Austerlitz
6 beds 17 €
BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ
On 2nd December 1805 one of the most important events of European history of 19th century and one of the most famous battles of Napoleon wars - the battle of Austerlitz also known as the Battle of Three Emperors - took place on hills and in valleys to the east of Brno. The main scene of the battle of Austerlitz spread between Brno and Vyškov on the area of approx. 10 x 12 km.
At the beginning of December 1805, in a location between Šlapanice and Slavkov an allied Austrian and Russian army stood against the army of the French Emperor Napoleon I. Size superiority of the ally army (so-called 3rd coalition) comprising Russia headed by the Tsar Alexander I and M. I. Kutuzov and Austria under the command of the Emperor Frantz I urged to an offensive march against Napoleon, regardless the fact that from northern Italy a strong army of the archduke Charles was approaching to help him.
Allies' intention was to destroy Napoleon's right wing with a strike of their left wing and to cut it off from his connecting supply lines with Vienna and to destroy him and push him to Bohemia. To achieve this, both allied monarchs had about 90 000 men. Their opponent was weaker by approximately 15 000 men, but militarily he was much more experienced. He faced the attacks of the allied left wing with only relatively small units, the majority of his army was kept waiting in ambush for the prepared destroying strike. It happened the moment when the allies had already nearly cleared the Pratce hill and were attacking with great might. Covered in fog, the force of the marshal Soult moved unseen almost to Pratce, they attacked the Pratce hill with a strong onrush and after fierce fighting with the Austrian and Russian units, they seized the area. Even the intervention of the Tsar's Russian Guard was no help, the battle was lost. The allies had to leave the battlefield and in confusion they had to retreat to Slavkov. The Austrian - Russian units were then mostly surrounded and forced to capitulate.
Thus the allied armies suffered a catastrophic defeat and were not able to fight any more; they retreated to Hodonín towards Hungary. On 6th December an armistice was thus signed in the Slavkov manor, which was followed by the so-called Prešpurk peace treaty, causing considerable losses of land to Austria.
The Slavkov battle became an important concept in history and Napoleon himself appreciated it above all the battles he had ever fought. Commemorative tables at places where Napoleon and general Kutuzov spent nights can be found not far from each other (Zelný trh 8 / Moravské náměstí 1a).
