When Napoleon crowned himself Emperor on December 2, 1804, Austria and Prussia may have been alarmed, but the annexed Italian city-states of Genoa, Parma and Piacenza and his coronation as King of Italy left no doubt as to Napoleon's intentions. On January 21, 1805, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger presented a treaty of alliance with Russia and Austria. The demands of this treaty were the restoration of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the withdrawal of French troops from Italy, the dissolution of the Batavian Republic and the restoration of Switzerland's independence. In the event of Napoleon's refusal, England would support the coalition forces financially. After all difficulties had been resolved, Great Britain, Austria and Russia signed a treaty on August 9, 1805, forming the third coalition against Napoleon. Prussia remained neutral.[6]On the other side, Napoleon built an alliance of various southern German members of the Holy Roman Empire. These included Württemberg, Bavaria and Baden, which benefited from the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of February 25, 1803. These enlarged states were in line with Napoleon's calculations. They were to weaken Austria, but were themselves too weak to pose a threat to France.[7]
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Prior to the formation of the Third Coalition, Napoleon had assembled theArmy of England, an invasion force meant to strike at England, from around six camps atBoulogne in Northern France. Although they never set foot on British soil, Napoleon's troops received careful and invaluable training for any possible military operation. Boredom among the troops occasionally set in, but Napoleon paid many visits and conducted lavish parades in order to boost the morale of the soldiers.[8]
The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon would later callLa Grande Armée ("The Great Army"). At the start, this French army had about 200,000 men organized into sevencorps, each capable of independent action or in concert with other corps. Corps were large combined arms field units typically containing 2–4 infantry divisions, a cavalry division, and about 36 to 40cannon.
On top of these forces, Napoleon created acavalry reserve of 22,000 organized into twocuirassierdivisions, four mounteddragoon divisions, and two divisions of dismounted dragoons and light cavalry, all supported by 24artillery pieces. By 1805, theGrande Armée had grown to a force of 350,000, was well equipped, adequately trained, and possessed a skilled officer class.[9]
TheImperial Russian Army in 1805 had many characteristics ofancien régime military organization: there was no permanent formation above the regimental level, senior officers were largely recruited from aristocratic circles (including foreigners), and the Russian soldier, in line with 18th-century practice, was regularly beaten and punished to instill discipline. Furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle. Nevertheless, the Russians did have a fine artillery arm manned by soldiers who regularly fought hard to prevent their pieces from falling into enemy hands.
Archduke Charles, brother of the Austrian Emperor, had started to reform theAustrian army in 1801 by taking away power from theHofkriegsrat, the military-political council responsible for decision-making in the Austrian armed forces. Charles was Austria's best field commander,[10] but he was unpopular with the imperial court and lost much influence when, against his advice, Austria decided to go to war with France.Karl Mack became the new main commander in Austria's army, instituting reforms on the infantry on the eve of war that called for a regiment to be composed of fourbattalions of fourcompanies rather than the older three battalions of six companies. The sudden change came with no corresponding officer training, and as a result, these new units were not led as well as they could have been. Austrian cavalry forces were regarded as the best in Europe, but the detachment of many cavalry units to various infantry formations precluded the hitting power of their massed French counterparts.[11]
In August 1805, Napoleon,Emperor of the French since May of the previous year, turned his army's sights from theEnglish Channel to theRhine in order to deal with the new Austrian and Russian threats. The War of the Third Coalition began with the Ulm Campaign, a series of French andBavarian military manoeuvres and battles designed to outflank an Austrian army under General Mack.
General Mack thought that Austrian security relied on sealing off the gaps through the mountainousBlack Forest area in Southern Germany that had witnessed much fighting during the campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars. Mack believed that there would be no action in Central Germany. Mack decided to make the city ofUlm the centrepiece of his defensive strategy, which called for containment of the French until the Russians underMikhail Kutuzov could arrive and alter the odds against Napoleon. Ulm was protected by the heavily fortified Michelsberg heights, giving Mack the impression that the city was virtually impregnable from outside attack.[12]
Fatally, theAulic Council decided to make Northern Italy the main theatre of operations for the Austrian army.Archduke Charles was assigned 95,000 troops and directed to cross theAdige river withMantua,Peschiera, andMilan as the initial objectives.Archduke John was given 23,000 troops and commanded to secureTyrol while serving as a link between his brother, Charles, and his cousin, ArchdukeFerdinand; the latter's force of 72,000, which was to invade Bavaria and hold the defensive line at Ulm, was effectively controlled by Mack.[13]The Austrians also detached individual corps to serve with the Swedish inPomerania and the British inNaples, though these were designed to obfuscate the French and divert their resources.
In both the campaigns of 1796 and 1800, Napoleon had envisaged the Danube theatre as the central focus of French efforts, but in both instances, the Italian theatre became the most important. The Aulic Council thought Napoleon would strike in Italy again. Napoleon had other intentions: 210,000 French troops would be launched eastwards from the camps of Boulogne and would envelop General Mack's exposed Austrian army if it kept marching towards theBlack Forest.
Meanwhile,Marshal Murat would conduct cavalry screens across the Black Forest to fool the Austrians into thinking that the French were advancing on a direct west–east axis. The main attack in Germany would be supported by French assaults in other theatres: MarshalMasséna would confront Archduke Charles in Italy with 50,000 men, MarshalSt. Cyr would march to Naples with 20,000 men, and MarshalBrune would patrol Boulogne with 30,000 troops against a possible British invasion.
MarshalJoachim Murat and GeneralBertrand conducted reconnaissance between the area bordering the Tyrol and theMain as GeneralSavary, chief of the planning staff, drew up detailed road surveys of the areas between the Rhine and the Danube. The left-wing of theGrande Armée would move fromHanover andUtrecht to fall on Württemberg; the right and centre, troops from the Channel coast, would concentrate along theMiddle Rhine around cities likeMannheim andStrasbourg. While Murat was making demonstrations across the Black Forest, other French forces would then invade the German heartland and swing towards the southeast by capturingAugsburg, a move that was supposed to isolate Mack and interrupt the Austrian lines of communication.[14]
On 22 September, Mack decided to hold theIller line anchored on Ulm. In the last three days of September, the French began the furious marches that would find them at the Austrian rear. Mack believed that the French would not violate Prussian territory, but when he heard thatBernadotte's I Corps had marched through PrussianAnsbach, he made the critical decision to stay and defend Ulm rather than retreat to the south, which would have offered a reasonable opportunity at saving the bulk of his forces. Napoleon had little accurate information about Mack's intentions or manoeuvres. He knew thatKienmayer's Corps was sent toIngolstadt east of the French positions, but his agents greatly exaggerated its size.
On 5 October, Napoleon ordered MarshalNey to join MarshalsLannes,Soult, and Murat in concentrating and crossing the Danube atDonauwörth. The French encirclement was not deep enough to prevent Kienmayer's escape: the French corps did not all arrive at the same place – they instead deployed on a long west–east axis – and the early arrival of Soult andDavout at Donauwörth incited Kienmayer to exercise caution and evasion.Napoleon gradually became more convinced that the Austrians were massed at Ulm and ordered sizeable portions of the French army to concentrate around Donauwörth; on 6 October, three French infantry and cavalry corps headed to Donauwörth to seal off Mack's escape route.[15]
Realizing the danger of his position, Mack decided to go on the offensive. On 8 October, he commanded the army to concentrate aroundGünzburg and hoped to strike at Napoleon's lines of communication. Mack instructed Kienmayer to draw Napoleon further east towardsMunich and Augsburg. Napoleon did not seriously consider the possibility that Mack would cross the Danube and move away from his central base, but he did realize that seizing the bridges at Günzburg would yield a large strategic advantage. To accomplish this objective, Napoleon sent Ney's Corps to Günzburg, completely unaware that the bulk of the Austrian army was heading to the same destination. On 8 October, however, the campaign witnessed its first serious battle atWertingen between Auffenburg's troops and those of Murat and Lannes.
For reasons not entirely clear, Mack ordered Auffenburg on 7 October to take his division of 5,000 infantry and 400 cavalry from Günzburg to Wertingen in preparation for the main Austrian advance out of Ulm. Uncertain of what to do and having little hope for reinforcements, Auffenburg was in a dangerous position. The first French forces to arrive were Murat's cavalry divisions – Klein's 1st Dragoons, Beaumont 3rd Dragoons, and Nansouty'scuirassiers. They began to assault the Austrian positions and were soon joined byOudinot's grenadiers, who were hoping to outflank the Austrians from the north and west. Auffenburg attempted a retreat to the southwest, but he was not quick enough: the Austrians were decimated, losing nearly their entire force, 1,000 to 2,000 of which were prisoners. TheBattle of Wertingen had been an easy French victory.
The actions at Wertingen convinced Mack to operate on the left bank of the Danube instead of making a direct eastwards retreat on the right bank. This would require the Austrian army to cross at Günzburg. On 8 October, Ney was operating under MarshalBerthier's directions that called for a direct attack on Ulm the following day. Ney sent in Malher's 3rd Division to capture the Günzburg bridges over the Danube. A column of this division ran into some Tyroleanjägers and captured 200 of them, including their commander Generald'Aspré, along with two cannons.
The Austrians noticed these developments and reinforced their positions around Günzburg with three infantry battalions and 20 cannons. Malher's division conducted several heroic attacks against the Austrian positions, but all failed. Mack then sent inIgnác Gyulay with seven infantry battalions and fourteen cavalry squadrons to repair the destroyed bridges, but this force was charged and swept away by the delayed French 59th Infantry Regiment.[16]
Fierce fighting ensued and the French finally managed to establish a foothold on the right bank of the Danube. While theBattle of Günzburg was being fought, Ney sent General Loison's 2nd Division to capture the Danube bridges atElchingen, which were lightly defended by the Austrians. Having lost most of the Danube bridges, Mack marched his army back to Ulm. By 10 October, Ney's corps had made significant progress: Malher's division had crossed to the right bank, Loison's division held Elchingen, andDupont's division was heading towards Ulm.
The demoralized Austrian army arrived at Ulm in the early hours of 10 October. Mack was deliberating about a course of action to pursue and the Austrian army remained inactive at Ulm until the 11th. Meanwhile, Napoleon was operating under flawed assumptions: he believed the Austrians were moving to the east or southeast and that Ulm was lightly guarded. Ney sensed this misapprehension and wrote to Berthier that Ulm was, in fact, more heavily defended than the French originally thought. During this time, the Russian threat to the east began to preoccupy Napoleon so much that Murat was given command of the right wing of the army, consisting of Ney's and Lannes's corps. The French were separated in two massive rings at this point: the forces of Ney, Lannes and Murat to the west were containing Mack, while those of Soult, Davout, Bernadotte andMarmont to the east were charged with guarding against any possible Russian and Austrian incursions. On 11 October, Ney made a renewed push on Ulm; the 2nd and 3rd divisions were to march to the city along the right bank of the Danube while Dupont's division, supported by one dragoons division, was to march directly for Ulm and seize the entire city. The orders were hopeless because Ney still did not know that the entire Austrian army was stationed at Ulm.
The 32nd Infantry Regiment in Dupont's division marched fromHaslach towards Ulm and ran into four Austrian regiments holding Bolfingen. The 32nd carried out several ferocious attacks, but the Austrians held firm and repulsed every single one of them. The Austrians flooded the battle with more cavalry and infantry regiments toJungingen hoping to score a knockout blow against Ney's corps by enveloping Dupont's force. Dupont sensed what was happening and preempted the Austrians by launching a surprise attack on Jungingen that captured at least 1,000 prisoners. Renewed Austrian attacks drove these forces back to Haslach, which the French managed to hold. Dupont was eventually forced to fall back on Albeck, where he joinedd'Hilliers's troops. The effects of theBattle of Haslach-Jungingen on Napoleon's plans are not fully clear, but the Emperor may have finally ascertained that the majority of the Austrian army was concentrated at Ulm. Accordingly, Napoleon sent the corps of Soult and Marmont towards theIller, meaning he now had four infantry and one cavalry corps to deal with Mack; Davout, Bernadotte, and the Bavarians were still guarding the region around Munich. Napoleon did not intend to fight a battle across rivers and ordered his marshals to capture the important bridges around Ulm. He also began shifting his forces to the north of Ulm because he expected a battle in that region rather than an encirclement of the city itself. These dispositions and actions would lead to a confrontation at Elchingen on the 14th as Ney's forces advanced on Albeck.
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At this point in the campaign, the Austrian command staff was in full confusion. Ferdinand began to openly oppose Mack's command style and decisions, charging that the latter spent his days writing contradictory orders that left the Austrian army marching back and forth. On 13 October, Mack sent two columns out of Ulm in preparation for a breakout to the north: one under GeneralJohann Sigismund Riesch headed towards Elchingen to secure the bridge there and the other underFranz von Werneck went north with most of the heavy artillery. Ney hurried his corps forward to reestablish contact with Dupont. Ney led his troops to the south of Elchingen on the right bank of the Danube and began the attack. The field to the side was a partially wooded flood plain, rising steeply to the hill town of Elchingen, which had a wide field of view. The French cleared the Austrian pickets and a regiment boldly attacked and captured theabbey at the top of the hill at bayonet point. The Austrian cavalry was also defeated and Riesch's infantry fled; Ney was given the title "Duke of Elchingen" for his impressive victory.[17][18]
Other actions took place on the 14th. Murat's forces joined Dupont at Albeck just in time to drive off an Austrian attack from Werneck; together Murat and Dupont beat the Austrians to the north in the direction ofHeidenheim. By night on the 14th, two French corps were stationed in the vicinity of the Austrian encampments at Michelsberg, right outside of Ulm. Mack was now in a dangerous situation: there was no longer any hope of escaping along the north bank, Marmont and theImperial Guard were hovering at the outskirts of Ulm to the south of the river, and Soult was moving fromMemmingen to prevent the Austrians escaping south to the Tyrol. Troubles continued with the Austrian command as Ferdinand overrode the objections of Mack and ordered the evacuation of all cavalry from Ulm, a total of 6,000 troopers. Murat's pursuit was so effective, however, that only eleven squadrons joined Werneck at Heidenheim. Murat continued his harassment of Werneck and forced him to surrender with 8,000 men atTrochtelfingten on 19 October; Murat also took an entire Austrian field park of 500 vehicles, then swept on towardsNeustadt and captured 12,000 Austrians.
Events at Ulm were now reaching a conclusion. On 15 October, Ney's troops successfully charged the Michelsberg encampments and on the 16th the French began to bombard Ulm itself. Austrian morale was at a low point and Mack began to realize that there was little hope of rescue. On 17 October, Napoleon's emissary,Ségur, signed a convention with Mack in which the Austrians agreed to surrender on 25 October if no aid came by that date. Gradually, however, Mack heard of the capitulations at Heidenheim andNeresheim and agreed to surrender five days before schedule on 20 October. 10,000 troops from the Austrian garrison managed to escape, but the vast majority of the Austrian force marched out on the 21st and laid down their arms without incident, all with theGrande Armée drawn up in a vast semicircle observing the capitulation.[19]
TheBattle of Trafalgar was anaval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between theRoyal Navy and a combined fleet of theFrench andSpanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition.[20] As part ofNapoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, the French and Spanish fleets combined to take control of theEnglish Channel and provide theGrande Armée safe passage. The allied fleet, under the command of French admiralPierre-Charles Villeneuve, sailed from the port ofCádiz in the south of Spain on 18 October 1805. They encountered a British fleet underLord Nelson, recently assembled to meet this threat, in theAtlantic Ocean along the southwest coast of Spain, offCape Trafalgar.
Nelson was outnumbered, with 27 Britishships of the line to 33 French and Spanish, including the largest warship in either fleet, the SpanishSantísima Trinidad. To address this imbalance, Nelson sailed his fleet directly at the allied battle line's flank in two columns, hoping to break the line into pieces. Villeneuve had worried that Nelson might attempt this tactic, but for various reasons, failed to prepare for it. To add to the French crisis, their crews were inexperienced and poorly trained. The British plan worked almost perfectly; Nelson's columns split the Franco-Spanish fleet in three, isolating the rear half from Villeneuve's flag aboardBucentaure. The allied vanguard sailed off while it attempted to turn around, giving the British temporary superiority over the remainder of their fleet. In the ensuing fierce battle 18 allied ships were captured or destroyed, while the British lost none.
The offensive exposed the leading British ships to intense crossfire as they approached the Franco-Spanish lines. Nelson's ownHMS Victory led the front column and was almost knocked out of action. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer during the battle, and died shortly before it ended. Villeneuve was captured along with his flagshipBucentaure. He attended Nelson's funeral while a captive on parole in Britain. The most senior Spanish commander, AdmiralFederico Gravina, escaped with the surviving third of the Franco-Spanish fleet; he died six months later of wounds sustained during the battle. The victory confirmed British naval supremacy, and was achieved in part through Nelson's departure fromprevailing naval tactical orthodoxy.[21]
The main body of theGrande Armée followed the remains of the Austrian army towardsVienna. Following the failure of the Austrian army at Ulm, aRussian army under General Mikhail Kutuzov was also withdrawing east, and reached theIll river on 22 October, where it joined with Kienmayer's retreating corps. On 5 November, they held a successful rearguard action inAmstetten. On 7 November, the Russians arrived inSt. Pölten, and then moved across the Danube river the next day. Late on 9 November, they destroyed the bridges across the Danube, holding the last one, at Stein, nearKrems, until the late afternoon.[22]
The following day, MarshalMortier ordered GeneralGazan to attack what they believed to be a Russian rear guard, at the village of Stein. This was a trap on the part of Kutuzov, laid for the sole purpose of convincing Mortier that he had retreated further toward Vienna, when he had actually crossed the Danube in force, and lay concealed behind the ridges above the village. In the ensuingBattle of Dürenstein, three Russian columns circled around the First Division of theCorps Mortier, and attacked Gazan from both the front and the rear. Not until Dupont's division arrived, after dark, was Gazan able to start to evacuate his soldiers to the other side of the Danube. Gazan lost close to 40 percent of his division. In addition, 47 officers and 895 men were captured, and he lost five guns, as well as theeagles of the 4th Infantry Regiment, and the eagle andguidon of the 4th Dragoons. The Russians also lost around 4,000, about 16 percent of their force, and two regimental colors.[23] The Austrian Lt. Field MarshalJohann Heinrich von Schmitt was killed as the battle concluded, probably by Russian musketry in the confused melee.[24]
At theBattle of Schöngrabern (also known as the Battle of Hollabrunn) occurred a week after the battle at Dürenstein. On 16 November 1805. near Hollabrunn inLower Austria. The Russian army of Kutuzov was retiring north of theDanube before the French army of Napoleon.
On 13 November 1805 MarshalsMurat andLannes, commanding the French advance guard, had captured a bridge over the Danube at Vienna by falsely claiming that anarmistice had been signed, and then rushing the bridge while the guards were distracted.[25] Kutuzov needed to gain time in order to make contact nearBrünn with reinforcements led byBuxhowden. He ordered his rearguard under Major-General PrincePyotr Bagration to delay the French.
After Hollabrun, the armies gathered on the plains to the east ofBrünn. Napoleon could muster some 75,000 men and 157 guns for the impending battle, but about 7,000 troops underDavout were still far to the south in the direction of Vienna.[26] The Allies had about 73,000 soldiers, seventy percent of them Russian, and 318 guns. On 1 December, both sides occupied their main positions.
The northern part of the battlefield was dominated by the 700-foot (210-metre) Santon hill and the 850-foot (260-metre) Zuran hill, both overlooking the vitalOlmutz-Brno road that ran across a west–east axis. To the west of these two hills was the village ofBellowitz, and between them the Bosenitz Stream went south to link up with the Goldbach Stream, the latter flowing astride the villages ofKobelnitz,Sokolnitz, andTelnitz. The centerpiece of the entire area were the Pratzen Heights, a gently sloped hill about 35 to 40 feet (11 to 12 m) in height. An aide noted that the Emperor repeatedly told his Marshals, "Gentlemen, examine this ground carefully, it is going to be a battlefield; you will have a part to play upon it".[27]
An Allied council met on 1 December to discuss proposals for the battle. Most of the Allied strategists had two fundamental ideas in mind: making contact with the enemy and securing the southern flank that led to Vienna. Although the Tsar and his immediate entourage pushed hard for a battle, Emperor Francis of Austria was in a more cautious mood, and he was seconded by Kutuzov, the main Russian commander. The pressure to fight from the Russian nobles and the Austrian commanders, however, was too strong, and the Allies adopted Austrian Chief of StaffFranz von Weyrother's plan. This called for a main drive against the French right flank, which the Allies noticed was lightly guarded, and diversionary attacks against the French left. The Allies deployed most of their troops into four columns that would attack the French right. TheRussian Imperial Guard was held in reserve while Russian troops under Bagration guarded the Allied right.[28]
Days before any actual fighting, Napoleon had given an impression to the Allies that his army was in a weak state and that he desired a negotiated peace.[29] In reality, he was hoping that they would attack, and to encourage them on this mission he deliberately weakened his right flank.[30] On 28 November, Napoleon met with his marshals at Imperial Headquarters and they informed him of their qualms and fears about the upcoming battle, even suggesting a retreat, but he shrugged off their complaints and went to work.[31] Napoleon's plan envisioned that the Allies would throw so many troops to envelop his right flank that their centre would be severely weakened. He then counted on a massive French thrust, to be conducted by 16,000 troops ofSoult's IV Corps, through the centre to cripple the Allied army. Meanwhile, to support his weak right flank, Napoleon ordered Davout'sIII Corps to force march all the way from Vienna and join General Legrand's men, who held the extreme southern flank that would bear the heavy part of the Allied attack. Davout's soldiers had 48 hours to March 110 km (68 mi). Their arrival would be extremely crucial in determining the success or failure of the French plan. TheImperial Guard andBernadotte's I Corps were held in reserve while the V Corps underLannes guarded the northern sector of the battle.
The battle began around 8 a.m. with the first allied column attacking the village of Telnitz, which was defended by the 3rd Line Regiment. This sector of the battlefield witnessed heavy action in the following moments as several ferocious Allied charges evicted the French from the town and forced them on the other side of the Goldbach. The first men of Davout's corps arrived at this time and threw the Allies out of Telnitz before they too were attacked byhussars and re-abandoned the town. Additional Allied attacks out of Telnitz were checked by French artillery.Allied columns started pouring against the French right, but not at the desired speed, so the French were mostly successful in curbing the attacks. In reality, the Allied deployments were mistaken and poorly timed: cavalry detachments underLiechtenstein on the Allied left flank had to be placed in the right flank and in the process they ran into and slowed down part of the second column of infantry that was advancing towards the French right. At the time, the planners thought this was a disaster, but later on it helped the Allies. Meanwhile, the lead elements of the second column were attacking the village of Sokolnitz, which was defended by the 26th Light Regiment and theTirailleurs, French skirmishers. Initial Allied assaults proved unsuccessful and GeneralLangeron ordered the bombardment of the village. This deadly barrage forced the French out, and around the same time, the third column attacked the castle of Sokolnitz. The French, however, counterattacked and regained the village, only to be thrown out again. Conflict in this area ended momentarily whenFriant's division (part of III Corps) retook the village. Sokolnitz was perhaps the most fought over area in the battlefield and would change hands several times as the day progressed.[32]
Around 8:45 a.m., finally satisfied at the weakness in the enemy centre, Napoleon asked Soult how long it would take for his men to reach the Pratzen Heights, to which the Marshal replied, "Less than twenty minutes, sire." About 15 minutes later, Napoleon ordered the attack, adding, "One sharp blow and the war is over."[33]
A dense fog helped to cloud the advance of St. Hilaire's division, but as they went up the slope the legendary 'Sun of Austerlitz' ripped the mist apart and encouraged them forward.Russian soldiers and commanders on top of the heights were stunned to see so many French troops coming towards them.[34] Allied commanders were now able to feed some of the delayed detachments of the fourth column into this bitter struggle. Over an hour of horrendous fighting left much of this unit decimated beyond recognition. The other men from the second column, mostly inexperienced Austrians, also participated in the struggle and swung the numbers game against one of the best fighting forces in the French army, finally forcing them to withdraw down the slopes. However, gripped by desperation, St. Hilaire's men struck hard once more and bayoneted the Allies out of the heights. To the north, GeneralVandamme's division attacked an area called Staré Vinohrady and through talented skirmishing and deadly volleys broke several Allied battalions.
The battle had firmly turned to France's favor, but there was still much fighting ahead. Napoleon ordered Bernadotte's I Corps to support Vandamme's left and moved his own command centre from Zuran Hill to St. Anthony's Chapel on the Pratzen Heights. The difficult position of the Allies was confirmed by the decision to send in theRussian Imperial Guard; Grand DukeConstantine, Tsar Alexander's brother, commanded the Guard and counterattacked in Vandamme's section of the field, forcing a bloody effort and the loss of the only French standard in the battle (the unfortunate victim was a battalion of the 4th Line Regiment). Sensing trouble, Napoleon ordered his own heavyGuard cavalry forward. These men pulverized their Russian counterparts, but with both sides pouring in large masses of cavalry no victor was clear yet. The Russians had a numerical advantage here but fairly soon the tide swung asd'Erlon's Division, the 2nd of Bernadotte's I Corps, deployed on the flank of the action and allowed French cavalry to seek refuge behind their lines. Thehorse artillery of the Guard also unlimbered a deadly toll on the Russian cavalry and fusiliers. The Russians broke and many died as they were pursued by the reinvigorated French cavalry for about a quarter of a mile.[35]
Meanwhile, the northernmost part of the battlefield was also witnessing heavy fighting. PrinceLiechtenstein's heavy cavalry began to assaultKellerman's lighter cavalry forces after finally arriving at the correct position in the field. The fighting originally went well for the French, but Kellerman's forces took cover behind GeneralCaffarelli's infantry division once it became clear Russian numbers were too great. Caffarelli's men halted the Russian assaults and permitted Murat to send two cuirassier divisions into the fray to finish off the Russian cavalry for good. The ensuing melee was bitter and long, but the French ultimately prevailed. Lannes then led his V Corps against Bagration's men and after hard fighting managed to drive the skilled Russian commander off the field. He wanted to pursue, but Murat, who was in control of this sector in the battlefield, was against the idea.
Napoleon's focus now shifted towards the southern end of the battlefield where the French and the Allies were still fighting over Sokolnitz and Telnitz. In an effective double-pronged assault, St. Hilaire's division and part of Davout's III Corps smashed through the enemy at Sokolnitz and persuaded the commanders of the first two columns, generals Kienmayer and Langeron, to flee as fast as they could.Buxhowden, the commander of the Allied left and the man responsible for leading the attack, was completely drunk and fled as well. Kienmayer covered his withdrawal with theO'Reilly light cavalry, who gallantly managed to defeat five of six French cavalry regiments before they too had to retreat.[36]
General panic now seized the Allied army and it abandoned the field in any and all possible directions. Russian forces that had been defeated by the French right withdrew south towards Vienna via the Satschan frozen ponds. According to popular myth, the French artillery pounded towards the men, but Napoleon redirected his gunners to fire at the ice. The men drowned in the viciously cold ponds, dozens of artillery pieces going down along with them. Estimates on how many guns were captured differ; there may have been as few as 38 or as many as over 100. Sources also differ on casualties, with figures ranging from as few as 200 to as many as 2,000 dead. Because Napoleon exaggerated this incident in his report of the battle, the low numbers may be more accurate, although doubt remains as to whether they are fully correct. Many regard this incident as one of Napoleon's cruelest acts in war.[37]However, only a few bodies are reported to have been found in the spring of 1806, and it is most likely the incident is a myth.
Meanwhile, in Italy, the AustrianArmee von Italien underArchduke Charles fought against the FrenchArmée d'italie underMarshal Masséna. The French managed to gain a bridgehead over theAdige river atVerona on 18 October, and finally, between 29 and 31 October, the outnumbered French defeated the superior Austrian army in theBattle of Caldiero. In November the Austrians retreated, engaging the French vanguard ofd'Espagne in several rear-guard actions.Venice was blockaded by French andItalian troops underSt.Cyr. Charles' army finally crossed theIsonzo on 14 November, preventing the French from crossing it.
One 4,400-strong Habsburg army that lingered behind, was roundly defeated and captured byJean Reynier and St. Cyr at theBattle of Castelfranco Veneto on 24 November 1805.
The French force under St. Cyr then manoeuvred on the frontier of theKingdom of Naples. The French were being carefully watched by an Anglo-Russian force entrusted with defence of the kingdom. After the Battle of Austerlitz, the Russians withdrew from Italy and the British, unwilling to defend Naples alone, evacuated the mainland altogether and retreated back toSicily. Meanwhile, the French force, now stationed inBologna, was reorganised into the Army of Naples and placed under the nominal command of Napoleon's brotherJoseph Bonaparte. However, the de facto commander was André Masséna, who commanded the I Corps and was entrusted with the invasion by Joseph.
On 9 February 1806, Masséna invaded the Kingdom of Naples and two days later, theBourbon King of Naples,Ferdinand IV also fled to Sicily, protected by the British fleet. Naples soon fell into French hands and by the end of February, only two places in the kingdom still held out. One was the fortress city ofGaeta, north of Naples, and the other wasCalabria in the very south of Italy, which was where the remainder of the Royal Neapolitan Army was stationed.
Ferdinand had hoped for a repeat of the events of 1799, when a popular uprising in Calabria eventually caused the downfall of theParthenopaean Republic, a French client state created after the Neapolitans were defeated the first time during theWar of the Second Coalition. However, no such rebellion initially occurred and on 3 March, GeneralJean Reynier, who commanded the 10,000 strong II Corps of the Army of Naples invaded Calabria. Only a few Calabrians resisted the invading French force and the Royal Neapolitan Army was soundly defeated at theBattle of Campo Tenese on 10 March 1806. Ferdinand now had no choice but to concede the Neapolitan throne to the French. A day after Campo Tenese, Joseph was installed as the new King of Naples. By now, the last regular troops of the Neapolitan army had fled to Sicily and the French controlled the entire Italian mainland except for the fortress of Gaeta, which had beenunder siege since 26 February. Gaeta surrendered on 18 July, concluding the invasion with a decisive French victory.[38]
However, all was not going to plan for the French. Supply problems meant that Reynier's II Corps in Calabria was forced to live off the land. For over a month, the peasants of the region had supported the Neapolitan army and were close to starvation. Joseph seemed unaware of the problems and the potential dangers of revolt. Consequently, no extra provisions were sent to the south of Italy. Reynier took the initiative and seized supplies from the local populace, leading predictably to a revolt by the end of March. What started as small bands of partisans eventually expanded into entire villages rising up against the French. With the fortress of Gaeta still holding out, Joseph was unable to send more troops to Calabria, forcing Reynier to reinforce his army with native troops recruited from the larger towns and cities.[38]
By July, Masséna had still failed to take Gaeta due to poor logistical management of the French artillery, slight reinforcements from the British by sea and a series of successful sorties by the Neapolitan garrison against the French sappers. With only Reynier's small force in Calabria still struggling against the revolt, the British organised an expeditionary force under SirJohn Stuart to prevent any potential invasion of Sicily and perhaps to trigger a full-scale rebellion against the French across Italy. Although there were early successes for the British, in particular atMaida, the British failed to either reinforce Stuart's expedition or attempt to relieve the Siege of Gaeta. With the French artillery finally able to bombard the walls with their full potential, the Neapolitans eventually surrendered on 18 July, freeing Masséna's I Corps.[39]
Following the surrender, Masséna was ordered south by Joseph to support Reynier's II Corps against the British and the Calabrian insurrection. Now severely outnumbered in mainland Italy, the British retreated back to Sicily. However, the revolt was not suppressed until 1807, by which time Masséna had already requested permission to relinquish command. For the first time in the Napoleonic Wars, the French experienced a brutal guerrilla war carried on by a rebellious population. The French gleaned that the only effective way to deal with such an uprising was to implement terror tactics employed by Reynier. This foreshadowed the same problems the French, and in particular Joseph Bonaparte, would face in Spain during thePeninsular War.
Austerlitz and the preceding campaign profoundly altered the nature of European politics. In three months, the French had occupied Vienna, decimated two armies, and humbled the Austrian Empire. These events sharply contrast with the rigid power structures of the 18th century, when no major European capital was ever held by an enemy army. Austerlitz set the stage for a near-decade of French domination on the European continent, but one of its more immediate impacts was to goad Prussia intowar in 1806.
France and Austria signed a truce on 4 December and theTreaty of Pressburg 22 days later took the latter out of the war. Austria agreed to recognize French territory captured by the treaties of Campo Formio (1797) and Lunéville (1801), cede land to Bavaria,Württemberg, andBaden, which were Napoleon's German allies, and pay 40 million francs in war indemnities.Venetia was also given to theKingdom of Italy. It was a harsh end for Austria, but certainly not a catastrophic peace. The Russian army was allowed to withdraw to home territory and the French encamped themselves in Southern Germany.
In July 1806, Napoleon created theConfederation of the Rhine, a string of German client states which on becoming allies of France pledged themselves to raise an army of 63,000 men. With Napoleon as their "Protector", the confederate states were compelled to leave theHoly Roman Empire, which was dissolved shortly afterward.[40] Prussia saw these and other moves as an affront to its status as the main power of Central Europe and it went to war with France in 1806.
In Italy, the political situation would remain unchanged until 1815, with the British and Sicilian troops guarding the Bourbon King Ferdinand in Sicily and the Napoleonic King of Naples controlling the mainland. In 1808,Joachim Murat became the King of Naples, after Joseph Bonaparte became King of Spain. Murat made various attempts to cross theStrait of Messina, which all ended in failure, despite once managing to secure a foothold in Sicily.
The French lost 12,000 killed, 22,200 wounded and 5,000 captured in 1805, including 5,300 killed and 22,200 wounded in the Austrian Campaign against the Habsburgs and Russians, 2,100 killed and 5,300 wounded in the Italian Campaign, 4,300 killed and 3,700 wounded in the naval war, 200 killed and 400 wounded in the colonies and 100 killed and 400 wounded in coastal defense duties.[41][42] The 1806 Naples Campaign cost the French 1,500 killed and 5,000 wounded.[42] The Spanish suffered 1,200 killed and 1,600 wounded in the naval war, Bavaria sustained 300 killed and 1,200 wounded in the Austrian Campaign and the Kingdom of Italy lost 100 killed and 400 wounded in the Italian Campaign and 250 killed and 1,500 wounded in the Naples Campaign.[42]
The Austrians lost 20,000 killed and wounded and 70,000 as prisoners.[41] Russian casualties were 25,000 killed and wounded and 25,000 captured.[41] The Neapolitan army of 22,000 was wiped out by the French in 1806, with only 2,000 evacuated to Sicily.
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