French Revolution and Napoleonic WarsWars and battles

Battle of Austerlitz

The “Battle of the Three Emperors”: in Moravia, Napoleon’s army utterly defeated the Russian and Austrian forces led by Alexander I and Francis II.

Date: 20 November (2 December) 1805exact dateJulian calendar (Old Style); the Gregorian date (New Style) is in brackets
Place: Austerlitztoday: Slavkov u Brna, Czech Republic · Western and Central Europe
Participants: First French Empire, Grande Armée, Russian Empire, Austrian Empire, Napoleon I, Alexander I, Francis II (Francis I of Austria), Mikhail Kutuzov, Pyotr Bagration
Threads: French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, Russia at the turn of the 19th century
Also known as: Битва трёх императоров

The allies, who had the advantage in numbers, attacked the deliberately weakened French right flank, but Napoleon struck at their centre on the Pratzen Heights and split their army in two. The defeat knocked Austria out of the war: it soon signed the Peace of Pressburg, and the Third Coalition fell apart.

The battle has gone down in history as a model of decisive victory over a numerically superior enemy.

Open in the interactive atlas

Connections

Related events

Coronation of Napoleon2 December 1804 · Western and Central EuropeThe battle fell on the first anniversary of the coronation: 2 December 1805, New Style
Battle of Trafalgar21 October 1805 · Western and Central EuropeSix weeks before Austerlitz the British destroyed the Franco-Spanish fleet: Napoleon ruled the land, Britain the sea

Same participants

Siege of Izmail11 (22) December 1790 · Eastern Europevia Mikhail Kutuzov
Suvorov’s Swiss campaign10 (21) September 1799 – 27 September (8 October) 1799 · Western and Central Europevia Pyotr Bagration
Assassination of Paul I12 (24) March 1801 · Eastern Europevia Alexander I
First Russian circumnavigation26 July (7 August) 1803 – 7 (19) August 1806 · Eastern Europevia Russian Empire
Battle of Jena–Auerstedt14 October 1806 · Western and Central Europevia First French Empire
Treaties of Tilsit25 June (7 July) 1807 · Western and Central Europevia Russian Empire
Finnish War9 (21) February 1808 – 5 (17) September 1809 · Western and Central Europevia Pyotr Bagration
Battle of Wagram5–6 July 1809 · Western and Central Europevia Austrian Empire
Treaty of Bucharest16 (28) May 1812 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Mikhail Kutuzov
Battle of Leipzig4 (16) October 1813 – 7 (19) October 1813 · Western and Central Europevia Francis II (Francis I of Austria)