Battle of Austerlitz : Pratzen - Bitva u Slakova : Prace
779 views · Published 5 June 2009 · 1:59 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: Alan Heath · 2009 · Education
SEE MY HISTORY GROUP ON FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Heaths-History-Page/173472422695696 Battle of Austerlitz - Bitva u Slavkova - Битва под Аустерлицем - Schlacht bei Austerlitz - Bataille d'Austerlitz In August 1805, Napoleon turned his army' from the English Channel to the Rhine in order to deal with the new Austrian and Russian threats. On September 25, after great secrecy and feverish marching, 200,000 French troops began to cross the Rhine on a front of 260 km. The Austrian General Mack had gathered the greater part of the Austrian army at the fortress of Ulm in Bavaria. Napoleon swung his forces northward and performed a wheeling movement that put the French at the Austrian rear. The Ulm Maneuver was well-executed and on October 20 Mack and 23,000 Austrian troops surrendered at Ulm, bringing the total number of Austrian prisoners in the campaign to 60,000. Although the spectacular victory was soured by the defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar the following day, French success on land continued as Vienna fell in November, replete with 100,000 muskets, 500 cannon, and the intact bridges across the Danube. Meanwhile, the lateness of the arrival of Russian troops under Kutuzov prevented them from saving the Austrian field armies, so the Russians withdrew to the northeast to await reinforcements and to link up with surviving Austrian units. The French followed, but soon found themselves in an unenviable disposition: Prussian intentions were unknown and could be hostile, the Russian and Austrian armies now converged, and to add to Napoleon's challenges, the French lines of communication were extremely long and required strong garrisons to keep them open. Napoleon realized that the only meaningful way to capitalise on the success at Ulm was to force the Allies to battle and defeat them.] Fortunately for him, the Russian Tsar was eager to fight. The battle took place six miles southeast of the town of Brno, in what is now the Czech Republic. The northern part of the battlefield was dominated by the 210 m Santon hill and the 260 m Zuran hill which we can see in this film. Both hills overlooked the Olmutz - Brno road, which was on an east/west axis. To the west of these two hills was the village of Bellowitz, and between them the Bosenitz Stream went south to link up with the Goldbach Stream, the latter flowing astride the villages of Kobelnitz, Sokolnitz, and Telnitz. The centerpiece of the entire area were the Pratzen Heights, a gently sloping hill. An aide noted that Napoleon repeatedly told his Marshals, "Gentlemen, examine this ground carefully, it is going to be a battlefield; you will have a part to play upon it. My channel on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/alanheath is one of the most prolific from Poland. There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging -- http://www.ceepackaging.com - the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focussing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers.
