"I won the battle with marches alone."
The Surrender of Ulm: Bonaparte and General Mack Reach an Understanding. British political cartoon by James Gillray.
Party plans
As has already been noted, Bonaparte planned a war within England, dreamed of “taking London and the Bank of England,” but he had to wage war with England’s “mercenaries” – Austria and Russia, and end the war not in London, but near Vienna (Russian blood for the salvation of "foggy Albion").
However, the British were able to block the French fleet, reinforced by Spanish ships (and then it was burned down altogether – Trafalgar), and “hired” Austria and Russia to the war, who were reinforced in the north and south by the Swedes and Neapolitans.
London promised the Viennese court 5 million pounds sterling and, as final payment for its participation in the war, territorial acquisitions—Belgium, Franche-Comté (part of the former Burgundy), and Alsace. London promised all participants in the emerging coalition full monetary financing of military expenses. England agreed to pay 1,250,000 pounds sterling annually for every 100,000 soldiers.
The Habsburg Empire feared a new war with Napoleon. But gradually, the thirst for revenge overcame this fear, especially when the Austrian Empire was reinforced by Russian bayonets. On July 29, 1805, Austria issued a special declaration announcing its accession to the Russo-Anglo-Russian agreement.
Those who did not want war were dismissed from their posts. Archduke Charles, a renowned military leader and advocate of a sober foreign policy, was replaced by the militant General La Tour as chairman of the Hofkriegsrat. The Austrian army began preparing for war. Quartermaster General Duka, a moderate and member of Archduke Charles's "clan," lost his post. General Mack was appointed in his place.
At a meeting in Vienna, attended by the high command of the Austrian army and the Russian Tsar's envoy, Adjutant General Wintzingerode, a plan for war with France was adopted. The allies intended to deploy massive forces to combat Napoleon. Russia and Austria were to provide the main forces. The convention between Austria and Russia determined the forces allocated to the campaign: 250 Austrians and 180 Russians. The allies also hoped to enlist the aid of Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, the Kingdom of Naples, and various German states.
In total, they planned to deploy over 600 men. True, this was only in theory. In practice, neither Prussia nor the smaller German states, fearful of Napoleon, fought.
Therefore, the plan outlined in Vienna on July 16 1805 of the year suggested an offensive in four directions:
1) A 50-strong Russian army, whose command would later be transferred to General Kutuzov, was to assemble on the southwestern border of the Russian Empire near the town of Radziwill and advance into Austria to join forces with that power. A second Russian army was to arrive later (according to the original plan, through Prussian territory). Austria fielded General Mack's 120-strong Danube Army, which was to be joined by Kutuzov's troops. The Austro-Russian army was to operate in southern Germany. The total number of allied forces after unification was to reach 220 soldiers.
2) A Russian army of approximately 90 men was to assemble on Russia's western borders. St. Petersburg intended to demand passage of these troops through Prussian territory, thereby forcing Prussia to side with the anti-French coalition. Then, after entering Prussian territory, part of this army was to be sent to join the Austrians, while the rest would advance to northwest Germany.
As a result, the Volyn Army under General Buxhoeveden, 30 strong, was concentrated on Russia's western borders to reinforce Kutuzov's army, while General Bennigsen's 40-strong Northern Army was deployed in the Grodno region.
Another 16 Russian soldiers (Tolstoy's corps) and a Swedish corps were supposed to arrive by sea and land in northwestern Germany, in Pomerania. The Russian and Austrian commands hoped to be joined by the Prussian army. This army was supposed to operate in northern Germany, capture Hanover, and defeat the French forces in Holland.
3) Archduke Charles's 100-strong Austrian army was to advance in Northern Italy. The Austrian army was to drive the French forces out of Lombardy and begin the conquest of Southern France. To ensure communication between the two main attack groups in Southern Germany and Northern Italy, a 30-strong army under Archduke John was to concentrate in the Tyrol.
4) In the south of Italy, they planned to land a 20-strong Russian expeditionary force from the island of Corfu and an English corps, which were supposed to unite with the 40-strong Neapolitan army and act against the southern flank of the French group in Italy.
Thus, the allies planned to advance along four main axes: in northern and southern Germany, and in northern and southern Italy. Austria and Russia provided the main forces. In the autumn of 1805, massive coalition forces began moving toward the French border. On September 8, 1805, Austrian troops crossed the Inn River and invaded Bavaria. The war had begun.
The Allies hoped to take advantage of the fact that Napoleon's main and best forces were distracted by preparations for the landing operation. They believed Napoleon would not have time to quickly regroup his forces, and the Allies would then launch a decisive offensive, complete the objectives of the first stage, and prepare for the invasion of France itself. France would be forced to wage difficult defensive battles on several fronts.
Quartermaster General Mack of the Austrian army and Vice President of the Hofkriegsrat Schwarzenberg drew up a plan for a campaign against France. According to the plan, they envisioned a swift invasion of Bavaria and forcing it to side with the Allies, while simultaneously launching a large-scale offensive in Italy. These operations were to begin before the arrival of the Russian army, and upon its arrival, the fighting would shift to French territory.
Based on Vienna's interests, the northern Italian theater of military operations was considered the primary focus. As a result, Russian troops were once again forced, as they had been during the Second Coalition, to fight for the interests of London and Vienna.
Overall, the anti-French coalition's plan assumed that their opponent would not be Napoleon, but a leader of a different kind, and it contained major miscalculations. The allies counted on the enemy not being able to quickly counter their offensive and would surrender the initiative.
There was no unified command of all the allied armies. Allied forces were scattered across a large theater, with Austria's objectives being prioritized. Even during the previous campaign, Suvorov had proposed concentrating efforts on France.
The Austrians overestimated their strength and overconfidently planned to begin active combat before joining forces with Russian troops. Although Kutuzov recommended holding off on military action until all Russian and Austrian forces had united, and not splitting them into small units, Alexander I ignored this sound advice and decided to adhere to the Austrian plan.
France
Bonaparte didn't wait to be defeated. He acted swiftly and decisively, in the style of Suvorov. The "Grand Army" (formerly the "English Army") left the Boulogne camp, made a rapid march, and in September 1805 crossed the Rhine and invaded Germany.
The infantry walked along the sides of the roads, leaving the roadway for artillery and convoys. The average marching pace was about 30 kilometers per day. A well-developed supply system made it possible to cover the distance of 500-600 km separating the Boulogne camp from the theater of upcoming operations virtually without stopping.
In less than three weeks, less than 20 days, the army, enormous for the time, was transferred to a new theater of war with virtually no losses of sick and stragglers. On September 24, Napoleon left Paris; on September 26, he arrived in Strasbourg, and the crossing of the Rhine began immediately.
As Bonaparte himself noted: “I won the battle with marches alone.”
Napoleon addresses the II Corps of his army on the bridge over the Lech in Augsburg, Germany, October 12, 1805. French artist Pierre-Claude Gautherot
The Grand Army
A distinctive feature of Napoleon's army was that each corps was an independent combat unit ("army"), with its own artillery, cavalry, and all necessary institutions. Each corps had the ability to fight independently from the rest of the army.
The main artillery and cavalry forces were independent of any marshal and were not part of any of these corps. They were organized as special units of the Grande Armée and placed under the direct and immediate command of the emperor himself. Thus, Marshal Murat, appointed commander of the entire cavalry, which consisted of 44 men, was the executor of the emperor's will. This allowed Napoleon to concentrate the bulk of his artillery and cavalry in one area.
A special part of the army was the Guard, which consisted of regiments of foot grenadiers and foot chasseurs, horse grenadiers and horse chasseurs, two squadrons of mounted gendarmes, one squadron of Mamelukes recruited in Egypt, and the "Italian Battalion" (which contained more French than Italians). Only particularly distinguished soldiers were selected for the Imperial Guard. They received pay, were better supplied, enjoyed good food, lived in close proximity to the imperial headquarters, and wore elegant uniforms and tall bearskin caps. Napoleon knew many of them by sight, their lives, and their service.
At the same time, the soldiers loved Napoleon and believed that the words "a marshal's baton lies in every soldier's knapsack" were not just empty words; after all, many officers, even generals and marshals, began their service as common soldiers. Napoleon introduced a unique discipline. He did not allow corporal punishment in the army. Military courts sentenced serious offenses to death, hard labor, and, in lesser cases, military prison. But there was one particularly authoritative institution—the comrade's court, when soldiers themselves could, for example, sentence a comrade to death for cowardice. And officers did not interfere.
Napoleon was very attentive to his command staff and unhesitatingly promoted talented commanders. Napoleon surrounded himself with a retinue of brilliantly gifted commanders. Almost all of them were decisive and independent, possessing their own talents and, at the same time, excellent executors, understanding Napoleon's thoughts at a glance. In the hands of Napoleon's strategist, this magnificent cohort of commanders and tacticians was a formidable force.
As a result, the French army's senior command was head and shoulders above the Austrian command. Napoleon himself was at the peak of his powers during this period.
The French army had high morale, as it was an army of victors, confident in the justice of the war that France was waging.
This army, Marmont noted, was powerful not so much by the number of its soldiers as by their nature: almost all of them had already fought and won victories. The inspiration of the revolutionary wars still lingered, but it had been channeled; from the commander-in-chief, from the corps and division commanders to the ordinary soldiers and officers, everyone was battle-hardened. Eighteen months spent in camps had given it additional training, unprecedented cohesion, and boundless confidence in its soldiers.
Napoleon, a master strategist, easily uncovered the enemy's plans and acted in the style of Suvorov—"eye, speed, and onslaught." He destroyed the enemy's numerical superiority by rapidly moving the French army and crushing the enemy armies one by one. He dismembered the enemy forces and dealt them blow after blow.
Napoleon could muster no more than 250 bayonets and sabres and 340 guns for the campaign. The "Great Army" was significantly inferior to the combined forces of the coalition, but it was united and subordinated to a single will.
The Emperor immediately identified the most important objective: seizing the strategic initiative, defeating the enemy's main force, and taking Vienna. Napoleon planned to eliminate Austria, the central power of the enemy coalition, in a few battles and dictate peace terms to it. After that, the anti-French coalition would lose most of its ability to wage war against France.
As for the other fronts—Hanoveria and Naples—Napoleon treated these theaters of war as subsidiary ones, sensibly believing that successes in the main front would offset any losses. Marshal Masséna's 50-strong corps operated in Italy. Masséna accomplished his mission perfectly. He defeated Archduke Charles at Caldiero, then occupied Venice, Carinthia, and Styria.
A French grenadier of the Grande Armée in field uniform. Sytin's Military Encyclopedia, 1912.
Austrian offensive
While his troops marched along the roads of France, Napoleon closely monitored the enemy's movements from Paris. Marshal Murat and his staff were stationed in Strasbourg, from where he kept the emperor informed of the Austrian army's movements.
The Austrian army was incomparably better supplied and organized than before. Mack's army was intended for the first clash with the advanced forces, and particularly high hopes were placed on it. Much depended on the first battle. Austria, Russia, and England believed in the success of Mack's Army of the Danube. This belief stemmed not only from knowledge of the Austrian army's good condition, but also from the Allied command's assumption that Napoleon would not be able to transfer the entire "English Army" at once and would send only part of it. Even if he did send the entire army, he would not be able to quickly transfer and concentrate it on the Rhine.
On September 8, 1805, Austrian troops under Archduke Ferdinand and Mack crossed the Inn River and invaded Bavaria. A few days later, the Austrians occupied Munich.
The Bavarian Elector hesitated and was in constant fear. He was threatened by a powerful coalition of Austria, Russia, and Britain, demanding an alliance, and the French Emperor was also threatening him, also demanding an alliance. The Bavarian ruler initially entered into a secret alliance with the anti-French coalition, promising Vienna assistance in the nascent war. However, after a few days of further reflection, he took his family and government and fled with his army to Würzburg, where Bernadotte's 1st Corps was headed. Bavaria remained on Napoleon's side.
As a result, the anti-French coalition suffered its first diplomatic defeat—Bavaria was unable to be forced to oppose France. The Elector of Württemberg and the Grand Duke of Baden also remained on Napoleon's side. As a reward, the Electors of Bavaria and Württemberg were elevated to king by Napoleon. Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden were rewarded with territorial grants at Austria's expense.
After the Austrians failed to force Bavaria to side with the anti-French coalition, Mack, instead of stopping and waiting for the Russian army to arrive, continued to lead his troops west.
On September 21, the Austrian advance units reached Burgau, Günzburg, and Ulm, and after receiving the first reports of the French army's approach to the Rhine, it was decided to bring up the stragglers to the front line—the Ipper River. Meanwhile, the Austrian army was disorganized by the forced march along poor roads, the cavalry was exhausted, and the artillery could barely keep up with the rest of the troops. Thus, before clashing with the enemy, the Austrian army was in poor condition.
Karl Mack himself rose from soldier to general. While possessing some ability and undoubtedly courage and tenacity, he was not a good commander, and his military exploits were not particularly brilliant. Mack was more of a theorist than a practitioner. In 1798, commanding a 60-strong Neapolitan army, he was defeated by an 18-strong French corps. Mack himself was captured. However, this was not held against him, as the poor fighting qualities of Italian troops at the time were well known.
However, Mack caught the eye of Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Ludwig von Cobenzel, as he was not an aristocratic general, was not a supporter of Archduke Charles, and shared the Vice-Chancellor's militant views. Thanks to this, Mack made a meteoric rise, becoming Quartermaster General under the nominal Commander-in-Chief, the young Archduke Ferdinand.
Bonaparte, who met Mack in Paris, where he lived as a prisoner, noted:
Mac is the most mediocre man I've ever met. Full of conceit and self-love, he thinks he can do anything. I wish he'd been sent against one of our good generals; then we'd get to see some interesting things. Mac is arrogant, that's all; he's one of the most incapable men, and he's also unlucky.
By September 22, the Danube Army, with four detachments—Auffenberg, Werpeck, Riesch, and Schwarzenberg—was positioned along the banks of the Danube and Ipper in the Günzburg-Kempten area. The right flank was secured by Kienmayer's 20-strong corps, scattered from Amberg to Neuburg, with detachments stationed at the Danube crossings.
At this time, Kutuzov's army was 600 kilometers from the Danube Army and was making a forced march to the Austrians' aid. Some Russian troops were transported by cart to speed their progress. However, the Austrians themselves did everything they could to prevent the Russians from reaching their aid in time.
Karl Mack von Leiberich (1752 – 1828)
To be continued ...
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