The Battle of Austerlitz was one of the greatest military engagements won by Napoleon. It took place near the village of Austerlitz (now Slavkov, in the CzechRepublic) on December the 2nd, 1805, between a French army of about 68, 000 and an Austro-Russian army of nearly 90,000. It is sometimes called the Battle of the Three Emperors because Napoleon, Francis I of Austria, and Alexander I of Russia were all present on the field. Napoleon had defeated the Austrians at the Campaign of Ulm in October and had occupied Vienna in November, but part of the Austrian army remained intact and moved north to join its Russian ally at Olmutz in Moravia. Napoleon followed, with the aim of winning a quick victory before Prussia could join the anti-French coalition and tip the scales against him.
Napoleon advanced as far as Brunn in late November and then retired a few miles, hoping that the Russian commander, Prince Kutuzov, would try to outflank him and cut off his line of retreat to Vienna. The anti- French allies thereupon occupied the Pratzen plateau west of Austerlitz and, on December the 2nd, the Russians advanced to attack Napoleon's right flank, as he had hoped they would. This attack and another by the Austrians on the left flank were both turned back. At that point, Napoleon sent his main force, under MarshalNicolas Soult, against the allied centre, which had been weakened to carry out the flanking movements. After a fierce struggle, the French broke the Austrian and Russian lines, and a complete rout ensued. The French lost 9000 men; the allies, about 25, 000. As a result of this victory, the third coalition against Napoleon dissolved. Research Battle of Austerlitz
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Research Battle of Austerlitz