Line of Fire (19/41) : The Battle of Austerlitz "1805"
For educational purposes
As the famous sun of Austerlitz rose through the pale mist on the morning of December 2nd 1805, the stage was set for one of the most decisive battles of the Napoleonic era.
By evening, the combined armies of Austria and Russia would be utterly destroyed. It was to be Napoleon's greatest victory, achieved by a commander at the very peak of his powers.
As the famous sun of Austerlitz rose through the pale mist on the morning of December 2nd 1805, the stage was set for one of the most decisive battles of the Napoleonic era.
By evening, the combined armies of Austria and Russia would be utterly destroyed. It was to be Napoleon's greatest victory, achieved by a commander at the very peak of his powers.
Transcript
00:00You
00:30The
00:45annals of military history proclaim Napoleon as one of the greatest generals of all time.
01:00The conclusive proof of this military genius was delivered on the slopes of the frozen heights of
01:08Pratzen on December the 2nd, 1805, at the Battle of Austerlitz.
01:30Here, Napoleon was able to use the field of battle to his advantage in a masterful way,
01:45taking full advantage of the terrain to produce a stunning and complete victory.
01:54He planned for the Battle of Austerlitz with great meticulousness and on the day,
02:00on the field, he was able to implement those plans with absolute precision.
02:12He chose the offensive against supposedly overwhelming opposition and by rapidity of
02:19movement and superior deployment, he out-thought and he completely out-fought the opposition.
02:32Early in 1805, a coalition formed from Austria, Russia and Britain
02:39pledged to destroy forever the destabilizing influence of revolutionary France.
02:49The hopes of the coalition were further bolstered by the intelligence
02:54that Prussia was more than likely to join the other nations in arms against Napoleon.
03:02Napoleon had a lot of enemies. Everyone in Europe, given half a chance, would love to do Napoleon
03:09down. Napoleon is roaring across Europe, spreading the French message of liberty, equality and
03:15fraternity, which of course the conservative monarchs of Europe hate. But as Napoleon
03:20continues, it becomes more and more obvious that Napoleon is not out there conquering Europe
03:26for liberty. He is out there imposing his hegemony on Europe.
03:35The people who actually began to bring this coalition together were the British,
03:39because the British had their own reasons for wanting to remove Napoleon and Napoleonic France.
03:45These reasons had really nothing to do with the intellectual impact of French ideas on Vienna or
03:51St. Petersburg. What we were concerned about was trade and commercial relations with Europe,
03:58and we thought that France was going to interfere seriously with these. And so it is the British
04:03who begin stitching together a great coalition. It's the British who actually provide the money
04:09which is going to bring the Austrian armies and the Russian armies into central Europe.
04:16A series of four great offensives, each in a different part of Europe, were planned to be
04:22launched simultaneously. In the north, a British force, aided by Swedish and Russian elements,
04:31would attack Napoleon's ally, the Kingdom of Denmark.
04:37The next French ally to be attacked was Bavaria.
04:41Bavaria was to be invaded by the Austrian General Mack and Archduke Ferdinand with 85,000 men.
04:51Marching to join them were a further 85,000 Russians under Kutuzov.
04:59After they had combined, these forces were to seize Ulm and then strike into France through
05:06Strasbourg. Archduke Charles, with 100,000 of the best Austrian troops available to him,
05:16was to strike into northern Italy and expel the French from Lombardy before moving on to
05:23invade the south of France. Poised between Mack's force pressing on to Ulm and Archduke
05:31Charles' forces in Italy was the Austrian Archduke John with a further 25,000 Austrians.
05:40He was to be ready to support the armies in either Germany or Italy,
05:45according to how the situation developed in either theatre.
05:50The final arm of this great master plan was a combined Russian and British force from Malta,
05:57which was to be augmented by 36,000 exiled Bourbon troops from Sicily.
06:04They were to reconquer Naples from the French,
06:08then strike northwards to join Archduke Charles in the invasion of southern France.
06:15On paper, the Allied strategic plan was a magnificent vision for a complete
06:24coherent military strategy that took in these great five prongs like daggers spearing at the
06:31heart of France from every direction you can imagine. But in practice, it was far too grandiose
06:39and it was never likely to work. The advantage to this plan is that it makes it very difficult
06:44for Napoleon to know exactly where the main blow is going to strike. And so he's looking over a
06:50very, very broad front indeed. The disadvantage is that in the era before the telegraph,
06:57any form of modern communication, the business of coordinating these divergent
07:03thrusts is incredibly, incredibly difficult.
07:11The two theatres to the extreme north and south involving British troops failed to blossom into
07:18any real strategic threat. The problems of communication meant that the drive into Hanover
07:26was very slow to develop. And consequently, only the Austrian armies operating against
07:33Bavaria under General Mack were operational by September. Nonetheless, they were expected to be
07:42reinforced very soon by Kutuzov, with 85,000 men marching from Russia.
08:00Despite the odds ranged against him, Napoleon was never a man to be overawed or intimidated.
08:07At this point in Napoleon's career, he is able to ensure that he never has to fight all of his
08:16enemies at once. So in the Austerlitz campaign, Napoleon moves his army away from Boulogne,
08:23where he is getting ready to invade Britain. He races across Europe to Bohemia, to what's now the
08:30Czech Republic. And he gets stuck into the Austrians and the Russians before, for instance,
08:37his enemies, the Prussians, can figure out what's going on.
08:44Together, the Russians and Austrians had at their disposal roughly 400,000 troops.
08:52To meet them, Napoleon could only take the field with an army of approximately 200,000.
08:59It was to be the inspired handling of these 200,000 men
09:04of the Grande Armée, which was to lead to Napoleon's greatest triumph.
09:20General Mack had occupied Ulm in Bavaria on the 10th of September, 1805.
09:29He expected to be joined by his Russian allies by the end of the month.
09:34However, the Russians were actually using the old style of calendar,
09:40which used a system of dating 12 days later than the rest of Europe.
09:49The Russians adhered to orthodox Christianity, and so their calendar came from the ancient world.
09:54In 17th century Europe, those areas which were subject to the Roman Church
10:00had reformed the calendar, the Julian calendar, and added 12 days to it.
10:06The point was that if you have two military organizations using different calendars,
10:12even if there are attempts to make sure that there is coordination, it's very easy for dates
10:17to get mistaken. The real key problem was that it meant that the Austrians thought the Russians
10:22were further forward than they were. This effectively left the Austrian general
10:29isolated around Ulm. Recognizing this weakness, Napoleon launched a pre-emptive strike.
10:44Elaborate plans were laid to disguise withdrawal of his army from their camps at Boulogne,
10:51where they had been waiting to invade England. Napoleon managed to fool the Austrians into
10:58believing that the bulk of his French forces were still concentrated on the English Channel,
11:04when in fact they were already moving with great speed to cross the Rhine and encircle General Mack at Ulm.
11:20The incredibly swift movement of the French army was aided by the corps d'armée system,
11:33which Napoleon had pioneered. What Napoleon did was effectively to split his army into a series
11:42of seven self-contained miniature armies, each of which was a balanced force of infantry,
11:48cavalry and artillery. The principle is you march divided and you fight united. And it also
12:00means that nobody's really sure where Napoleon is going to go. In the run-up to Austerlitz,
12:08every road in Germany has Napoleon's soldiers on it. Where are they going? Nobody knows. And
12:15this enables Napoleon to keep his enemies guessing until, when he's ready,
12:21Napoleon suddenly concentrates all of his corps at one point.
12:28Mack was not well informed about Napoleon's movements. He was convinced that Napoleon would
12:33not be able to cross the Danube in sufficient force to threaten his forces. So he took up a
12:38position at Ulm, which enabled Napoleon to surround him. And really, Mack suffered from
12:45a combination of overconfidence and lack of knowledge about his enemy.
12:56After some fierce fighting around Ulm, in a variety of minor actions,
13:01it was becoming increasingly obvious that the situation of General Mack was hopeless.
13:09Faced with superior French forces, he held out in vain for the arrival of the Russian forces
13:16under Kutuzov. But Kutuzov was still far beyond reach.
13:23General Mack was therefore forced to surrender to Napoleon on the 20th of October.
13:39The odds against the Emperor in the campaign overall were now considerably shorter.
13:47The victorious French troops with their trophies, pictured in this contemporary engraving,
13:53had captured an Austrian force of 60,000 men in exchange for only 2,000 casualties.
14:01But even in the face of this triumph, there were still more than 300,000 Allied soldiers to take
14:08care of. Kutuzov, marching slowly to aid General Mack, was astonished to learn of the fate of his
14:26ally, and he was determined that his own force should not suffer the same fate.
14:37The Russian forces therefore turned around and marched back in the direction of Poland.
14:45Napoleon immediately sent his army in pursuit.
14:50But the French were unable to pin down the retreating Russians.
14:56Nor could they prevent them from linking up with Buxhauden's forces
15:00to form a combined Allied army of Russians and Austrians, some 100,000 strong.
15:16Faced with the need to detach troops to protect an ever-lengthening supply line,
15:21Napoleon was reduced to a field army of some 78,000 men by the 17th of November.
15:30By now, he had pursued the Russian and Austrian armies 200 miles to the east of Ulm,
15:37past Znaim to Austerlitz in eastern Bohemia, and his strategic situation was becoming desperate.
15:45He's 700 miles from France, from home territory. He's got an army which is already diminishing in
15:53effectiveness, diminishing in size. The potential for disaster is enormous.
16:01Kutuzov and his combined Russian and Austrian forces halted their retreat and took up strong
16:09defensive positions around Olmutz, from where they warily eyed the French Grande Armée.
16:21Ragged and exhausted from three months of constant marching and fighting,
16:26the French forces were becoming demoralized.
16:31However, the Corps d'Armée system allowed Napoleon to trim his army to just three corps,
16:39those of Soult and Lannes, along with Murat's cavalry reserve. Yet, he could still retain
16:47the ability to fight a holding battle with a reasonable prospect of success.
16:56Together, these three bodies comprised some 53,000 men, whom Napoleon planned to use as bait
17:04to draw in the superior Russian and Austrian forces, who, between them, had 87,000 men.
17:14Napoleon knew they would be confident of victory.
17:19Waiting nearby, however, were the Corps of Bernadotte and Davout.
17:26They had strict orders to join Napoleon as battle commenced. This would bring Napoleon's
17:32strength up to 75,000 for the actual battle, at a time when it would be too late for the Allies
17:39to disengage. Napoleon, therefore, conceived the second brilliant scheme of the campaign.
17:50Napoleon knew that the Allies did not have to attack him. Napoleon knew that if the Allies
17:58just strung him out further and further from France, eventually he would run out of food and
18:04ammunition and Napoleon would go home. So Napoleon had to make the Allies attack him.
18:12And Napoleon starts to pretend weakness. Napoleon goes so far at one point as to have one of his
18:19columns retreat in disorder. He's trying to seem uncertain. He's trying to seem like he's dithering
18:25because he wants the Allies to say, ha, finally, we have the ogre, we have Napoleon where we want him,
18:32let's attack. One of the main factors in Napoleon's favour was the fact that the young
18:46Russian Tsar was very impetuous and wanted to, with the rashness of youth, I suppose,
18:52wanted to take the action right to the heart of his enemy as quickly as possible and dish out a lesson.
19:01The Emperor's plan for the battle relied on two factors.
19:06Firstly, enticing the enemy to do battle on the field chosen by Napoleon,
19:12and secondly, in exposing their centre to a massive counterpunch once battle had been joined.
19:19On the 21st of November, 1805, Napoleon conducts a reconnaissance along the road which runs from
19:28the village of Austerlitz to the village of Brünn. And he discovers on this road a choke point,
19:35and it's dominated on the eastern side by a series of heights. And looking at it with
19:43the eye of a superb battlefield tactician, he realises that he can actually turn this
19:50into a killing ground. And he turns to his staff officers and he says,
19:54gentlemen, examine this ground carefully. It is going to be a battlefield,
19:59and you will have your part to play on it.
20:03The outlying elements of the French army were camped in a comparatively strong position upon
20:09the Pratzen Heights, an area of high ground to the west of the town of Austerlitz.
20:17To begin the deception, Marshal Soult was ordered to abandon the town and his excellent position
20:24on the Pratzen Heights, with every indication of undue haste. After a few minor skirmishes,
20:32the Russians were quick to take the bait, and followed hard on the heels of the apparently
20:38disorganised French forces. The Allies occupied the Pratzen Heights above Austerlitz
20:45on the 1st of December, 1805. Allied intelligence seized upon the French retreats as proof of an
21:04impending French withdrawal. The opinion began to establish itself among the Allied commanders
21:12that Napoleon should therefore be brought to battle while he was at his weakest.
21:22The first part of Napoleon's scheme had succeeded.
21:26The Russians had occupied precisely the ground he wanted them to.
21:36With the Pratzen Heights conceded to the Allies, Napoleon intended to draw the main thrust of the
21:42Allied attack towards the apparently weak French right flank, thereby exposing its centre to
21:50counter-attack. This attack would be made by the Grande Armée, which was withdrawn to an area
22:00beyond the Zooland, out of the sight of the Allied forces.
22:07In the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon demonstrates what in French is called
22:13coup d'etat. His eye is able to look out across the field of battle and instantly understand
22:21exactly what's going on. When Napoleon stands on the field at Austerlitz, he sees the Allied
22:29campfires. He notices that on his right, on the Allies' left, there are a lot more campfires.
22:38And based on the lie of the land, based on his knowledge of the enemy,
22:44and based on his own intuition, he realizes the Allies are going to go left flanking.
22:53Shown here is the initial deployment of the French forces.
22:58The Zooland and Saint-Anne were defended by the infantry and cavalry of General Lannes and
23:04Marshal Murat at the extreme north of the battlefield, while Le Grand's men of Soult's
23:11corps were positioned to the south at Punterwitz. Marshal Soult was also charged with holding the
23:19centre right from Kobelnitz to Zokolnitz, with further units of Le Grand's division of his IV
23:26Corps. And the late but timely arrival of Marshal Davout meant that his cavalry and leading infantry
23:34division could be deployed to the east of Telnitz in support of the all-important right flank.
23:45Kresnevitz, two miles west of Austerlitz,
23:48was selected by Allied high command as the Allied headquarters.
23:56There, the Russian Tsar and Austrian Emperor Francis met to agree a battle plan.
24:04Kutuzov, the Russian general, really did not want to get involved at Austerlitz, nor did the Austrian
24:14Emperor, who preferred to wait for the Archduke Charles to come up with his troops from Italy,
24:18which would have effectively doubled the available army that they had to fight Napoleon.
24:24On the other side, there was the Emperor Alexander I, a young man, only 24, and he was
24:30surrounded by young Russian aristocrats who told him they had a chance to defeat Napoleon,
24:36previously the greatest general of Europe. And he took his advice from an Austrian officer,
24:42General Wehroter, who had devised a great plan to defeat Napoleon on the day of Austerlitz.
24:52The plan involved a massive thrust through the right of the French line
24:56between Tellnitz and Zokolnitz.
25:03This drive was to be followed by a thrust northwards by four huge columns of troops,
25:10while a simultaneous assault on the French left flank at the Zuerlan
25:14would engage their forces, thereby isolating them while the areas to the south were secured.
25:21To achieve this, however, would mean dividing the Allied army, including nearly 60,000 men
25:32given to the command of General Buxhauden, with the task of carrying out the main assault on
25:38the French right. In effect, this played straight into Napoleon's hand, as it stripped the Allied
25:47center of men to support a bold move against the French right wing.
25:54The older and perhaps wiser men of the Allied command were unconvinced.
26:00They respected Napoleon's generalship and urged caution. But the Tsar was eventually persuaded
26:08by his younger officers of the soundness of the plan, and it was adopted.
26:13On paper, it looks great. But Verothert overestimated his army's ability
26:19to put a complicated plan into action. His army just wasn't good enough.
26:27Second problem is, Verothert didn't really understand that the French would interfere
26:32with his plan. And this is always a problem with planners. They think that because their plan says
26:39we're going to do X, Y, and Z, therefore that is what you actually get to do on the day of the
26:43battle. Well, no plan, as they say, ever survives contact with the enemy. And Verothert's plan,
26:51which looked great on paper, was just meaningless as soon as Napoleon interfered
26:57with what Verothert wanted to do.
26:59In the few seconds it took the Tsar to consent to Verothert's plan,
27:04he effectively sealed the Allied fate.
27:20On the nights before the battle, the French were not the only ones who were
27:24in trouble. On the nights before the battle, Napoleon was in very good spirits and sat late
27:32into the winter nights, surrounded by his men, deep in thought, brooding upon the coming action,
27:39before sliding off into sleep, fully clothed by his campfire.
27:55As December the 2nd dawned, the men of both armies awoke to find a thick fog enshrouding
28:03the streams, villages, and rolling slopes of the battlefield.
28:09The unanticipated arrival of the fog was to give unforeseen aid to Napoleon's plan.
28:24The problems of command in the Allied army were also helping the Emperor.
28:30There was a great deal of chaos and congestion in the Allied lines,
28:34as the troops in the various columns struggled to get into position for the planned attack.
28:45When the Allied army grouped itself for operations, they were not grouped according to
28:53what nation they came from. So, in one column, you might have Austrians and Russians together,
29:01under a commander that neither group really knew. They were just temporarily grouped there
29:07for the duration of the operation. Now, when you've got Russian commanders commanding Austrians,
29:12and Austrian commanders commanding Russians, that's a big problem.
29:16The difficulties of the Allied command were further evidenced by the ever-anxious Tsar.
29:25The older and wiser generals, like Kutuzov, saw themselves overruled by the young Russian Tsar,
29:35who was determined to bring battle about, and who actually mocked his generals in the field,
29:41in front of their men, which is, at best, a questionable act, because it's going to alienate
29:47the generals. More importantly, it's going to humble them in the front of their own soldiers,
29:52who they are going to need to lead and inspire as the battle develops.
29:58With the harsh words of his Tsar in his ear, Kutuzov ordered the Allies to make their assault
30:05on Telnitz to the French right, exactly as Napoleon had intended.
30:27Despite the fact that the attack had been launched prematurely,
30:32a furious battle for the position developed between the troops of General Kienmeier's Guard
30:38and General Le Grand's French defenders.
30:42By nine o'clock, Telnitz and Tsikholnitz lay in Allied hands.
31:04Although the capture of the villages appeared to be an important achievement for the Allies,
31:10far more significant was the clearing missed at the top of the Pratzen Heights,
31:16which revealed to Napoleon exactly what he had hoped to see.
31:21Two Allied columns converging in huge numbers upon the French right flank,
31:27inexorably weakening their centre.
31:39The moment of truth was fast arriving. Despite the urging on his staff to attack,
31:53Napoleon waited for what seemed like an eternity, while two more enemy columns vacated their centre.
32:10The time had arrived for Napoleon's masterstroke.
32:15Concealed in the fog still lingering at the bottom of the valley were two French divisions
32:21under Marshal Soult, some 16,000 men in all, the divisions of Vandamme and Saint-Hilaire.
32:31From within the dense fog and choking thick smoke of battle in the valley,
32:36these two divisions emerged to take the Pratzen Heights.
32:48The utterly astonished Allies were taken completely by surprise, and it was not long
32:55before the Frenchmen had surged beyond the village of Pratzen,
32:59up the incline and onto the heights themselves.
33:13The Russian Marshal Kutuzov, who had opposed the Allied plan from the beginning,
33:19was the first commander alert to the danger. But his orders for the hurried diversion of his
33:26troops from their intended destination of Tsikholnitz came far too late to haunt the
33:32advancing Frenchmen. The situation did indeed look bleak for the Allied centre.
33:46Meanwhile, to the extreme north on the French left flank, the Allies had made their planned
33:53simultaneous attack, and a ferocious battle had developed between the cavalry of Marshal
33:59Murat and General Liechtenstein, and the infantry of General Lannes and General Bagration.
34:10The fortunes of the two opposing sides ebbed and flowed, and the casualties steadily mounted,
34:18as Bagration's artillery in particular exacted a heavy toll on Lannes' division.
34:33The fate of the battle to the north lay in the balance, and it was only when Marshal Murat
34:40committed his remaining regiment of cavalry to the fray that the French began to gain the upper hand.
34:48A brief Allied rally was ended by a second full-blooded charge,
35:03and before long, Lannes and Murat had succeeded in their objective
35:08of isolating the entire Allied right flank from the dramatic events in the centre.
35:17Napoleon surveyed the situation at midday and was entirely satisfied with the state of battle.
35:27In addition to Murat and Lannes' achievements in the north, Marshal Soult held the recaptured
35:34Pratzen Heights, while to the south, on the beleaguered right flank,
35:40Marshal Davout had stood firm against the mighty initial Allied advance.
35:46Only unimaginable misfortune, or a miracle, could prevent the French army completing a famous victory.
36:03For the Allies, a final hope of redemption remained in the shape of the elite Russian Imperial Guard.
36:15The Russian Imperial Guard was a superbly equipped body of men,
36:20numbering about 10,000, two-thirds infantry, one-third cavalry, and supported by 40 guns.
36:30The Imperial Guard had been held back as a reserve by the Allies, and as a result,
36:36they could move rapidly to change the course of the battle when everyone else was already engaged.
36:46It was about one o'clock that these precious troops were hurled in desperation upon the exhausted forces of the French General Vandamme.
36:56The Russian grenadiers were able to break through the French front lines at the point of the bayonet,
37:03but were repulsed by the murderous fire of the support divisions.
37:08Wearily, they were forced to effect an orderly retreat towards Grzenovac.
37:15The last remaining Allied reserve, 15 divisions of the Guard cavalry,
37:34made a determined and ferocious attack on Vandamme's left and rear.
37:39Reforming behind them, the grenadiers of the Russian Guard joined in with a renewed attempt on the French front lines.
37:52Finally, this concerted pressure achieved its aim, and the French lines began to waver,
37:59scattering the battle-weary troops in all directions.
38:03Napoleon himself was unable to stop two regiments of French infantry who were driven back from fleeing the battlefield.
38:11Apparently, they ran past him shouting,
38:13Vive l'Empereur! Vive l'Empereur!
38:15But they were too panicky to actually obey his instructions.
38:20The Imperial Russian Guard was the one element which looked as though it was going to destroy Bonaparte's plan,
38:29because it puts in a frontal assault right in the middle of the battlefield, right at the Pratsen Heights,
38:34and comes within an ace of actually wrecking Bonaparte's plans.
38:42However, the rest of the Allied force was quite unable to take advantage of the Russian Guard's success.
38:51Why doesn't Prince Bagration come from the right
38:55and take advantage of the Imperial Guard's action?
38:59Prince Bagration is engaged on the Allied right, he's fighting the French.
39:03He cannot just move away.
39:05What about the Allied left?
39:07That is where most of the Allied forces are.
39:09That is their main concentration.
39:11They are also engaged with the French.
39:13They're under attack.
39:15As soon as the Imperial Guard starts to move away, the French center turns and attacks the Allied left.
39:23Everybody in the Allied army is fighting somebody at that point.
39:27There is nobody left to take advantage of anything.
39:33The Russian Imperial Guard made a significant impact, but unfortunately it was so enthusiastic,
39:39it was so impetuous, that it put itself into a situation where there could be an effective counterattack.
39:46Napoleon redirected five squadrons of the Marmalukes from his own Imperial Guard to rescue the situation.
39:54And despite a fierce and bloody battle, the initiative was regained for the French.
40:16Although they initially had some success,
40:20the Russian Imperial Guard weren't sufficient on their own to turn the day at Austerlitz.
40:28At one o'clock, the survivors of the Russian Imperial Guard retreated in disarray,
40:34leaving behind them the Allied center, completely destroyed.
40:40All that remained now was for Napoleon to turn victory into a rout.
40:44And at two o'clock, the Imperial Guard, Marshal Soult's divisions,
40:50and General Oudinot's grenadiers were ordered to drive south towards Telnitz,
40:56and the forces still fighting under the Russian General Buxhauden.
41:01At the same time, the cavalry of Marshal Davout swept in to attack from the west.
41:11Buxhauden, completely cut off and with no orders from Allied high command,
41:17issued a desperate order to split his force.
41:21His left wing retreated eastward,
41:23while the main body attempted to counter-strike to the north.
41:27But these were futile attempts, for the troops were soon overrun
41:33and forced back towards the frozen Lake Satchan.
41:39Buxhauden and his men were forced to retreat.
41:44A scene of the utmost horror unfolded,
41:48as thousands of terrified Allied troops and horses
41:52desperately attempted to escape from their relentless pursuers across the frozen lake.
41:58Napoleon ordered his cannon to pound the ice,
42:02which broke into pieces,
42:04plunging screaming men and horses into the freezing waters.
42:08It was an horrific end for so many brave men.
42:14But it was not the end of the war.
42:16It was not the end of the war.
42:18It was not the end of the war.
42:20It was not the end of the war.
42:22It was not the end of the war.
42:24It was an horrific end for so many brave men.
42:39Far away from the scene of this carnage,
42:42to the north of the battlefield,
42:44the final moments of the battle had arrived.
42:49By 4.30, General Bagration
42:52had managed to extricate his men
42:55and retreat far enough from the exhausted French troops
42:58to allow hostilities to cease.
43:03Within the hour, the remainder of the field fell silent
43:07and the Battle of Austerlitz was over.
43:17What had begun as the great Allied opportunity
43:20to find, defeat and destroy Napoleon Bonaparte
43:24had ended not only in defeat, but in catastrophe.
43:31The Allied casualty figure revealed the extent
43:34of the disaster which had befallen them.
43:38The impact of the Battle of Austerlitz on the Allies was severe.
43:41Their armies had been effectively mauled.
43:43The Russians alone may have lost 25,000 men.
43:4810,000 were in French hands as prisoners.
43:52The losses to the Russian Imperial Guard were never revealed,
43:55but they must have been heavy.
43:57The French claimed the capture of 45 regimental standards
44:01and 200 pieces of artillery.
44:06Effectively, the Third Coalition had been smashed
44:09and its chief architect, William Pitt,
44:11that's the British Prime Minister, died just a month later.
44:18And so Napoleon had completed a famous victory,
44:22a total triumph which revealed to the world
44:25his military genius.
44:29Austerlitz had been a tactical tour de force.
44:33A battle which had been fought at a time and place
44:36of Napoleon's choosing remains a masterly illustration
44:41of the art of turning the tide of war.
44:44Austerlitz remains a masterly illustration of the art
44:47of turning apparent total defence into devastating all-out attack.
44:55There is no question that the Battle of Austerlitz
44:58probably remains as Napoleon's finest achievement in the field.
45:03It was the conclusive demonstration of his ability
45:08as a commander at a time when he was at the height of his powers.
45:14The news of Austerlitz was like a nuclear explosion
45:18going off around Europe because nothing like this
45:21had occurred before in modern history.
45:23We're talking about the very best forces that the Russian Empire
45:29and the Austrian Empire can assemble being defeated,
45:33being defeated in a climactic battle with French forces
45:37which were numerically, manifestly inferior to them.
45:42The Emperor had deceived the Allies completely
45:46and they had rushed headlong into his carefully laid traps.
45:51The enormity of the defeat on the field, however,
45:55was as nothing compared to its consequences after it.
46:02As soon as the battle's over, Emperor Franz of Austria
46:09is interested in getting the French army out of Austria
46:14as quickly as possible.
46:16And he no longer has an army to make them go.
46:19So Franz comes to Bonaparte and he's got nothing to bargain with.
46:25Bonaparte proceeds to cut up the Austrian Empire
46:30and give chunks to anybody he wants to pay off.
46:33He just takes Austria apart.
46:35The Russians at the same time, Russians head east.
46:38The Russians want no more of this.
46:40The Russians want to go back to Russia
46:42and worry about their own borders.
46:44And the Russians have got no stomach to keep fighting.
46:49And so Napoleon is the master of Europe after Austerlitz.
46:53And the psychological effect on the Tsar of Russia
46:56is utterly profound.
46:58The Tsar sends a message to Napoleon by an emissary
47:03and the message is as follows.
47:05Tell your master I am going away.
47:08Tell him he has performed miracles.
47:16Napoleon had indelibly stamped his mark
47:19on the affairs and fortunes of Europe,
47:22offering an ominous portent of the bloodshed
47:25which would blight the continent for the next ten years.
47:30Above all, it established the reputation of the Grande Armée
47:36as the most effective fighting force of its age.
48:29Subtitling by SUBS Hamburg