La Bataille d’ Austerlitz 1805© Marshal Enterprises

of the French line during the battle. Slavkov Castle is still there in what was the village of Austerlitz. The farmhouse which was used by Murat in late November 1805; then Bagration the night before the battle; and then Napoleon the night after the battle and for the next few days to hammer out the armistice terms, remains much like it was back then. In fact, one of the only significant changes in the landmarks since the battle was fought is a cemetery with mass graves from the battle and a monument to those who had fallen.

Austerlitz as the Incarnation of the French Revolution While the battlefield, though interesting and filled with places to visit and pictures to take is not what makes Austerlitz so interesting and important. What makes Austerlitz so important is that, at least for a while, it became an expression of what a movement could become: the French Revolution in its last physical incarnation as the Empire of the French. It also became an expression of the personality of not only Napoleon, but also of his constellation of military leaders ranging from Davout to Soult to Lannes to Rapp leading the charge of the French Guard cavalry to defeat the superior numbers of the Russian Guard. In fact, the French success at Austerlitz set the stage for the Napoleonic Wars of the next decade. Many, if not most, of the successful French leaders, had an extraordinary experience at Austerlitz. Austerlitz was the first major battle of the Napoleonic Wars in which the entirety of the French army was used as a weapon on the battlefield. Prior to Austerlitz, almost all of the battles had 20,000 to 40,000 per side. While the Capitulation at Ulm was obviously a major victory, the success at Ulm was almost entirely a result of the machinations of movement. But the French experience at Austerlitz was a first for them. This was the first time that so many of them had worked together as a team to create a victory that prognosticators were not so sure was going to happen. And for the most part, the French leadership—in stark contrast to the Coalition generals-- came from either modest or even humble backgrounds. So what did Austerlitz reveal about the soul of the French Empire? Consider first: Marshal Louis Davout. He came from a minor aristocratic background which acted to his detriment in that it initially had led his peers to be suspicious of his motives and skills. He also was the youngest of the marshals selected in 1804. His contribution to the French victory at Austerlitz was his orchestration of not only of probably the best forced march in the Napoleonic Wars, but then the performance of his exhausted men after they reached the battlefield. He marched portions of his III Corps, depending on the account one reads, around 140 kilometers in 36 to 48 hours. His march, from the environs of Vienna to the hills of eastern Moravia in wintery conditions, allowed Napoleon to place III Corps on the southern end of the Austerlitz battlefield, where it fought (after its exhausting march) with such ferocity that it was

Marshal Enterprises

Page 2 of 4