Page 53 - All About History - Issue 18-14

10 Greatest Military Leaders

NAPOLEON

TheBattleofAusterlitz 2 December 1805, Czech Republic

ThreeemperorsduelforthefutureofEuropeoverfrozenfields

n 21 October 1805 Admiral Horatio Nelson French force, but although fewer in number, they –Napoleonhadsweptawaythenumerical
defeated the French fleet at Trafalgar, the were battle-hardened veterans and the patchwork advantage of the enemy, bogging them down in
Oinvasion of Britain apparently defeated. A day of vineyards, forests, villages and marshes made myriad smaller confrontations. Approximately
earlier, the Armée d’Angleterre near Calais had left the Allied advance hard going. 9,000 French troops had been killed or wounded,
camp, but they weren’t marching to the English Early victories in the cold winter light were compared to 15,000 Russians and Austrians –
Channel. They were heading east. Britain had won quickly lost to French counter-attacks before being andanother12,000oftheenemycaptured.Tsar
at sea, but France had already lost interest. Aware regained again. Little progress seemed to be made Alexander was found by his generals crying under
of the threat being posed by Britain’s allies, the by either side, but this bloody ballet was being atreemilesfromthebattlefield.“Wearebabiesin
Austrian Holy Roman Empire and the powerful danced to Napoleon’s tune and the Allies had thehands ofagiant”, wept thetsar.
Russian Empire, the French emperor Napoleon gradually been committing more and more of their
Bonaparte marched his army east across the Rhine, men to the brutal fighting. Watching from a hill Frenchcavalrytakeuppositionsbeforethebattle
taking Vienna and pressing on into Moravia, above the battlefield, Napoleon ordered
in what is now the Czech Republic. the steel jaws of the trap sprung: “One
With the Austrian armies Was it genius? sharp blow and the war is over.”
shattered, the 28-year old Russian Austerlitz was the perfect Under the sudden boom of the
tsar Alexander took the lead and example of Napoleon’s French artillery, Napoleon’s heavy
urged a counter-attack on the sound strategy on both the cavalry lanced right through

battlefield and in politics
French flanks around the town of – cutting down superior the heart of the now-thinned
Austerlitz, which would open up a numbers and crippling his Allied line and the panicked tsar
corridor to liberate Vienna. Napoleon rivals on the continent. fled. Continuing their thunderous
was counting on it. Purposefully advance, the French heavy cavalry
thinning the French ranks on the flank, swept down and encircled the enemy.
Russian cavalry seize a French banner
at 8am on 2 December 1805 the Allies took The battle continued to rage bitterly over
the bait. Three columns of troops hit the smaller the frozen ground, but its outcome was decided

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FRENCHARMY V ALLIEDARMY
57,000 78,400
THE ALLIES ATTACK BATTLE FOR THE THE RUSSIANS THE ALLIES RETREAT THE KILLING BLOW 10,000 7,000
1 The combined Russian 2 HIGH GROUND 3 FIGHT BACK 4 With relatively little 5 With the battle still raging
and Austrian force begins With the Allied advance The tsar dispatches his fighting along the road, the around Tenitz in the south 157 318
its advance, starting in the largely failing, the French brother, Grand Duke French now advance rapidly and the rest of the Allies
village of Tenitz and moving push forward and secure the Constantine, with the elite and after hard fighting being forced back, French Innovation:
up the line. Despite briefly strategically vital Pratzen Russian Imperial Guard to the Russian forces start to troops sweep toward the Boldness:
throwing the French back Heights. Tsar Alexander fails attack Pratzen Heights, retreat. Elsewhere on the remaining enemy forces,
from Tenitz, the advance of to recognise the significance taking a standard from the battlefield, the Allies are catching them in a pincer Prudence:
the other Allied columns is and, seeing the French have French. Napoleon sends his forced to begin an ordered movement. Allied troops
slow and the French hold come to a halt, withdraws his own heavy cavalry in and the retreat, but with no pause in panic and flee, with many Planning:
the line. units from the high ground. Russians are defeated. the fighting. drowning in the frozen ponds.
KEY: Infantry Cavalry Artillery
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