2 December 1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Tsar Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz.
2 December 1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Tsar Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz.
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Battle of Austerlitz, also called Battle of the Three Emperors, (2 December 1805) was the first engagement of the War of the Third Coalition and one of Napoleon’s greatest victories.
His 68,000 troops defeated almost 90,000 Russians and Austrians nominally under General M.I. Kutuzov, forcing Austria to make peace with France (Treaty of Pressburg) and keeping Prussia temporarily out of the anti-French alliance.
The battle took place near Austerlitz in Moravia (now Slavkov u Brna, Czech Republic) after the French had entered Vienna on 13 November and then pursued the Russian and Austrian allied armies into Moravia.
The arrival of the Russian emperor Alexander I virtually deprived Kutuzov of supreme control of his troops. The allies decided to fight Napoleon west of Austerlitz and occupied the Pratzen Plateau, which Napoleon had deliberately evacuated to create a trap.
The allies then launched their main attack, with 40,000 men, against the French right (south) to cut them off from Vienna. While Marshal Louis Davout’s corps of 10,500 men stubbornly resisted this attack, and the allied secondary attack on Napoleon’s northern flank was repulsed, Napoleon launched Marshal Nicolas Soult, with 20,000 infantry, up the slopes to smash the weak allied centre on the Pratzen Plateau. Soult captured the plateau and, with 25,000 reinforcements from Napoleon’s reserve, held it against the allied attempts to retake it.
The allies were soon split in two and vigorously attacked and pursued both north and south of the plateau. They lost 15,000 men killed and wounded and 11,000 captured, while Napoleon lost 9,000 men. The remnants of the allied army were scattered.
Two days later Francis I of Austria agreed to a suspension of hostilities and arranged for Alexander I to take his army back to Russia.
Soon this will be Dover.
Austerlitz means the Napoleonic apogee and the consolidation of a politico-military Empire, but did Napoleon really believe in the ideals of the early French Revolution? Does the horrible slaughter of thousands of soldiers (own and enemies) agree with the ideas of **freedom, equality and fraternity**? Can anyone answer me?
Ah, yes, the original GIGACHAD of Europe.
His greatest victory.
Kinda proud it took place on Czech soil :p
Is people getting political about events that happened 200 years ago? Every ruler of any country was an asshole back then.
Imagine having not only EU, but also the HRE.
Un seul oignon nous change en lion.
Mais pas d’oignons aux Autrichiens,
Non pas d’oignons à tous ces chiens,
Mais pas d’oignons aux Autrichiens,
Non pas d’oignons, non pas d’oignons.
I’m reading the exactly this section in the book War and Peace of Tolstoy
Just Napoleon being the chad he is.Nothing new to see here.
*Spain 1808*
Napoleon: you know what? your king is bad but this new brand king (also brother of mine) is totally awesome.
Spanish peasant: i dont want a french king go fuck yourself
Napoleon: you dont understand! France is a liberator of the enslaved and Joseph is totally cool.
Spanish peasant: i dont want your liberation go fuck yourself
Napoleon: but… but muh Codex
Spanish peasant: i dont want that either go fuck yourself
Napoleon: okay fine eat a bullet then
r/europe 200 years later: what a great guy, what a liberator!
Wouldn’t be a post about Napoleon without the comment section being involved in an all-out war about how much of a good guy or bad guy he was.
If anyone is looking to read a good book about Napoleon in English I suggest checking out Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts. Its one of the best books I’ve ever read!
And it took place exactly a year after his coronation.
Look how easily we won, a march on Muscow will be a piece of cake
For anyone interested in a great depiction of the battle and its background, check this video by Epic History TV https://youtu.be/bhQe2cjr5XQ
They also have a magnificently documented series about the rise and fall of Napoleon. Highly recommended!
Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar. Napoleon.
That is the power of the onion.
Btw today was also buried in the Invalides the general Gudin, who died in 1812 at the battle of Smolensk and whose body was found just two years ago during an excavation.
His masterpiece
Napoleon is one of the few thst can compare with Alexander, Caesar or Augustus.