Читать книгу Battlefields - Michael Rayner - Страница 11

The Peace of Amiens was no more than a temporary truce, and resumption of the war was inevitable. Following the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French on 2 December 1804, the British Prime Minister, William Pitt, successfully organized the third allied coalition (see panel opposite for background).

Austria and Russia began another attempt to restore the situation to that of 1789 and Napoleon realized that the invasion plan would have to be shelved for the time being. Striking camp at Boulogne on 23 August, the Grande Armée was on the Rhine a month later. Never before had such a force been assembled and moved with such speed and precision. French organization and staff work was impeccable, and the standard of training of the rank and file was far superior to that of any enemy. It was organized in seven army corps, totalling nearly 220,000 men, including 30,000 cavalry and nearly 400 guns.

As so often among allies, the enemy suffered from confusion, not least because Russia was still using the Julian calendar, so a difference of ten days between dates went unnoticed until vital deadlines were missed. The Russian army of General Kutuzov arrived on the River Inn ten days after it was expected by the Austrians. Furthermore, they were not entirely agreed on priorities; the Austrians wanted the main effort in Northern Italy; the British urged for it to be in central Germany, with a view to involving Prussia; Russia was mistrusted by both for its designs on Poland and preoccupation with the Turks, and was anyway very slow to mobilize.

Austria and Russia were each to provide three armies, none of them in a very high state of training. The nominal Austrian commanders were three of the brothers of the Emperor Francis II, who himself was commander in chief. The Archduke Charles had the army in Italy, John was in the Tyrol and Ferdinand (with General Karl Mack at his elbow) in Bavaria. The Russian commanders were Kutuzov, Buxhöwden and Bennigsen. Kutuzov was advancing slowly through Moravia. Duke Feodor Feodorovich (Friedrich Wilhelm) Buxhöwden and Bennigsen, both waited for permission from Prussia to move across Silesia.

The Grande Armée crossed the Rhine on 25 September, and, by mid-October, most of Archduke Ferdinand’s army was surrounded at Ulm. Ferdinand himself deserted General Mack, who was thus obliged to surrender on 20 October. The French took between 50,000 and 60,000 prisoners, who marched out of the town the following day. As they did so, Lord Nelson was destroying the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar. The Shark was now supreme on the oceans; the Tiger was about to demonstrate invincibility on land.

THE TIGER AND THE SHARK

During the first few years of the French Revolution, 1789–92, the other four powers were more or less content with events in France. Great Britain foresaw an opportunity to enlarge her empire at the expense of her long-standing enemy, and the others (Austria, Russia and Prussia) were more concerned with acquiring as large a share as possible of Poland. But it soon became apparent that the French were determined to export their revolutionary principles to all of Europe, if not the world; so war was inevitable.

Between 1792 and 1799 France established control of most of the European mainland, but surrendered control of the seas to Britain’s Royal Navy. The destruction of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 was the thin end of the wedge that would eventually crush Napoleon’s Empire. By the time the Peace of Amiens was signed in March 1802, the situation was that of ’the Tiger and the Shark’: Britain had a navy but no available army due to operations in India; France had a vastly superior army. Neither was capable of inflicting much damage on the other. Britain therefore needed to hire some help to maintain the balance of power and had resorted to subsidizing the armies of Austria and Russia.

Napoleon, established as First Consul of France in February 1800, appreciated that to achieve his objective of European hegemony he must, sooner or later, eliminate England from the equation. He planned an invasion, and the Grande Armée of some 220,000 men was concentrated at Boulogne. Training was rigorous, discipline strict, and morale high. Furthermore, the army was now organized into corps of two or more divisions, each having its own dedicated staff officers, and its own infantry regiments, cavalry, artillery and wagon trains. It was this combination of training, morale, mutually supporting arms and organization which was to win the Battle of Austerlitz.

Learning of the disaster at Ulm, Kutuzov, whose army had at last reached the River Inn, decided to withdraw eastward along the Danube. He was fortunate to cross unopposed to the north bank on 10 November, and then was narrowly denied an opportunity to destroy the French VIII Corps at Dürnstein. The French entered Vienna on 13 November, and successfully bluffed their way across the one remaining bridge to the north bank. A rearguard action by General Bagration ensured the smooth withdrawal of Kutuzov’s force and concentration of the allied armies in the area of Olmutz.

Following his successful counterattack against the Russian Imperial Guard, General Rapp, one of Napoleon’s aides-de-camp, presents his prisoners, among whom is the commander of the Tsar’s personal guard, Prince Repnin.

Napoleon spent a few days at the Palace of Schönbrunn, just outside Vienna, where his quartermasters were helping themselves to the contents of the enormous arsenal, before heading north to join the advance guard on 17 November. Yet another arsenal fell into his hands when Brünn, or Brnõ, was captured on the 18th. The next few days were spent resting and re-organizing. Napoleon certainly realized the risk he was taking with a long line of communication requiring substantial detachments. Away to the northwest, the few of Archduke Ferdinand’s forces to escape from Ulm were being watched by the Corps of Marshal Bernadotte; and the city of Vienna was secured by the III Corps of Marshal Davout.

MAIN CHARACTERS FEATURED

OPPOSING NAPOLEON

Alexander I, Tsar of Russia

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and Emperor of Austria

General Mikhail Illarionovitch Kutuzov

General Mack, Baron Karl Mack von Leiberich

General Peter Bagration

Prince Repnin (Tsar’s personal guard)

General Feodor Buxhöwden

General Levin August Bennigsen

GRANDE ARMÉE

Marshal Jean Lannes (V Corps)

Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (I Corps)

Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout (III Corps)

General Anne Jean Marie René Savary

Marshal Nicolas-Jean de Dieu Soult (IV Corps)

Marshal Joachim Murat (reserve cavalry)

General Dominique Joseph René Vandamme

General Louis Vincent St Hilaire

General Nicolas Charles Oudinot (Grenadiers)

General Legrand

Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières (Imperial Guard)

General Jean Rapp

Tsar Alexander I

Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières