Napoleon had no idea that the Battle of the Three Emperors in the winter of 1805 would be the most glorious moment in his life after he put on the crown. Napoleon rose in France because of the war, and because of the glory of the war, but also because of the war fell to the bottom.
The dark day of his life was another decade away from 1805. At this time, he could not wait to launch an epic war to match his invincible crown, which was the "Battle of the Three Emperors" that achieved his brilliant achievements. Although France lost power in the Atlantic Sea at the Battle of Trafalgar, Napoleon became the hegemon of Europe with the Battle of Austerlitz.
First, rest and recuperate, and choose a day to fight again
After Napoleon signed the Treaty of Amiens with Britain in 1802, France immediately entered a brief period of peace, Napoleon began to vigorously rectify the internal affairs, from the promulgation of the French Civil Code to the vigorous suppression of the Royalists and the Jacobins, his support for the banking industry and foreign trade made the French economy warm up, and the interests of the big bourgeoisie were consolidated. As a result, Napoleon was crowned emperor with the support of the French people, and the First French Empire entered the stage of history.
However, Britain, which faces across the sea, has always coveted European land power and feared that Napoleon would attack the British Isles. At the same time, Prussia also secretly communicated with Napoleon. Fortunately, the British were well-asseted at this time, and in 1805, the Third Coalition made a comeback with the support of the British pound. At this time, the European continent was also unpredictable, Austria was obsessed with attacking Italy, Russia was also very unhappy with Napoleon's expansion momentum, and Sweden in the Iberian Peninsula did not participate in the alliance, but also sent troops to help, and the anti-French war on the European continent was once again put on the agenda.
Upon hearing this news, Napoleon was preparing to travel to the port of Buren in the Calais Strait to carry out the great task of conquering Britain. However, at this time, the sea control was still in the hands of britain, and soon after, Russia and Austria and other alliance countries gradually formed a half-moon encirclement of Napoleon, and France was attacked on its belly. Napoleon had to land his fleet in Naples, where he took care of diplomatic relations with the countries of central Europe and then gathered his troops to Austria to meet the Allied forces.
Second, two fronts of combat, one win and one loss
In October 1805, the Combined Fleet of France took the lead in encountering the British at Cape Trafalgar on the south coast of Spain, although the French had 33 more battleships than the British, but the commander of the opposing fleet was the greatest Admiral ever in England, and the French side was a commander that even Napoleon felt could not handle. In addition, the overall quality of the British navy was superior to that of France, and the French fleet eventually suffered a decisive blow, and the elite of the navy was exhausted, and it withdrew from the battle for supremacy in the Atlantic.
Therefore, Napoleon had to turn his attention to the continental battlefield, and he had to defeat the Austrians on the Danube front before the Russians arrived. In order to ensure prussia's neutrality, he did not hesitate to cede the newly annexed Hanover, and then he rushed from Paris to Strasbourg. Napoleon soon ordered the French to cross the Rhine and surrounded the Austrian flanks at Ulm, but the Austrian commander Mack failed to seize the opportunity to break through, and the Danube river fell immediately, and the Austrian army was almost completely annihilated.
The French paused for a moment and then immediately marched eastward into Vienna, where the Russians who had come to support had to withdraw from the indyn defense line and retreat north. The French were well supplied at Vienna and marched north to pursue the Allies, where the Austrian and Tsars met at Brno, but the next reinforcements had not yet arrived. However, at that time, the situation of the French army led by Napoleon was also very worrying, prussia's attitude toward France changed sharply, and the two armies were fiercely sword-fighting, fortunately, Napoleon's foreign minister had extraordinary means, quietly defusing the crisis and temporarily eliminating the military threat in the north.
Three, three emperors to each other, a touch
Napoleon chose the battlefield in the small town of Austerlitz east of Brno, and deliberately proposed a temporary truce to the Tsar before the war, so that the Coalition forces mistakenly thought that the French army had the intention of retreating, but in fact took the opportunity to find out the enemy situation and gather all the troops as much as possible. However, the French army was still slightly less than the total strength of the Allied forces, and Napoleon could only strive for a quick decision. Although the coalition forces were superior in strength, their commanders were two young emperors. After discovering the truth of the enemy and us, Napoleon made a strategic deployment that allowed the French army to contain the allied forces on the southern flank and form a local advantage on the northern flank.
Napoleon, in order to break the ship, fought a battle against the water, voluntarily abandoned the Platzen Heights on the battlefield, and retreated to the village of Ternitz to organize an offensive. The day of the decisive battle was the first anniversary of Napoleon's coronation. On the eve of the night, Napoleon rode a night camp, and the soldiers cheered on the torch, determined to celebrate the emperor with a victory. In Napoleon's memoirs, this was the most glorious moment of his life, but the Allies mistakenly believed that this was a deceptive action taken by the French army to cover the retreat.
On December 2, 1805, the east was white, the fog shrouded the battlefield, and the French army, determined to be loyal to the death, was already in a tight position, and on the frontal battlefield that stretched for 12 kilometers, the coalition army formed a dense formation and launched an attack on the French army at the same time. The French were forced to retreat due to their numerical superiority, but the Allied fighting on the southern flank was fierce, forcing Napoleon to abandon his plan to tie in and throw a regiment from the southern end into battle. The Tsar, seeing that the southern flank was frustrated, decisively led the legions stationed on the high ground to reinforce the southern flank.
Napoleon seized the opportunity and ordered two divisions on the left flank to capture the heights from the north flank of Platzen, and the Allies immediately realized that the heights were lost and attempted to retake them. The Russian Cossack cavalry and the French Guards hussars were rolling on each other's high ground, but the Allied counterattacks were repulsed in four consecutive attempts. After a two-hour tug-of-war, the coalition forces were no longer able to counterattack the heights, and the French army took advantage of the heights to cut the coalition forces from the center of the position, and the north and south coalition forces were completely exposed to French fire because they could not respond.
Seeing this, the French immediately launched a charge against the Allied forces in the north and counterattacked the Southern Allied artillery at the Prazen Heights. The Allied forces collapsed one after another, and were crushed into the swampy area on the left flank, and the French finally attacked the remnants of the Coalition from the high ground like a torrent, and the Tsar and the Austrian Emperor struggled to break through and flee east, and the Allied forces were completely defeated. However, the French army did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, Napoleon immediately after the victory to the battlefield of casualties, instructed to rescue the wounded and withdraw the troops to the rear, the "Battle of the Three Emperors" ended in a complete victory for the French Emperor.
Fourth, the alliance is broken, and the peak of the battle
The Austrian Emperor proposed a truce immediately after the end of the battle, and the anti-French alliance treaty was broken. Because the treaty stipulated that it was not allowed to make peace alone, and Austria signed the Treaty of Plaisborg with France alone, losing important territories such as Venice and Bavaria to France, the British Parliament was very dissatisfied with this result, and then the cabinet fell, Prussia could not submit to the French strength, and the Austrian Emperor also withdrew his title of "Holy Roman Emperor", and the empire that has continued since 962 has since dissipated.
The battle was the pinnacle of Napoleon's lifelong military achievements, the beginning of a six-year period of French nationality, napoleon's continental blockade system was established, and Europe almost became a French territory. At the same time, it also shows Napoleon's unparalleled military talent, the Battle of the Three Emperors is a miracle in military history, and the art of war contained in Napoleon is still remembered by the world today, which is a model for every military expert to learn.
Reference materials:
1. The Biography of Napoleon I, John Holland Ross
2. "Napoleonic Empire", Li Hongtu
3. Napoleon, James Marshall