A Bit o' History, Part 2

Exploits of the Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805
Bogdan Willewalde (PD)

The campaigns of the Emperor Napoléon can be summarized as a series of short - less than a year in length, lots of marching, smaller battles won and lost, a climactic battle at the end which left the French triumphant - wars. Until they weren't, think Spain and Russia, which I'll get to shortly.

The Austerlitz campaign was Napoléon's first as Emperor. He had the bulk of his army massed on the Channel coast around Boulogne waiting for conditions to be ripe to move that army across the Channel, invade England, and put paid to the seemingly endless series of anti-French coalitions meant to return France to the status quo antebellum. That is, one of the Bourbons back on the throne in Paris and any (and all) territories seized by the French returned to their "rightful" owners.

Great Britain remained a thorn in Napoléon's side for his entire career, they just would not go away. British gold financed the wars (The Golden Cavalry of St. George as reader Retired mentioned the other day). Britain had a large navy (logical for an island nation heavily dependent on foreign trade) but a small army. She couldn't land on the Continent and defeat Napoléon, her army would be gobbled up by the far larger French military. So she paid subsidies to the rulers of the European empires (Prussia, Austria, and Russia) to keep their armies in the field fighting the French.

Napoléon resolved to invade England and end that. Unfortunately for him, the English Channel presents a number of challenges to an invading army. So Napoléon waited for the Royal Navy to be elsewhere, or for the Royal Navy to be badly damaged by the combined fleets of France and Spain. While he awaited those unlikely things to occur, rumors of the Austrians getting obstreperous again (and two Russian armies marching to support them) reached his ears.

Turning his by now well-drilled and very capable troops to the east, Napoléon resolved to smash the Austrians, then defeat the Russians while those hardy troops were far from home and unsupported by an active ally in the field. 

The strategic situation from 11 to 14 October.
The Department of History, United States Military Academy (PD)
Click to embiggen

Napoléon succeeded, trapping General Mack and a big chunk of the Austrian Army in the area around Ulm (in present day Baden-Württemberg). Which left one Russian force (under Kutuzov, West Point misspelled his name on this series of maps) well forward of the other Russian army under Buxhowden. Which sent Kutuzov and the surviving Austrians east.

Napoléon occupied Vienna, then moved to the northeast to engage the combined Russian forces and what remained of the Austrians. (It's worth noting that there were sizable Austrian forces in Italy, tied down by the French Marshal Masséna with substantially smaller numbers. It's also worth noting that most of the Austrian generals of the time weren't really any good. There were exceptions, we'll meet them.)

All of this led to the Battle of Austerlitz, which occurred one year to the day after Napoléon's coronation. It was a massive French victory which led to the Austrians and Russians leaving the coalition against Napoléon.

While all of that was going on the Prussians were mobilizing and making warlike noises but not actually doing anything to help. 1806 would be the year they were ready when they would join the Fourth Coalition.

Again, hard marching, some small actions, which led to the dual battles of Jena and Auerstädt, both of which resulted in French victories, but ...

Napoléon was present on the field at Jena, where he led the bulk of his forces (96,000 men) against a small contingent of the Prussian army (35,000 men). At Auerstädt, 12 miles north of Jena, Marshal Davout led a single corps (26,000 men) against a far larger contingent of Prussians (63,000) under the Duke of Brunswick.

Davout's victory was magnificent, but can you guess what battle honor was awarded to French units after the campaign? Yup, "Jena," as if Auerstädt was of no importance. One simply does not trump the Emperor, not even Davout, the Iron Marshal, could do that.

But the aftermath saw Prussia beaten down and humiliated. Fortresses manned by thousands would surrender to a single regiment of cavalry. The Prussians wouldn't take the field against the French again until 1813.

But there was one more battle to be fought, the Russians were still opposed to the French and they were in eastern Prussia. The Emperor decided that they must be defeated, so he pressed forward.

Which led to the frozen nightmare of Preußisch Eylau in February of 1807.

(Source)

We'll start with that, next time.