Napoleon's Victory At Austerlitz Analysis

979 Words4 Pages
To what factors do you attribute Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz ‘We are babies in the hands of a giant’ claimed Russian Tsar after the defeat of Austro-Russian forces against the Grande Armée, in the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 (Fisher, 2001 p. 42). Indeed, the ‘sun of Austerlitz’ illuminated Na-poleon’s one of the most perfectly orchestrated battle and the Grande Armée’s first full appearance (McLynn, 1998 pp. 345-347). Consequently, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Pressburg. The Austrians exited the war and Russians agreed to withdraw home (Rothenberg, 1980 p. 46). Overall, Napoleon’s success was im-pressive in both political and military terms (Daddis, et al., 2005 p. 156). This essay will first explain definitions used in the essay. Subsequently, the factors attributed to Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz will be examined by looking at some ex-amples and providing evidence. This essay is supposed to illustrate that, neverthe-less, the literature shows no consensus on factors contributed to Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz, there were factors attributed more than others – maintenance of morale of the Grande Armée and elements of surprise. Firstly, ‘surprise’ is ‘built on speed, secrecy and deception and if successful, achieves results disproportionate to the effort expended’ (NATO, 2010 pp. 1-8). ‘Maintenance of morale’ is described as ‘a positive state of mind derived from in-spired political and military leadership, a shared sense of purpose and