Posted on 12/22/2005 6:41:00 AM PST by indcons
On August 26, 1805, a post chaise left the town of Mainz and rolled east toward the Rhine River. Inside the carriage sat a man, 6 English feet in height, with black corkscrew curls tumbling over his suit collar, dark flashing eyes and a black mustache. He had a handsome face, marred only by a scar on his lower jaw, the result of a bullet wound. In his hands he held a book by Marshal Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, comte de Belle-Isle, describing the French campaign in Bohemia in 1742. On the man's passports was the name Colonel de Beaumont.
Moving rapidly, the carriage traveled to Frankfurt, then turned southeast toward Offenbach and Wurzburg. It proceeded to the town of Bamberg on the Regnitz River. Carefully skirting the border of the Austrian empire, it followed the course of the Regnitz southward to Nuremberg. Turning east again, it rolled to the Danube, tracing that river's course to Regensberg. There, it clattered across the Danube on the great stone bridge and continued to Passau. From there, the carriage turned west toward Munich, drove on to Ulm and through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest).
(Excerpt) Read more at historynet.com ...
It's probably a shock to many who are unfamiliar with the period that the French were really badasses back then.
Wow, fascinating story of a carriage ride...
This is one of my favorite battles in history. What that little Corsican did to the combined Austrian and Russian armies is a textbook example of using ALL of your abilities to defeat your enemies.
He had them hoodwinked from the moment they got there and before the morning was half over he had them in his pocket.
Napoleon was an absolute genius when it came to managing people, both his own and his enemies.
We rushed on the artillery, which was taken. The cavalry, who awaited us, was repulsed by the same shock; they fled in disorder, and we, as well as the enemy, trampled over the bodies of our troops, whose squares had been penetrated…all was confusion; we fought man to man. Finally, the intrepidity of our troops triumphed over every obstacle." Although wounded twice, Rapp himself captured Prince Nikolai G. Repnin-Volkonsky, colonel of the Russian Chevalier-gardes.
It is hard ti imagine that the very recent decendants of these Frenchman are afriad of some muslim youth torching his car. What 80 years of socialism will do to a country and a people...
We rushed on the artillery, which was taken. The cavalry, who awaited us, was repulsed by the same shock; they fled in disorder, and we, as well as the enemy, trampled over the bodies of our troops, whose squares had been penetrated…all was confusion; we fought man to man. Finally, the intrepidity of our troops triumphed over every obstacle." Although wounded twice, Rapp himself captured Prince Nikolai G. Repnin-Volkonsky, colonel of the Russian Chevalier-gardes.
It is hard to imagine that the very recent descendants of these Frenchman are afraid of some muslim youth torching his car. What 80 years of socialism will do to a country and a people...
You're right....however, the "French" leader during that time was a Corsican. Your point about the efforts of the French rank and file is a very valid one though.
"Pile them high at Austerlitz"
I read War and Peace again last year with particular attention to the peace part and the insight into Russian society.
I learned that since the last time I read the great work, the internet produced many great sites for parallel reading. The other somewhat curious fact was that there are battle reinactors that reinact these great battles.
Even more curious, The Russians seem to be into this hobby in great numbers with cavalry regiments on horses and the whole nine yards.
I would guess that Austerlitz, Cannae and Gettysburg are the most studied and famous military battles of all time. Interesting that two are considered great victories and one is considered a great defeat.
"Even more curious, The Russians seem to be into this hobby in great numbers with cavalry regiments on horses and the whole nine yards."
That's curious indeed. Who would have expected the Russians to be into enactments? Hope they reenact the Battle of Kursk......that'll be fun for any cavalry/artillery fan.
The Battle of Boridino is one such. There are several very good english language web sites describing the battle and photos of tne reinactors.
One odd fact is that the countryside photos appear today to be as rural and backward as in 1812.
I would add Sabutai Bahadar's (one of Genghiz Khan's greatest general) swing through Russia, Georgia, and Middle East to any list of great military campaigns. It is only now that the greatness of Genghiz Khan is coming to light. Many modern military historians consider him to be one of the greatest military commanders of all time (if not the greatest).
That's part of it, but the descendants of Napoleon's armies - the best specimens of young French manhood - were obliterated in WWI, taking that martial spirit right out of the gene pool.
The Russians lost more youth ("the best specimens of young [Russian] manhood") than the French did (even as a percentage of the population in WW2). That didn't make the Russia a nation of cowards. I think it has more to do with the liberal welfare society and socialism.
The key Russian mistake and Napoleon's timing is barely alluded to, and anybody who doesn't know the battle wouldn't even recognize it. They passed the key terrain linking their left wing to the rest of the army, without stationing any strong reserve on it. Mostly because they assumed the site of the battle was going to be considerably farther west and southwest. Napoleon timed the move to seize the heights after the Russian left had already passed it, and thereby broke off the Russian left wing from the rest of the army.
The Russian counterattack on the Pratzen was the attempt to link up again with the cut off wing. It came relatively early in the battle but was the decision point. It was decided by throwing in layers of reserves, and by small tactics. After that, the French crushed the cut off wing from three sides, with its fourth on a marsh.
Davout's march from Vienna is mentioned, but not the full distance he came. Actually his force covered that of the Austria southern army (from Italy). He held that away from the main campaign, then broke contact, marched north in time for the battle, but cut it close enough that Charles had no chance of reaching the same spot in time. His men then held the main Russian effort with inferior numbers, and went over to the attack once confusion set in as they tried to deploy to fight in three directions at once. Davout's performance exceed anything any other corps in Europe could have been expected to do.
But none of it was any magically greater elan, the Russians were as brave as you please. It was brains. And not because the Russian plan was stupid, it wasn't. They made one key mistake in not bringing their guard up to the Pratzen hard behind the left wing main effort, and keeping it there. They were also too predictable - some have said the battle played out as though Napoleon were giving orders to both armies, because he could tell so well how they'd react to his own moves.
Alistair Horne has a good history of the battle, much better than a magazine article.
But Stalin had a talent for filling the front lines with peoples like Central Asians, Georgians, and Ukrainians, rather than Great Russians. And Communism was hardly less destructive of national will and morale than socialism in France. It would be interesting to see what percentage of Great Russians perished in WWII as opposed to percentages of races/nationalities from other parts of the Soviet Union.
Thanks for posting this fascinating post....do you have an online link for more info? There are excellent books on MilHist; however, good online articles are tough to find.
I must admit that I don't follow Napoleon closely (though I am interesyed in learning more). My primary MilHist topics of interest are ACW, guerilla warfare, Mongol conquests under Genghiz Khan, Alexander, and Zhukov.
good post. thanks
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