On 2 December 1805, the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon beat the combined Russian and Austrian armies at Austerlitz in Moravia, today Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic. He let the allies attack his deliberately thin right wing, then stormed the Pratzen Heights in their emptied center and cut their army in two. Within weeks Austria made peace.
The bait and the blow
Britannica puts Napoleon's army at about 68,000 men against almost 90,000 Russians and Austrians, nominally under General Mikhail Kutuzov. The allies meant to turn the French right and cut Napoleon off from Vienna, and before dawn on 2 December their first columns marched down from the Pratzen plateau toward the villages of Telnitz and Sokolnitz. Napoleon had entrusted that wing to a single division of Soult's corps, backed by Davout's corps, which had arrived from Vienna late on 1 December after a forced march of nearly 70 miles in 48 hours.1 › Napoleon Bonaparte
The more the allies poured south, the weaker their center became. Soult's divisions then climbed the plateau, and in World History Encyclopedia's account the famous sun of Austerlitz burned off the last of the morning mist as the French went up. Holding the heights, the French split the allied army in two, and its southern wing broke; some of the fleeing troops crossed frozen ponds that Napoleon had shelled.2
The cost and the peace
Britannica gives about 9,000 French casualties against about 15,000 Russian and Austrian killed and wounded and some 11,000 prisoners. World History Encyclopedia counts 1,305 French killed and 6,940 wounded, against about 15,000 allied killed and wounded and 12,000 captured. Austria made peace in the Treaty of Pressburg, and Prussia stayed out of the coalition for the time being.3
The battle is told in full, with both sides' view, in our article on the Battle of Austerlitz.4
Also on this day
- 1899: Battle of Tirad Pass. A Filipino rear guard of about 60 men under General Gregorio del Pilar held Tirad Pass in northern Luzon against a far larger American force in the Philippine-American War.
