Conflict: War of the Third Coalition
Combatants: Austrians/Russians vs. French
Location: Czech Republic
Outcome: French victory
Moving north from Vienna, Napoleon was met by an Allied army of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II's Austrians and Czar Alexander I's Russians intent on smashing the French right wing. Napoleon, however, instead broke the Allied center while another French attack turned the Allied left and sent it into retreat. The Allied right, under Russian command, put up stiff resistance but was also enveloped before nightfall. The Allied army was destroyed with losses of 36,000 men.
Points of Interest:
Although the French were unable to follow up this victory immediately, the Third Coalition did not recover after Austerlitz. Alexander's armies returned to Russia and Francis signed a peace treaty on December 26th.
This battle is sometimes known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors" (i.e., Napoleon, Francis, and Alexander).
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1990). The Napoleonic Source Book. New York: Facts on File.
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