Napoleon and The Battle of Austerlitz

The battle of Austerlitz started on December 2nd, 1805 and it also ended on December 2nd, 1805. This battle was one of the most important and also one of the most decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars. This war was one of Napoleon’s greatest and most honored victories, him and his 68,000 troops defeated at least 90,000 Russian and Austrian troops. After Napoleon won this war, it forced Austria to make peace with France, which was the Treaty Of Pressburg, and also kept Prussia out of the anti-french alliance.

This battle took place in Austerlitz, but it was next to a place called Moravia. It started when the french entered Vienna on November 13 and pursued the russian and austrian allied armies that were in Moravia. Those allies decided to attack Napoleon and his troops just west of Austerlitz, they then occupied the Pratzen Plateau. Napoleon was smart so he evacuated that area to create a trap for the allied troops to fall into and it worked.

The allied troops then launched their main attack with a total of 40,000 troops against French in the south. They did this so that they could cut the French off from Vienna. However, the Marshal Louis Davout and his troops defended against the attack with his small army of just 10,500 men. Then later the allied troops sent an attack on Napoleon’s Northern flank, however, it was repulsed.

Napoleon then ordered Marshal Nicolas Soult with a total of just 20,000 infantry to rush the slopes and they would continue to smash the weak allied forces on the Pratzen Plateau. After that attack was finished, Soult and his infantry captured the plateau. The allied kept trying to retake it but they failed each attempt they took. Napoleon was smart, he had an extra 25,000 reinforcements to help maintain the plateau from being retook.  This battle was a huge victory for Napoleon and his army, it showed that smarts out do the numbers. After the battle was completed the allied forces had lost 15,000 troops either dead or wounded and another 11,000 of their troops were captured by Napoleon and his army. On the other side Napoleon only had lost 9,000 men in total.

That is remarkable, he started off with much less men in his army then the allied forces and yet, he finished the war with an astonishing win, with a much less troop death toll. He almost had half as many troops killed than the allied troops had all together and that is just such a remarkable thing.

This win helped Napoleon in many different ways. However, it showed that smarts can out do strength or size in this matter. He used his smart strategic plays to lure out the enemy in different sections then attack them at their weakest points. For example, whenever he let the enemy attack his army in different parts, he waited for an opening to attack their troops at the Pratzen Plateau, he knew that once they spread out their army enough, they would not be able to get back in time to defend the plateau.

He knew that the rest of the enemies army that is in the middle of the Pratzen Plateau was going to be weak and small. So he waited and when the time came, he attacked and basically slaughtered everyone that was still in the plateau. Then he ordered his reinforcements to help guard and hold the plateau so that they will have the higher or better ground.

He spread out his army in a smart and strategic way, that’s why he saved 25,000 of his troops or the reinforcements that helped guard the plateau after Napoleon already defeated the army in the middle. He put a small amount of troops in each area of the places where the Austrian and Russian army would attack them. However, he made it so that they would be safe instead of getting trapped and slaughtered.

He was ready for anything that was coming his way, but the enemy thought it was going to be an easy war because they had the higher numbers. They were wrong, Napoleon was ten times smarter than the other army and was way more strategic too. He let the Austrian and Russian army take the plateau so that they would send troops out to attack him. When they got small enough, Napoleon took his army and pushed the center of the plateau taking it back from the Austrians and Russians.

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