1805 just as Napoleon was actively preparing to attack the British mainland, the third anti-French alliance in Europe (Britain, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Sicily, etc. ) also ready to attack. In August, Napoleon gave up his attempt to land in England because of his defeat in the naval battle. When Napoleon learned that the Austrian army was marching westward and that the Russian army planned to join forces with the Austrian army, he made up his mind to change the deployment and lead the army eastward to capture Vienna, the Austrian capital, before the Russian army joined forces.
The French army (176000) moved eastward and crossed the French mainland in 25 days with strong marching speed. Due to the sudden and rapid action of the French army, the Austrian army stationed near Ulm was caught off guard and was hit hard by the French army. 10 year 10 mid-October, the French army launched an attack on Ulm. On the 20th, 60,000 Austrian troops surrendered and the French army won a total victory. The French army took advantage of Ulm's victory, 165438+ 10/3, and captured Vienna in one fell swoop. After the Austrian army abandoned Vienna, it moved north. 165438+1In late October, the Russian-Austrian Coalition forces (87,000 men) reinforced by Russian troops retreated to Brno and Volomotz, north of Vienna, after several battles, and occupied the positions in Olmi. Napoleon led the French army to pursue the Allies, and was forced to retreat after catching up with Lv En, and took the opportunity to gather troops (up to 73,000 people) to occupy the position east of Brno.
When the French army stopped moving forward and chose favorable terrain to prepare for positional warfare, the Russian-Austrian Coalition forces took the opportunity to enter the west of Austerlitz, and the commander-in-chief of the Coalition forces Kutuzov decided not to take active action before the arrival of reinforcements. Napoleon seized this opportunity, spread the weakness of the French army, pretended to negotiate, deliberately showed weakness, and lured the allies to attack. The Russian-Austrian Coalition forces miscalculated the attempt to fight the French army. Russian Tsar Alexander I, who was in the army, forced Kutuzov to attack immediately without waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops. 165438+1October 27th, the allied soldiers divided into 5 roads and began to advance to the east of Lü bner as planned, in an attempt to detour the French army from the south. In order to induce the allied forces to speed up the attack, Napoleon deliberately ordered the frontier troops to retreat, abandoned the Platzen highland, which was conducive to defense, and induced the allied forces to detour in order to strike at their rear during the allied March. After the Allies arrived in Austerlitz, they mistakenly thought that the French army was afraid of the contraction of the war and rushed to attack on February 2, 65438.
At 7: 00 a.m. on February 2, 65438, the Russian-Austrian allied forces launched an attack on the front line 12 km wide, focusing their main force on the left wing, in order to cut off the road for the French army to retreat to Vienna, which caused a panic situation. In the southwest of Austerlitz, there is a water net swamp area composed of lakes and fish ponds, which is connected with Litava River and forms many narrow paths. Napoleon correctly judged the operational intention of the Russian-Austrian Coalition forces. On his right wing, he used the favorable terrain of rivers and rivers to set up positions with fewer troops to stop the attack of the main force of the Coalition, which almost contained about half of the troops of the Coalition. The main force of the French army is concentrated in the central and left-wing positions, forming a military advantage.
After the battle of Austerlitz began, the French army contained 40,000 Russian-Austrian allied forces with a right-wing force of 1 0,000, thus resisting the attack of the allied forces. In order to protect the left-wing attack, the Russian-Austrian Coalition forces withdrew their columns deployed in the Platzen highlands, which caused the emptiness of the Central Army. Platzen highland is located in the center of the whole battlefield, and its position is very important. The French army grasped this fighter well and concentrated its main force of nearly 60,000 troops in this direction, while the Coalition forces only had 40,000 people. The French army formed a military advantage, and at 9: 00, it launched an attack on the center of the Russian-Austrian Coalition battle formation in a deep battle formation. Facing the fierce offensive, the allied forces suffered heavy casualties and retreated in succession. By 1 1, the center of the Russian-Austrian Coalition was broken and the Platzen Plateau was recaptured by the French army. Then, the French army completed the central breakthrough, cut off the allies and turned to attack. The French army launched a large-scale attack on the left wing of the allied forces. Allied forces deployed in the central and right wing failed under the onslaught of France and began to retreat. The main allied forces fought fiercely in the area south of Prazen Highland, and were forced to retreat hastily, retreating to lakes and swamps, and suffered heavy losses. As a result, allied casualties were 1 .20,000, captured1.50,000, and French troops lost less than110,000. During the battle, the Russian czar and the Austrian emperor fled in panic; Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces Kutuzov was defeated and wounded, and almost captured.
The victory of the French army in Austerlitz dramatically changed the situation. Austrian emperor Flantz made peace with Napoleon again, and signed the Pressburg Peace Treaty on February 15, 65438. Austria once again lost a large area of territory and property and paid a large amount of compensation.
After the end of World War II, the third anti-French alliance in Europe collapsed immediately, and the Rhine Federation protected by France was established in Central Europe, and the Austrian emperor was forced to dissolve the "Holy Roman Empire".
The battle of Austerlitz highlighted Napoleon's ability as commander in chief. When the total force was at a disadvantage, Napoleon skillfully used the principle that superior forces were concentrated in the main attack direction and successfully chose the opportunity to implement the impact. In the course of the battle, he also maintained an appropriate reserve, seized key positions at critical moments, carried out effective assault and timely pursuit, and created a war example of winning more with less. On the contrary, the Russian-Austrian Coalition forces have repeatedly made serious miscalculations in planning, organizing and implementing combat operations: insufficient reconnaissance of the French army; The attempt to fight Napoleon was misjudged; The lack of unified command of the army, coupled with the intervention of the Russian czar, failed to recover the defeat despite the heroic struggle of the Russian army.
Engels once commented on the Battle of Austerlitz and Napoleon's talent in his article Austerlitz. He wrote: "Austerlitz is justly regarded as one of Napoleon's greatest victories, which most powerfully proves Napoleon's unparalleled military genius. Because, although the command error is undoubtedly the primary reason for the failure of the allied forces, he found that the allied forces' wrong insight, patience to wait for the formation of mistakes, decisive ability to carry out annihilating attacks and resilience to quickly get rid of the predicament of failure-these can not be described with any praise. Austerlitz is a strategic miracle. As long as there is war, it will not be forgotten. "