Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805
Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805
Aftermath
Background
The  battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805), or the Battle of the Three Emperors,  was one of Napoleon's most impressive victories and saw him inflict a crushing  defeat on an Austro-Russian army, in the process knocking Austrian out of the  War of the Third Coalition.
At the  start of the War of the Third Coalition the Austrians and Russians prepared for  operations on a wide front. The largest Austrian army, under the Archduke  Charles, was sent to Italy where Napoleon had won his earlier great victories  and where he was expected to return in 1805. A smaller Austrian army, under General Mack , advanced west along the Danube to invade Bavaria, and ended up at  Ulm. A number of Russian armies were making their way into Austria and were  expected to arrive soon.
Napoleon  didn't act as expected. Instead he decided to attack across the Rhine in the  hope that he could defeat Mack's army before the Russians arrived, then  eliminate the Russians before Charles could return from Italy. The first part  of the plan was a great success. The French crossed the Rhine and swept through  Germany, reaching the Danube well to the east of Ulm. Mack missed a number of  chances to escape from the trap after all but one division of the French army  moved to the south bank of the river, but Napoleon soon recovered from this  mistake, and on 20 October Mack and most of his command surrendered at Ulm .
Jean-de-Dieu Soult
The  triumph at Ulm was followed by Napoleon's first failure of the campaign. The  first of the Russian armies, under Kutuzov , had finally crossed the Danube and  was advancing west towards Ulm when Mack surrendered. Kutuzov was now  Napoleon's next target, but the Russians were able to outrun the French, and  crossed to the north bank of the Danube to the west of Vienna. The French were  able to occupy the Austrian capital and also captured a key bridge across the  Danube intact, but Kutuzov was able to escape north to Olmutz where he joined  up with a second Russian force under Buxhowden and some scattered Austrian  forces. He was also joined by Tsar Alexander and the Emperor Francis. Napoleon  followed the Russians north from Vienna, before calling a halt to the pursuit  and pausing for a rest at Brunn, south-west of the Allied position. At their  most advanced the French positions extended past Austerlitz, which Soult's infantry captured on 21 November.
Napoleon  was now in a very dangerous position. His army was tired and was hundreds of  miles from home in the middle of enemy territory. He had to detach strong  forces to guard his flanks, while his opponents were expected sizable  reinforcements. The Archduke Ferdinand was approaching from the north-west. The  Archdukes Charles and John were coming from Italy, although would probably  arrive too late. Nearer to hand were 4,000 Austrians under Merveldt and 12,000  Russians under Essen. These two forces actually joined the defeated Allied army  two and four days after the battle! Napoleon was already outnumbered and the  situation could only get worse. He realised that his best chance of avoiding a  potentially disastrous retreat was to win a crushing battlefield victory. Even  a standard victory wouldn't be enough, with enemy reinforcements on their way  from every direction.
Napoleon's Plan
The  French army was now quite scattered. Murat's cavalry reserve and IV Corps  (Soult) were east of Brunn facing the Allies. The Guard and Lannes (V Corps)  were at Brunn. Bernadotte's I Corps was north-west of Brunn guarding against  the Archduke Ferdinand. Davout's III Corps was near Vienna, but part of it  would reach the battlefield in time to take part in the fighting. The number of  troops on each sides isn't entirely certain, but the Allies had around 85,000  men while Napoleon fought with around 73,000. 
Davout,  1770-1823
Other  parts of Napoleon's army weren't close enough to take part in the battle – Mortier's VIII Corps remained around Vienna, Marmont's II Corps was watching  the Alps and Ney's VI Corps was in Carinthia.
After  occupying Brunn Napoleon examined the ground he expected to fight over. On 21  November he visited what would become the battlefield of Austerlitz. The Santon  mound close to the road captured his attention and he ordered its eastern  slopes to be steeply scarped and 14-20 captured Austrian light cannon to be  placed on the summit. He also examined the famous Pratzen Heights and the  valleys around them.
The  basic outline of Napoleon's plan was simple. He hoped to trick the Allies into  moving south to attack the French right wing. Most of his army would be  concentrated on the French left. Once the Allies were committed on the right,  the French left would sweep around their northern flank (the allied right).  Davout's corps, advancing from Vienna, would attack the Allied southern flank  (left). The entire Allied army would be trapped between three French forces,  cut off from its supplies at Olmutz and forced to surrender.
This  wasn't actually what happened during the battle. Two elements of Napoleon's  original plan failed to fall into place. First, the Allies didn't move their  entire army south, but instead left a strong force under Bagration to guard  their right wing. This prevented Napoleon from launching his grand envelopment  from the north. Second despite an impressive march Davout's corps didn't arrive  in time or in enough strength to form the southern wing of the planned grand  envelopment.
These  two developments forced Napoleon to adopt a new plan after the fighting had  started. Soult's corps, in the centre-right of the French line, managed to  capture the Pratzen Heights, in the centre of the Allied line. After fighting  off a spirited Allied counterattack the French on the heights turned right, and  attacked the isolated left flank of the Allied army. This move allowed Napoleon  to win his crushing victory, although it wasn't quite as devastating as he had  originally hoped. After the battle Napoleon claimed that the attack in the  Allied centre had been his plan all along,
Napoleon's  detailed plans went through three versions. In the first he envisaged a total  envelopment of the Allied armies. The main attack from the north was to get behind them while Davout coming from Vienna was to complete the trap.
The  second version was adopted when it became clear that the Allies were moving  further south than expected while Davout was slower and his men more tired.  Davout's role became to help defend the line of the Goldbach, Soult was to lead  the main assault, supported by the rest of the French left.
The  third version was adopted on the night of 1-2 December after the Allies  threatened Telnitz at the southern end of the French line. Napoleon went to  inspect the situation. This was followed by an impromptu torch-lit procession,  after which he came up with his third plan. Soult's corps now had the task of  defending the Goldbach, while two of his brigades were to form the right-hand  side of the French attack, supported on their left by the French left wing.  This was the plan that was put into operation on 2 December, although as we  will see it had to be modified during the battle.
None of  these detailed plans would have been of any value if the Allies had behaved  more sensibly. The French were isolated and unlikely to receive any  reinforcements, while fresh troops were advancing to join the Allied army. Even  a delay of four days would have significantly altered the balance of power,  allowing 16,000 extra Allied troops to arrive. Napoleon knew that he had to  trick the Allies into attacking him. He achieved this with a simple deception  plan. Two of his corps were posted at some distance from the eventual  battlefield – Bernadotte to the north-west to watch the Archduke Ferdinand,  Davout to the south at Vienna. The Allies thus believed that the French army  was rather smaller than it really was. In the days before the battle Napoleon  abandoned his most advanced positions, which reached beyond Austerlitz town  towards the Allied camp. He send General Savary to the Allies as an envoy,  officially to attempt to negotiate a truce but actually to spy on the Allies  and to try and convince them that Napoleon feared a battle. Finally, on 1  December Napoleon ordered his men to make a 'panicked' retreat from the  apparently crucial Pratzen heights.
Allied Plan
All of  these efforts worked perfectly. The Allied supreme command structure was a  mess. Kutuzov was officially the commander-in-chief, but Tsar Alexander took  real control of the army. He was dominated by a group of his young friends,  whose general attitude was aggressive. Kutuzov realised that the best way to  defeat Napoleon was to simply wait him out, but the Tsar listened to his  friends and not to his experienced commander-in-chief. The Austrian Emperor  Francis was present with the army, but after the defeat at Ulm the Russians had  a very low opinion of the Austrian army, and Francis had little influence.
The  Allied plan was almost exactly what Napoleon had hoped for. Their aim was to  move most of Allied army onto the French right flank, outflank Napoleon and cut  his lines of communication with Vienna. The French might be forced to retreat  without a fight, but if not then the Allies would overwhelm their right flank.  In order to protect their right flank and the road back to their camp the  Allies decided to post General Bagration and the army advance guard on their  right, guarding the main highway. This meant that Bagration was facing the main  part of the French left wing, in an area where Napoleon didn't expect to find  any enemy troops.
If both  plans had worked out as expected then the two armies could have ended up  rotating in a clock-wise direction around the centre of the battlefield, but  neither side's main attack made as much progress as expected.
The  main allied attack was to be made by four columns. On the far left was a small  Austrian force under the Austrian General Kienmayer. He had around 7,000 men  with an equal mix of infantry and cavalry.
Next to  him was the First Column under Lieutenant-General Dmitri Doctorov (or Dokhturov).  All three columns on the Allied left were overwhelmingly infantry formations – Doctorov had 13,240 infantry and only 250 cavalry. He was to cross the Goldbach  at Telnitz and then curve around to the right.
The  Second Column was commanded by Lieutenant-General A. Langeron, a French émigré,  with 11,250 infantry and 300 cavalry. His task was to cross the stream between  Telnitz and Sokolnitz.
The  Third Column, under Lieutenant-General I. Przbyswski or Prebyshevsky, was  smaller, with only 7,700 infantry, and contained a mix of Austrian and Russian  troops. Its task was to capture the castle at Sokolnitz and advance beyond it.  All three of these columns were under the overall command of General Buxhowden.
The  Fourth Column was under the joint command of Lieutenant-Generals M.A.  Miloradovich and J. K. Killowrath. It was much stronger, with 23,900 infantry,  and was to cross the stream north of Sokolnitz.
On the  right of the army Lieutenant-General Peter I. Bagration and the 9,200 infantry  and 4,500 cavalry of the Advance Guard was posted on the main road. To his  left-rear was the Russian Imperial Guard under Grand Duke Constantine , the only  reserve force. To his left was the Fifth (Cavalry) Column, commanded by  Lieutenant-General Prince Johann von Lichtenstein. His task was to guard  against the French cavalry and to shield the first four columns as they moved  south.
The  Allied plan wasn't intrinsically flawed, but it did have two serious failings.  First, it assumed that the French were already beaten and thus would neither  offer any serious opposition at the Goldbach stream nor launch an offensive of  their own. It also assumed that the Allied army was capable of carrying out  such a complex manoeuvre. Even if the army's high command had been more  capable, work on translating the orders from German into Russian didn't begin  until 3am on the day of the battle, and some commanders didn't receive their  orders until after the start of the fighting!
Opening Moves
Marshal Joachim Murat
The  Allies decided to attack Napoleon on 24 November. At first they hoped to move  on the following day, but they weren't organised to achieve this and instead  began to move on the 27th. Wischau, north-east of Austerlitz, and  the heights of Raussnitz were captured on 28 November. In order to encourage  the Allied attack Napoleon ordered Murat and Soult to abandon their positions  around Austerlitz, and take up a new position west of the Goldbach stream. On  the same day Bernadotte and Davout were ordered to rejoin the main army.
Early  on 29 November Murat and Soult moved into their new positions. The Guard and  the Grenadier Division moved north to join them, forming a powerful left wing. On  the same day the Allies moved four or five miles to the south. The day also saw  Napoleon meet with Prince Dolgoruky, a Russian envoy and an arrogant member of  the war party.
On 1  December the Allies occupied the Pratzen Heights. Their progress looked  impressive, but at the end of the day the fourth column was too close to the  third and the cavalry was too far to the rear. This would cause some confusion  in the hours before the battle began. As the Allies advanced Murat was ordered  to fake a panicked retreat from the heights, in the hope that this would entice  the Allies to continue on south into Napoleon's trap.
By the  end of 1 December most of Napoleon's men were in position. Lannes' V Corps was  on the left, near the Santon. Lannes had around 12,700 men in his corps.  Bernadotte's I Corps was behind V Corps, hidden from Allied sight. Bernadotte  had around 13,000 men.
To  their right were the 5,500 men of the Imperial Guard under Marshal Bessières ,  the 5,700 men of the Grenadier Division under General Oudinot and Murat's 7,400  strong Cavalry Reserve.
The  centre and right of the French line was made up of Soult's IV Corps, the largest  in the French army with 23,600 men. Soult had three infantry divisions and one  light cavalry division. His men were spread along the Goldbach. Two of his  three divisions were allocated to the main attack onto the Pratzen Heights.
Further  south Davout's III Corps was approaching from Vienna. Not all of Davout's  troops reached the battlefield in time to fight. Friant's 2nd  infantry division and Bourcier's 4th Dragoon Division arrived, as  did part of the 1st Division, giving Davout around 6,300 men on the  day. His main role would be to support Soult's right wing on the Goldbach.
The Battlefield
The  battlefield was dominated by two features – the valley of the Goldbach Stream  and the Pratzen Heights. It was bordered to the north by the Moravian  Switzerland, an area of low wooded hills. The northern end of the battlefield  was marked by the road from Brunn to Olmutz. This ran east-west across most of  the battlefield, then split in two close to the north-east corner of the field,  with one branch heading north-east to Olmutz and the other south-east to  Austerlitz.
Just to  the north of the road, on the eastern side of the stream, was a small hillock  known to the French as the Santon. Napoleon examined this feature well before  the battle and ordered his men to steepen the eastern face, looking towards the  Allied army.
The  Goldbach formed the dividing line between the two armies at the start of the  battle. It flowed south from the Moravian Switzerland, and ran through a low  marshy valley before joining the Littawa amongst a series of ponds (the  Satschan Mere and Menitz Mere). At the end of the battle these ponds became the  site of one of the great legends of Austerlitz, after the 30th  Bulletin of the Grande Armée claimed  that some 20,000 Allied troops drowned when French cannons broke the ice as  they were attempting to escape across the frozen ponds. This was entirely  false. Although some men might have died in the meres only two bodies were  recovered when they were drained after the battle, and only 5,000 or so Allied  troops were even in the area!
The  stream was lined with a series of villages. The southernmost villages became  important in the battle. First was Tellnitz, closest to the meres. This was at  the southern end of the fighting for most of the day. Next was Sokolnitz, with  a castle and a walled peasantry to its north. The last of the key villages on  the river was Kobelnitz.
To the  east are the Pratzen Heights, a triangular plateau with the narrow end at the  south, widening to the north. A side-stream flows east from close to Kobelnitz  towards the village of Pratzen, on the western edge of the plateau. The plateau  had two main summits that became important in the fighting – the Staré Vinohrady  to the north and the Pratzeberg to the south. The town of Austerlitz lies just  beyond the eastern edge of the battlefield.  
The Ambush
The  night of 1-2 December was foggy. This played into French hands, hiding the  deployment of their army, but it greatly added to the confusion on the Allied  side. The Allied fourth column didn't start moving until the Tsar ordered it  into action, about an hour after the first fighting. The cavalry column cut  right across the army, cutting in front of the fourth column and possible  cutting another column in two.
The  first fighting came at Telnitz, where Kienmayer's Austrians arrived on time. Five  battalions attacked the French in the village, but the Austrians were repulsed.  Buxhowden made one of his few positive contributions to the battle, ordering  the first column to attack Tellnitz. The French were forced to retreat, but  instead of advancing around Napoleon's flank Doctorov decided to wait for the  second column to arrive on his right. When these columns did arrive they came  up against parts of Soult's corps, and were held up (see below).
While  the Allies were raggedly moving south Napoleon and Soult were waiting for the  right moment to attack. At around 8.45 Napoleon asked Soult how long it would  take him to reach the top of the Pratzen Heights. Soult replayed that it would  take less than 20 minutes, and so Napoleon decided to wait for another 15  minutes. Soult's two attacking divisions ( Saint-Hilaire and Vandamme ) were  hidden in the fog in the valley bottom, and Napoleon wanted to wait until the  entire Allied army had moved off the heights.
At  about 9am Soult was finally ordered to advance. Saint-Hilaire was on the right  and was to take the summit of the Pratzeberg while Vandamme was to take the  Staré Vinohrady, one mile further north. Napoleon was hoping that Soult would  be advancing into the space behind the advancing Allies, although the sounds of  heavy fighting from the north suggested that not everything was going as  planned. In fact Soult's men advanced into a gap between the Third and Fourth  Allied columns. Their advance also brought them within a few hundred years of  the Tsar and Kutuzov
The  French swept through Pratzen village, sending a wave of defeated Russian troops  past the Tsar and Kutuzov. Kutuzov attempted to repair the damage, ordering the  fourth column, which had just dropped off the heights, to turn back and take up  a position north of Pratzen while Lichtenstein's cavalry was ordered onto the  heights. None of these troops arrived in time to prevent the French from  capturing the Pratzeberg or the Staré Vinohrady, giving them control of the  Pratzen Heights, but the Allies weren't entirely defeated yet – Kutuzov had his  fourth column, the Russian Imperial Guard and part of Langeron's column with  which to attack Soult, while further south the first three Allied columns still  had a chance to restore the situation – if they could get across the Goldbach  and swing north then Soult might be isolated on the plateau.
At the  end of this first phase of the battle the Allied supreme command had been  effectively destroyed. The Tsar had been separated from his staff and was an  isolated figure. Kutuzov faired a little better but became drawn into a series  of individual fights and had no impact on the overall direction of the battle.
The Hard Fight
The Heights
At this  stage the French were in a good position, but not as good as Napoleon had  hoped. He had expected the entire Allied army to move over the Pratzen,  allowing his strong left and centre to get behind them. Instead the French left  had been held up by Bagration. Soult had successfully occupied the Pratzen  Heights, but he now faced a fierce and unexpected battle to hold onto his new  position.
The  first fighting came when part of the Second Column attacked the 10th  Line, part of Saint-Hilaire's division. This attack was beaten off with the aid  of Saint-Hilaire, who led reinforcements to the scene. An Austrian force then  attempted to get close by taking advantage of the similarity between their  white uniforms and those of Napoleon's Bavarian allies. This ruse failed when  the 'Bavarians' were seen to communicate with nearby Russians and the Austrians  were repulsed after a fierce half-hour battle.
General  Langeron led the next attack on the Heights, but the Kursk Regiment was badly  mauled and the Podolia Regiment retreated back into the Goldbach valley. By now  the Tsar had fled east, while Kutuzov had been wounded and forced to retreat to  the safety of an Austrian unit.
The South
While  the French were winning the battle on the heights the Allies were struggling in  the Goldbach valley. Friant's division of Davout's corps had finally reached  the battlefield, and at about the same time as the Allied second and third  columns arrived at the river a French counterattack temporarily pushed them out  of Telnitz. The French were still outnumbered at this end of the line, and were  soon pushed back out of the village.
 
The  Allied second column (Longeron) now arrived and attacked Sokolnitz, followed  soon afterwards by the third column (Prebyshevsky), which attacked north of the  village, aiming at Sokolnitz Castle and the Peasantry. The first column paused  to wait for the battle at Sokolnitz to end. By about 10am the Russians had  forced the 26th Light out of the village, but this was a short-lived  success. At about 10 the 2nd and 3rd brigades of Friant's  division launched a counterattack and a prolonged battle developed around the  village. The 48th Line was left in Sokolnitz, while Friant went on  to attack the Allied third column. The battle in this part of the field now  became something of a stalemate, with strong Allied forces unable to force  their way across the Goldbach. The Russians and Austrians were never able to  force the French back from the Goldbach, and the main Allied thrust came to a  halt.
The North
10 April 1769-1809
An  almost entirely separate battle took part on the northern part of the  battlefield, where Bagration's advance guard faced Lannes, Bernadotte and a  large French cavalry force. As the fighting began further south the French had  a screen of light cavalry at the front. Two heavy cavalry divisions were next,  on either side of the main road, with Lannes and Bernadotte just behind and  Murat's cavalry reserve in the rear. On the Russian side Bagration had his Jaeger infantry on the right and left,  two lines of cavalry on the centre-right and his line infantry on the  centre-left. Prince Lichtenstein's cavalry was to his left-rear and the Russian  Imperial Guard even further to the left-rear (south-east). Most of these  reserves would eventually be drawn into the fighting on the heights.
The  fighting in the north began when Bagration sent 4,000 cavalry to attack Lannes.  This first cavalry attack was repulsed by French artillery fire, but the Grand  Duke Constantine Uhlans insisted on making an unsupported attack in which they  suffered 400 casualties, losing most of their strength.
Next  was a series of attacks on Kellermann's division. The second of these attacks  saw Murat and his staff dragged into the melee, and the situation was only  saved when Nansouty's heavy cavalry joined the fight.
This  was followed by a French infantry attack towards the village of Bläsowitz, to  the south of the road. After an early success the Russians abandoned this  position, which was now threated by French troops on the Pratzen Heights, just  to its south.  
On the  opposite flank Bagration's men were attacking towards Bosenitz, from where they  threatened the Santon mound. The French counter-attacked from the mound and  pushed the Russians back.
At  about midday Lannes went onto the offensive. Bagration was forced to retreat  back past the road junction and there was a real danger that he would be forced  away to the north-east, isolating him from the rest of the army. Instead some  Austrian artillery arrived just in time to halt the French advance. Bagration's  wing had suffered a defeat, but it was a fairly minor one and he had avoiding  being cut off from the rest of the army.  
Allied Defeat
The  stage was now set for the most important action of the day. At about noon  Napoleon decided to move to the Pratzen Heights. At the same time the Imperial  Guard, Grenadier Division and Bernadotte's corps were all ordered to advance in  the same direction.
On the  Allied side the Russian Imperial Guard, under the command of the Tsar's brother  Constantine, was about to enter action. Constantine had received a request for  help from his brother as the fighting developed on the heights. He decided to  try and find the fourth column, and so at around 11.30 the Russian Guard began  to move across the north-eastern flank of the Staré Vinohrady.
The  Russian Guard moved to Krzenowitz, east of the heights. There it came under  fire from Vandamme's artillery on the Staré Vinohrady. Constantine responded by  forming up on the eastern flank of the ill with the Semenovsky infantry on the  left, the Preobrazhensky infantry on the right, jaeger infantry on their flanks  and cavalry at the outside. They were ordered to clear the eastern flank of the  hill, but not to make a full scale assault on the French.
This  changed when the advancing Russians were attacked by Schinner's 3rd  Brigade of Vandamme's Division, and at around 1pm Constantine was forced to  order a full scale assault on the Staré Vinohrady.
This  began well. A force of 3,000 Russian Grenadiers broke the first French line,  but they were stopped by artillery fire before reaching the second line. The  Russians withdrew to reform, and Napoleon ordered Vandamme to apply pressure to  them. During this movement Vandamme's left flank became exposed, and  Constantine ordered his cavalry to attack. The French 4th Line  formed squares, but the Russians stopped short, unveiled six light artillery  pieces and bombarded the square. The Russian cavalry was then able to break  into the French square, despite an attempt by the 24th Light to  rescue them. The Russians captured the 4th Line's Eagle, the only French trophy captured by the allies during the battle. The 24th  Light formed a line but was also broken, and the refugees from the two  regiments fled past Napoleon (greeting him with 'Vive l'Empereur' as they  passed!).
The gap  in the French line was plugged by the French Guard cavalry. A costly battle now  developed between the two Imperial Guards. At first the Russians had the best  of the encounter, but the arrival of a brigade of infantry from I Corps allowed  the French to move reinforcements up and the cavalry battle eventually ended as  a major French victory. The Russian Chevalier  Gardes, recruited from noble families, suffered very heavy casualties  during this battle.
Napoleon  now had a commanding position, but he had to decide what to do next. His  original plan, for a grand envelopment of the entire Allied army, was no longer  possible. From his position on the Pratzen Heights he realised that Bagration  was too far east to be easily destroyed and so he decided to turn his attention  south.
The  brunt of the new attack fell on Saint-Hilaire and Vandamme, supported by  Legrand's division. Bernadotte's I Corps, which hadn't made much contribution  to the fighting, was ordered to hold the Pratzen Heights. Saint-Hilaire,  supported by one brigade from Vandamme and with General Legrand on his right  advanced towards Sokolnitz, while Vandamme with his two remaining brigades  moved to the southern edge of the Pratzen Heights, from where he could threaten  Buxhowden's line of retreat.
The  French attack hit the first three Allied columns. By now it was clear to the  Allies that the battle was lost, and instead of attempting to coordinate a  defence the various Allied commanders focused on attempting to escape from the  trap. Some were luckier than others. Langeron with the 8th Jaeger  and Viborg Regiments escaped to the south. The Perm Musketeers and 7th  Jaeger were forced north-west, attempted to defend Sokolnitz Castle and made  another stand further north before surrendering. The Galician and Butyrsk  Regiments with fragments from other units moved further north and surrendered  against the Sokolnitz mere. 4,000 prisoners were taken there.
To the  south parts of Langeron's, Doctorov's and Kienmayer's forces were cut off to  the south and came under attack from three sides. Many of these troops were  able to escape to the south, with some crossing the frozen Satschan and Menitz  ponds. One of the great myths of Austerlitz took place here. French gunners  fired on the ice of the ponds, cracking it in places. The 30th  Bulletin of the Grande Armée claimed that 20,000 Russians drowned here. After  the battle the ponds were drained – 38 guns and 130 horses were found but only  two men. Only 5,000 Allied troops were even in the area. It is possible that  some men did indeed drown in the ponds, although they were very shallow, but  the famous mass drowning on the ice never happened.
Aftermath
The  battle was a dramatic and crushing French victory. French casualties were  around 9,000, but the Allies had lost 27,000 men – 12,000 prisoners, the rest  dead and wounded left on the battlefield. One third of the Allied army had been  lost.
The  surviving Allied troops retreated east, while the French rested on the  battlefield. On the night of 2-3 December Prince Lichtenstein appeared at the  French camp under a flag of truce, and arranged a meeting between Napoleon and  the Emperor Francis, to be held on 4 December. This was a clear sign that the  Austrians were about to leave the Third Coalition.
While  Francis prepared to make peace, Tsar Alexander prepared to retreat to Hungary.  Reinforcements were now arriving – 4,000 Austrians under Merveldt arrived on  the 4th, 12,000 Russians under Essen on the 6th, but  Alexander and Kutuzov refused to consider continuing the fight in Austria.
Napoleon  and Francis met at 2pm on 4 December. The meeting lasted for two hours and  Francis apparently left in a more cheerful mood than he had arrived. Even so  the resulting Peace of Pressburg was a disaster for Austria. France took much  of the eastern coast of the Adriatic, including Trieste, the Croatian coast and  Dalmatia. Cleves and Berg on the eastern bank of the Rhine also went to France.  Bavaria was given the Tyrol and Wurzburg. The Duke of Wurttemberg received Swabia.  In an attempt to keep Prussia out of the war they were given Hanover. In this  Napoleon failed – Prussia soon joined the war, before suffering her own defeat  at Jena - Auerstadt (14 October 1806). Russian remained in the conflict into  1807, but came to terms after the battle of Friedland (14 June 1807) . For a few  short years Napoleon dominated Europe, although the British naval victory at Trafalgar , which came on 21 October, the day after Ulm, prevented his triumph from being complete.