Battle of Austerlitz
2 December 1805 · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
Napoleon defeated the Russian and Austrian emperors near Austerlitz in Moravia on 2 December 1805, his most celebrated victory.
The sides
- France, led by Napoleon: about 73,000 men
- Russia and Austria, led by Kutuzov: about 85,000 men
States that fought: First French Empire, Russian Empire, Holy Roman Empire.
How it went
Battle of Austerlitz
Napoleon has taken Vienna, but a Russian and Austrian army under Tsar Alexander and Emperor Francis stands east of Brünn. Napoleon pulls back, gives up the Pratzen Heights and leaves his right flank weak, inviting them to attack it.
The armies deploy
In the freezing dawn the allies hold the Pratzen Heights. Napoleon keeps Soult's corps hidden in the fog of the Goldbach valley below them.
The allies march south
As planned in the allied camp, three great columns leave the heights to fall on the weak French right at Telnitz and Sokolnitz. Legrand's single division holds the villages.
Davout arrives
Davout's corps arrives after a forced march of 110 kilometres in two days and shores up the right.
The sun of Austerlitz
At nine the sun burns through the fog, and Soult's divisions climb the Pratzen Heights, which the allied columns have just left nearly empty. Kolowrat turns back to fight for them.
Fighting in the north
In the north Lannes and Murat take on Bagration and Liechtenstein's cavalry under the Santon hill, in charge and countercharge.
The Russian Guard charges
Soult takes the heights. The Russian Guard counterattacks and breaks a French battalion, until Napoleon's Guard cavalry rides it down.
The trap closes
Soult turns south off the heights onto the rear of the three columns, caught between him and Davout. Thousands flee across the frozen Satschan ponds, and French guns break the ice.
Victory
By evening the allied army is in flight. It has lost some 16,000 killed and wounded and 11,000 prisoners; the French about 9,000. Austria makes peace at Pressburg within the month.
Numbers rounded from modern counts. Columns and corps are drawn as single blocks.
People and wars
- Napoleon (1769 CE – 1821 CE): Corsican-born general who seized power in France in 1799 and crowned himself Emperor in 1804. He conquered much of Europe before his defeat in 1815 and died in exile on Saint Helena.