A Well-Calculated Trap: History of the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon’s Greatest Triumph

It was staged. A maneuver calculated to make the Austro-Russian allies do what they want Napoleon Bonaparte , the emperor of the French, wanted. He is credited with the expression “Power lies in the appearance of power”, meaning deception, the manipulation of reality to suit you. He successfully realized this idea on December 2, 1805, in the town of Austerlitz.

At that time, the city was a small town located within the Austrian Empire (the immediate predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which fought in World War I), which covered much of central Europe. Today it is a city located in the Czech Republic and what we call Slavkov in Brna.

But let’s go back to the beginnings of the 19th century. Already crowned emperor the previous year, Napoleon sought to militarily defeat the Third Coalition, formed by the United Kingdom, the Austrian Empire, Russia, Naples and Sweden, with the aim of defeating the Corsicans, overthrowing them from power and eliminate the Corsicans. vestiges of French influence on the old continent. In 1805, the Napoleonic Empire already included – in addition to France – today’s Netherlands and Belgium (in the satellite state of the Batavian Republic), part of Italy (in the Kingdom of Italy), the German kingdom of Bavaria as an ally and already looked at the territories of Central Europe where Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria were today.

Taking advantage of the war against the Third Coalition, Napoleon invaded precisely German-speaking lands. After massively beating the Austrians in Battle of Ulm (in present-day Germany) managed to take the very city of Vienna . However, he lacked a decisive victory that would put an end to the allies. He then decides to go a little further north to pursue the beaten Austrians, but also the Russians.

In this pursuit, he decided to play a trick on them. And fortune was on their side, because the allies were not sure how to proceed. “Many senior officers, including General Kutuzov, considered it essential not to engage in combat with Bonaparte at this time and argued that delay only offered advantages. A premature confrontation could lead to disaster. Instead of fighting, they proposed to buy time with a retreat towards the Carpathians which would allow the arrival of reinforcements from Italy and Prussia. However, Alexander (Emperor of Russia) and Francis (Emperor of Austria) disdained such arguments,” notes historian Alexander Mikaberidze in his book. The Napoleonic Wars – A Global History.

However, the Austrians, seeing that the French were still on their territory, pressured their allies to opt for a more offensive strategy. . “The Austrians, still reeling from the disaster at Ulm, also opposed withdrawal on the grounds that it would prolong French depredation of their territories. They wanted the Russian army to expel the French from Moravia. These arguments in favor of the offensive soon found receptive ears; Alexander wanted to command the army and defeat Napoleon on the battlefield. After much deliberation, Alexander and Francis agreed on the offensive and Austrian Major General Franz Weyrother prepared a plan of operations. According to this, the main Allied forces would carry out an enveloping maneuver on Napoleon’s right flank and cut off his communications with Vienna,” explains Mikaberidze.

But the plan proved complex to implement. Only the Russians managed to mobilize a contingent and they met the French immediately. Battle of Wischau on November 28, 1805, in what is now the Czech Republic. The Russians defeat the hesitant and poorly prepared French. This emboldened the Russians who thought they could defeat the emperor. But they fell right into Napoleon’s trap. .

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, advisor to the young tsar Alexander I of Russia (at the time, 27 years old), He remembered this moment in his memories. “They believed that Napoleon was in a risky position and was about to retreat. The French outposts seemed hesitant and timid, which gave rise to these illusions, and reports from our outposts kept coming in announcing an imminent movement of the French army towards the rear.

As a good artilleryman and lover of mathematics, Napoleon left nothing to chance. And these movements were coldly studied. “The Allied success at Wischau was orchestrated by Napoleon, who attempted to lure the Allies to the positions he desired. ; “His ploy convinced many people at coalition headquarters that the French were weakened and wanted to avoid a decisive battle,” notes Mikaberidze. The allies were still doubtful, some senior officers thought that Napoleon wanted to lure them into a battle with terrain chosen by him, others were with the idea of ​​going to crush him.

At the end of November, to dispel all doubts, they decided to send the Russian prince Pyotr Dolgorukov to meet Napoleon to discuss the terms of possible negotiations. Convinced that the Frenchman was weakened, he acted with arrogance. Napoleon, internally furious at the Russian provocation, knew how to hold back and gave the impression that the French were weakened, in order to encourage the allies to attack him. The ruse succeeded. “Upon his return, Dolgorukov ‘told everyone that Napoleon was trembling and that even our vanguard would be enough to defeat him,'” Mikaberidze writes.

Knowing that he had the advantage of time, Napoleon’s next step was to choose the land to his liking. By the time the allies finally decided to attack, Corsica had already located its army at Austerlitz, more precisely on the Pratzen plateau. But it was temporary, he wanted his enemies to see that he had occupied the board and then evacuate him.

“The French emperor had first placed his men on the heights of Pratzen, to the east of the city, aware that this position would be crucial in the battle. He then deliberately moved his troops westward, to a lower altitude, to weaken and excessively expand the right flank with the intention that his adversaries would focus all their attention on this apparent vulnerability. », notes Mikaberidze. It was a trap, Napoleon hoped that the allies would concentrate on it and attack them at another time. He entrusted General Davout with command of the defense of his flank. He had to hold on while Napoleon prepared to deliver the final blow.

The morning of December 2, 1805, at dawn, cloudy and foggy, in Austerlitz Napoleon took advantage of this to hide the bulk of his army under the mist. The allies would only see the right flank guarded by Davout. The general fulfilled the objective of resisting the Russian-Austrian charge as best he could, without giving in. At 9:30 a.m., the fog dissipated and Napoleon ordered his movement. “He ordered Marshal Nicolas Soult to launch an attack on the heights of Pratzen. The French attack surprises the Allied forces, divides the army in two and sows disorder in the ranks. “. The trap had worked.

As shown in the recent film Napoleon , by Ridley Scott and with Joaquin Phoenix in the cast, the Frenchman went even further. “ The French assault continues against the Allied left wing, which disintegrates at times, while French artillery fired on the frozen ponds to break the ice and make retreat difficult “. The enemy began to flee, losing men drowned in the cold waters of the frozen ponds of Satscha. They lost soldiers, cannons, horses, guns. A major disaster. Napoleon had won.

If we analyze the figures left by the battle, we can see that it was an overwhelming victory. Mikaberidze quotes them: “The French lost about 9,000 men, including 1,300 dead, but the coalition army suffered about 27,000 casualties. The Russians suffered the brunt of the losses, more than 21,000 dead, wounded and prisoners, as well as the loss of 133 guns.

Through this, Napoleon strengthened his power in Central Europe, covered more territories for his empire, and forced Russia and Austria to sue the French for peace. “The triumph of 1805 granted Napoleon undisputed hegemony in Western and Central Europe, where, through persuasion and pressure, he obtained the active cooperation of the major southern German states (Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg). The other European powers were astonished by the scale and speed of their victories. The campaign demonstrated the powers’ inability to form and lead an alliance strong enough to defeat a resurgent France.

The Russians blamed the Austrians for the disaster. Mikaberidze quotes a letter from a Russian general to his wife: “As for the [austriacos]You can’t imagine what a shame it is to be with these scoundrels. […] This cursed campaign should serve as a lesson to us not to trust these Germans who, for us, are greater enemies than the French.” For his part, Napoleon had already shown what a future objective would be, perhaps motivated by the old European desire for eastward expansion. Mikaberidze says that at the end of the battle, the Corsican exclaimed: “Many beautiful ladies will cry tomorrow in St. Petersburg!”