After Ulm
Napoleon has destroyed the Austrian army in Germany, but Russian forces are arriving and the Grande Armée is stretched around Vienna.
Battle
Austerlitz
2 December 1805
Hold the Goldbach villages, take Pratzen, then turn against the southern columns.
Military history
How does the attack on Pratzen turn the allied envelopment into the isolation of the southern columns?
The allied plan aims to turn the French right by descending towards Telnitz and Sokolnitz. Napoleon accepts that risk and concentrates his attack on Pratzen. But taking the heights does not end the battle: Soult must repel counterattacks, the two Guards clash and the southern columns continue fighting. The decision comes when the French can leave the plateau southwards while holding their other sectors.
An uneven coalition
Weyrother’s plan requires several columns to cross the same valleys while cavalry moves to its assigned sector. Crossing routes, fog and distances make coordination difficult.
The choice of terrain
The Allies descend from Pratzen to reach the French right. Napoleon attacks the heights during this movement, but part of the allied centre and recalled troops can still defend them.
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Chronological dossier
MarengoHow was an almost-lost battle reversed by the arrival of reserves and a concentrated counterattack?TrafalgarHow did two British columns accept fire on the approach to break the opposing line and impose local engagements?Jena–AuerstedtNapoleon defeats a Prussian force at Jena while Davout, badly outnumbered, repels the main army at Auerstedt.EylauHow did snow, visibility and staggered arrivals turn a search for decision into an inconclusive and exceptionally costly battle?WagramThe crossing from Lobau deploys the army along an immense arc; on the 6th, the unsynchronised Austrian offensive threatens Aspern, but the battery covers Masséna, Davout turns Markgrafneusiedl and the general assault compels an orderly withdrawal.BorodinoWhy did the successive capture of Russian positions destroy neither the opposing army nor its ability to retreat?LeipzigHow did a coalition coordinate several armies around Leipzig while avoiding defeat in detail?WaterlooA battle of coordination, attrition and time before the Prussians arrive.
Military history
Sources
Primary sourceKarl von Stutterheim, A Detailed Account of the Battle of Austerlitz (1807)
Section Battle of Austerlitz, du plan allié à la retraite de Dokhtourov ; texte distingué des notes françaises
Sequence of fighting, allied responses, the Guards and the retreats; Austrian account compared with modern research without treating its judgments as fact.
View ↗Historical studyFondation Napoléon, The Battle of Austerlitz and the Principles of War
Sections consacrées au terrain et à la manœuvre du 2 décembre
Corps deployment, descent of the Allied columns, and Soult’s attack across Pratzen.
View ↗Historical cartographyBodleian Map Room, Austerlitz, 2nd Dec 1805
Carte et commentaire historique publiés par les bibliothèques Bodléiennes
Reading of the terrain, Goldbach and Pratzen, and a warning against a simplified representation of the manoeuvre.
View ↗Contemporary primary source30e Bulletin de la Grande Armée, 3 décembre 1805
30e Bulletin, publié au lendemain d’Austerlitz
The immediate French account of the tactical sequence, checked against modern studies for its exaggerations, especially concerning the frozen ponds.
View ↗Military museumVHU Praha, Rakouští fyzilíři, 1805
Notice des figurines, paragraphes uniformes et armement
White uniform, helmet and equipment of Austrian infantrymen.
View ↗Equipment studyKarel Klátil, Ruská armáda 1805 — pěchota
Rubriques Čáka, Kabátec, Kalhoty, Boty et Výzbroj
Generic depiction of a Russian infantryman in 1805; uniform differences are not assigned to a specific regiment.
View ↗Institutional chronologyPeter Hicks, Austerlitz, 2 December, 1805: a timeline
Campagne de 1805 et 26 décembre
Campaign context and the Peace of Pressburg; tactical times are not used as a minute-by-minute chronology.
View ↗Archival historical studyAlexander Mikaberidze, A Few Notes on the Russian Losses at Austerlitz
Introduction et rapports de janvier 1806, notes 2 à 5
Orders of magnitude for casualties and the distinction between men initially reported absent and final losses.
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