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Napoleon's Greatest Triumph: The Battle of Austerlitz
In August 1805, Napoleon abandoned his plans for the invasion of Britain and diverted his army to the Danube Valley to confront Austrian and Russian forces in a bid for control of central Europe. The campaign culminated with the Battle of Austerlitz, regarded by many as Napoleon’s greatest triumph, whose far-reaching effects paved the way for French hegemony on the Continent for the next decade. In this concise volume, acclaimed military historian Gregory Fremont-Barnes uses detailed profiles to explore the leaders, tactics and weaponry of the clashing French, Austrian and Russian forces. Packed with fact boxes, maps and more, Napoleon’s Greatest Triumph is the perfect way to explore this important battle and the rise of Napoleon’s reputation as a supreme military leader.
160 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 2, 2024
Military Finesse.
This small book, is almost like a pamphlet. It looks at The Battle of Austerlitz which was fought on 02/12/1805 near the small village of Austerlitz around 102 miles from Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Empire. The battle is regarded as Napoleon’s greatest victory and in terms of flanking genius is as important as Sedan in 1870 and Stalingrad in 1943. Although small it packs a mighty punch as it looks not only at the pure military history and the battle, broken down hour by hour, but also the context of the battle. Why it was fought abs what the long term consequences were.
Following nearly ten years of fighting which broke out with the execution of King Louis XVI of France in 1793 peace was signed between Britain and France with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802. Like all compromises no party was happy with Britain unhappy it had to return the Cape Colony and some West Indian Islands to the newly formed Batavian Republic and France being infuriated that Britain had no evacuated Malta. However, when Napoleon sent troops to crush the rebellion in Haiti the final straw had been placed on the camels back. By May 1803 Britain declared war on France and in 1804 signed treaties with Sweden, Russia and Austria. Prussia, the other powerful kingdom in European the time tried to remain neutral, ultimately a disastrous decision. Archduke Charles of Austria had warned that Austria was not ready to fight, its forces in the middle of much needed reforms. It would seem things were already favouring the newly crowned Emperor of the French.
At this time Napoleon was at the height of his genius and with 200,000 men crossed the Rhine in September 1805. In a lighting march he surprised and surrounded the Austrian General Mack at Ulm effectively taking them out of the battle before it had begun. Russian forces under General Mikhail Kutuzov were still too far away to assist and as such one of Napoleon’s military maxims was realised, divide your enemies and defeat them one by one. Another was realised when he chose the Pratzen Heights, a gently sloping hill, and fields near to the village of Austerlitz. His plan was to hide some of his forces and make his right flank look weak in order to encourage the allies to attack him and focus their efforts there. This would expose their centre and left which he would exploit. He also planned to move off the hill as to appear nervous and vulnerable, with the main army hiding on the other side. This would then launch a counter attack which would sweep the allies away. In a nutshell this practically went to plan. It started at around 07:00 hours and was all over by 15:00 hours. A complete victory was pretty much achieved, and allied mistakes helped the matter along. As the Russians were fleeing Napoleon fired on the frozen Satschan ponds. However contrary to Napoleonic propaganda and popular belief only around 200 men were killed this way.
The aftermath of the battle changed Europe. Even though Admiral Viscount Nelson had just achieved an equally impressive victory at Trafalgar on 21/10/1805, but when Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger learnt of Napoleon’s victory he famously said ‘roll that map up, we won’t need it for these ten years thus.’ Chillingly accurate. In 26/12/1805 the Treaty of Pressburg was signed where the Austrians lost 2.5 million subjects and heavy indemnities paid. The 900 year Holy Roman Empire was dead and would be dissolved the next year. The Elector of Bavaria and Grand Duke of Wurttemberg were raised to kings. Napoleon also developed the Confederation of the Rhine which broke the power of the Habsburgs in Central Europe forever. This ultimately caused concern for Prussia who felt threatened by this French power over the Germans and so fought at Jena and Auerstedt in October 1806. Jena proved to be another of Napoleon’s famous victories. This was a great reminder for me of some of the details of the battle and its context, but is also a great starting point for the newcomer.
This small book, is almost like a pamphlet. It looks at The Battle of Austerlitz which was fought on 02/12/1805 near the small village of Austerlitz around 102 miles from Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Empire. The battle is regarded as Napoleon’s greatest victory and in terms of flanking genius is as important as Sedan in 1870 and Stalingrad in 1943. Although small it packs a mighty punch as it looks not only at the pure military history and the battle, broken down hour by hour, but also the context of the battle. Why it was fought abs what the long term consequences were.
Following nearly ten years of fighting which broke out with the execution of King Louis XVI of France in 1793 peace was signed between Britain and France with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802. Like all compromises no party was happy with Britain unhappy it had to return the Cape Colony and some West Indian Islands to the newly formed Batavian Republic and France being infuriated that Britain had no evacuated Malta. However, when Napoleon sent troops to crush the rebellion in Haiti the final straw had been placed on the camels back. By May 1803 Britain declared war on France and in 1804 signed treaties with Sweden, Russia and Austria. Prussia, the other powerful kingdom in European the time tried to remain neutral, ultimately a disastrous decision. Archduke Charles of Austria had warned that Austria was not ready to fight, its forces in the middle of much needed reforms. It would seem things were already favouring the newly crowned Emperor of the French.
At this time Napoleon was at the height of his genius and with 200,000 men crossed the Rhine in September 1805. In a lighting march he surprised and surrounded the Austrian General Mack at Ulm effectively taking them out of the battle before it had begun. Russian forces under General Mikhail Kutuzov were still too far away to assist and as such one of Napoleon’s military maxims was realised, divide your enemies and defeat them one by one. Another was realised when he chose the Pratzen Heights, a gently sloping hill, and fields near to the village of Austerlitz. His plan was to hide some of his forces and make his right flank look weak in order to encourage the allies to attack him and focus their efforts there. This would expose their centre and left which he would exploit. He also planned to move off the hill as to appear nervous and vulnerable, with the main army hiding on the other side. This would then launch a counter attack which would sweep the allies away. In a nutshell this practically went to plan. It started at around 07:00 hours and was all over by 15:00 hours. A complete victory was pretty much achieved, and allied mistakes helped the matter along. As the Russians were fleeing Napoleon fired on the frozen Satschan ponds. However contrary to Napoleonic propaganda and popular belief only around 200 men were killed this way.
The aftermath of the battle changed Europe. Even though Admiral Viscount Nelson had just achieved an equally impressive victory at Trafalgar on 21/10/1805, but when Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger learnt of Napoleon’s victory he famously said ‘roll that map up, we won’t need it for these ten years thus.’ Chillingly accurate. In 26/12/1805 the Treaty of Pressburg was signed where the Austrians lost 2.5 million subjects and heavy indemnities paid. The 900 year Holy Roman Empire was dead and would be dissolved the next year. The Elector of Bavaria and Grand Duke of Wurttemberg were raised to kings. Napoleon also developed the Confederation of the Rhine which broke the power of the Habsburgs in Central Europe forever. This ultimately caused concern for Prussia who felt threatened by this French power over the Germans and so fought at Jena and Auerstedt in October 1806. Jena proved to be another of Napoleon’s famous victories. This was a great reminder for me of some of the details of the battle and its context, but is also a great starting point for the newcomer.
December 6, 2024
Napoleon is a man with many triumphs, and to crown just one of them as the greatest is a herculean task; describing it must be another. Gregory Fremont-Barnes, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, has identified the Battle of Austerlitz which shines the brightest amongst Napoleon's extensive repertoire. Barnes makes a good case, showing how the battle brought an end to the War of the Third Coalition and cemented Napoleon’s position in Italy and Germany at the expense of the Austrians. Half of the European continent was in France’s grip, tipping the balance of power in their favor for the next decade. This doesn’t even touch on the genius strategy of deception and aggression used by Napoleon to win the battle in the first place. Austerlitz has a good chance at being the greatest triumph, it’s just a shame the writing couldn’t live up to this achievement.
Barnes is an accomplished lecturer, but the writing comes off as a transcription of one. There really isn’t any emotion or passion, it’s just a sequence of events. This is fine if you are giving an hour-long lecture, but not in a book that takes much longer to read. What’s more, there is a disturbing lack of first person reportage when detailing the battle. Descriptions are done at the strategic level, detailing troop movements in a broad sense but rarely ever going into detail on what fighting was actually like for the troops. You will read how infantry had fared against a cavalry charge, explaining how a lack of formation or proper weaponry led to their withdrawal. But what was the reality of combat like for those foot soldiers facing off against enemy cavalry? Little, if any, mention is given towards this. Napoleon can receive endless praise for his strategic maneuverings, but he was never actually doing the fighting.
When looking at the book from a purely strategic lens as Barnes is clearly interested in doing, I found it hard to follow along sometimes. The maps were rudimentary and keeping track of all the different French and Allied commanders moving around the field got to be difficult. I walked away from the book knowing only a rough draft image of how Napoleon outsmarted the Allies; I could not tell you exactly which marshals assisted where or which Allied generals failed to do what.
That said, the book did a fine job placing the Battle of Austerlitz within the context of the rest of the war. I got to understand just how cataclysmic of a defeat it was for the Third Coalition and how it propelled France further into domination of Europe. I now understand why a Third Coalition was formed, a previously murky area for me, especially regarding the arrest and subsequent execution of the duc d’ Enghien. I had no idea just how much that contributed to further hostilities between France and the other powers of Europe.
This book is great for a really concise overview of the context and strategy of the battle. If you are looking for anything else, such as the actual combat conditions or more detailed biographical information regarding notable commanders involved during that fateful campaign, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Barnes is an accomplished lecturer, but the writing comes off as a transcription of one. There really isn’t any emotion or passion, it’s just a sequence of events. This is fine if you are giving an hour-long lecture, but not in a book that takes much longer to read. What’s more, there is a disturbing lack of first person reportage when detailing the battle. Descriptions are done at the strategic level, detailing troop movements in a broad sense but rarely ever going into detail on what fighting was actually like for the troops. You will read how infantry had fared against a cavalry charge, explaining how a lack of formation or proper weaponry led to their withdrawal. But what was the reality of combat like for those foot soldiers facing off against enemy cavalry? Little, if any, mention is given towards this. Napoleon can receive endless praise for his strategic maneuverings, but he was never actually doing the fighting.
When looking at the book from a purely strategic lens as Barnes is clearly interested in doing, I found it hard to follow along sometimes. The maps were rudimentary and keeping track of all the different French and Allied commanders moving around the field got to be difficult. I walked away from the book knowing only a rough draft image of how Napoleon outsmarted the Allies; I could not tell you exactly which marshals assisted where or which Allied generals failed to do what.
That said, the book did a fine job placing the Battle of Austerlitz within the context of the rest of the war. I got to understand just how cataclysmic of a defeat it was for the Third Coalition and how it propelled France further into domination of Europe. I now understand why a Third Coalition was formed, a previously murky area for me, especially regarding the arrest and subsequent execution of the duc d’ Enghien. I had no idea just how much that contributed to further hostilities between France and the other powers of Europe.
This book is great for a really concise overview of the context and strategy of the battle. If you are looking for anything else, such as the actual combat conditions or more detailed biographical information regarding notable commanders involved during that fateful campaign, I suggest you look elsewhere.
September 30, 2022
Satisfecho con lo que leí. Recibí la información que buscaba y poco más en un libro corto y preciso.
Su única debilidad fueron los términos militares, aunque eso es más culpa mía que del libro.
Su única debilidad fueron los términos militares, aunque eso es más culpa mía que del libro.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews