Austerlitz 1805: The fate of empires

Osprey Campaign #101

by Ian Castle

This all-new volume chronicles the events that climaxed on the field of Austerlitz in one of the most famous battles of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). Not only was it the first campaign that Napoleon waged as Emperor of France, but also the first great test for his Grande Armée. The Emperor himself regarded it as his greatest victory and it undoubtedly won him a mastery of Europe that would remain unbroken for almost a decade. Most accounts of the campaign have until now been based almost exclusively on French sources, but following extensive research in the Austrian archives Ian Castle is now able to provide a far more balanced account of Austerlitz.

Genres: Military History, History, Nonfiction, War, European History

96 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2002

About the author

Ian Castle began writing military history some thirty years ago but for the last ten years has focused on Germany’s First World War air raids against Britain. Initially exploring the London raids, his later research extended to include attacks across the whole country. In addition to writing books, Ian regularly contributes articles to magazines and journals and has been involved in a number of television documentaries detailing this early air campaign. Besides giving regular talks on the subject, Ian is also building an extensive website highlighting these early air raids.

Reviews

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick hitting book covering one of Napoleon's most famous victories in a concise but reasonably thorough manner. One hundred pages is not much to work with, but Castle does a fantastic job laying all the bedrock for the story of the battle, providing nearly 30 pages of background necessary to bring the reader up to the fateful day of the battle. The battle itself is split between the North and South with a fair bit of detail provided on the decision making and movements. Good writing and some map aids make understanding the actions pretty easy for those with some basic military background.

There are some lovely color plates and a plethora of period drawings/artwork that help flavor the writing, capturing some of the important moments in the battle. I found these to be quite useful for painting aids. The book concludes with a very spartan page on the "best references" in a few paragraphs mostly discussing the French bias in most writings. I'm glad this is discussed, but I felt that the ball got dropped because it only mentions a very few British sources and completely neglects to mention any of these biased French sources. I think the attempt here is to try and be somewhat more apologetic for the Coalition leadership and downplay some of Napoleon's leadership. This is a bit unfortunate in my view as the sense of trying to minimize the brilliance of how Napoleon executed this battle takes away some of my regard for Castle's efforts here.

Overall this is a nice little book for introducing someone to the battle at Austerlitz without a huge commitment of a large tome full of minutia. The sparse reference list is painful though, so surely a star loss there. The rest is great stuff though, and well worth the read. I'm a big fan of these Praeger versions in hardcover.

4 Stars

[Bernd Velling · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Book for 2024.
Two reasons I read this other than being a Napoleonic War hobby historian.
The battle features prominently in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” , which I am also currently reading and furthermore is represented in last year’s movie Napoleon by Ridley Scott.
The latter took a lot of artistic “liberties” though which prompted me to read up on the battle.
The book is well written and gives a good overview of things to inform on a basic level.
Maps are fantastic documenting the pivotal moments narrated in the text in great detail
I am sure there are more detailed works on the battle but this book is a well done starting point for those who wish to dig deeper from there.

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and effective edition of the classic Osprey 96 Page Format, this Softcover guide takes us through "Napoleon's Masterpiece", the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, Napoleons first Imperial Victory over a Russo-Austrian Alliance. The recently self crowned dictator, his dreams of Invading the UK in tatters after the crushing defeat at sea at Trafalgar, hurried his army across Europe in a series of stunningly aggressive forced marches. Trapping and ending a large Austrian Army famously at Ulm, he turned east to finish the job, The Russian armies were dawdling, in their Ancien Regime style, and the Austrians had to fall back a lot to avoid encirclement. When they combined, the difficulties of coalition warfare in the face of Superior Unified Command would become punitive.

The Battle at Austerlitz boils down to Austro-Russian overconfidence in their plans against a far better General. The central massif, the Pratzen Heights, is clearly the most important feature on the battlefield, and staying on it might have won the Allies the day. They foolishly moved off it in pursuit of chimerical French Activity, and we totally undone when the French made the obvious move and occupied it in force. This book does little better than most other in explaining WHY the Allies made this simple blunder, but it does explain HOW and illustrate it very well with many Maps/diagrams and some wonderful colour paintings of key actions. It also does a good job of setting the scene before the battle, explaining the results, and helping one wargame/tour the battlefield.

There is almost no gore in this book, so any reader above about 9 should be able to follow the narrative. For the Gamer/Modeller/military Enthusiast, this is a great summation of other material, sure to assist in Scenario/Diorama development. Breaking up this classic battle into its parts alone can result in about three sector scenarios that are great for local clubs to play. This book cover all its limited aims very well and will be a good addition to any Napoleonic Shelf.

[Mastersonmcvoidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a part of the Osprey ''Campaign'' series and serves as an updated counterpart to David Chandler's earlier Osprey book on Austerlitz.

It follows the classic Osprey format, it's written in a more engaging, readable manner than Chandler's book but generally has less detail. The causes of the war are presented in the usual, concise manner that is typical for Osprey books. The armies and commanders are covered in an exceptionally brief manner, as if they were included just for the sake of the format. The Ulm Campaign and the campaign in Moravia before Austerlitz are covered in a bit more detail, but nothing exceptional for an Osprey book.

The maps are better than in Chandler's book and are more pleasant to look at. There are also more illustrations, but this comes at a cost of a slimmed down history.

The Battle of Austerlitz itself is covered in a well written, but unoriginal manner that focuses more on readability than on detail. The description of the battle is clear and easy to understand, but many details are excluded. The aftermath of the battle is covered briefly and is nothing particularly special. The battlefield today section is more up to date than in Chandler's book.

As a counterpart to Chandler I find this book underwhelming. While it is generally more readable it has considerably less detail and information. As a history of the War of the Third Coalition in its own right it's nothing special and has far less information than it could have.

Final Rating: 5.5/10

[Ricardo Portella · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro descreve a decisiva batalha de Austerlitz que afirmou a dominância de Napoleão sobre a Europa continental. O livro está dividido basicamente em 4 partes: a situação europeia antes da batalha, uma breve biografia dos comandantes envolvidos, os movimentos e batalhas iniciais da campanha, e finalmente, uma descrição detalhada da batalha nas suas três frentes, o flanco esquerdo, o centro e o flanco direito dos aliados (Rússia e Austria-hungria). Como a batalha teve uma escala grandiosa (70 mil franceses vs 85 mil russos e austro-hungaros) é muito difícil descrever a batalha, mas o autor deu uma boa ideia de como a luta se desenrolou. Os mapas da batalha poderiam ser melhores e não auxiliam muito na compreensão da mesma.
Eu li uma edição em português editada na Espanha! Deste modo a tradução é muito ruim e com várias falhas de edição e é muito ruim. A Osprey deveria ter sido mais cuidadosa nesta versão para português.

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Austerlitz saw the destruction of the Austrian army and defeat of the Russian army by Napoleon in 1805. Thus ended the third coalition against Napoleon.

A very clear, concise record of the battle taking into account views and information from the allied side, as well as the victorious French side. With the clear maps, 3D representations of the battlefield, and a review of the lead up and impact of the battle. Recommended for anyone with an interest in Napoleonic warfare.

[Shane Kiely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed account of the battle, perhaps overly detailed as it’s possible to lose track of things just following the main text. Fortunately there are a series of great maps that put everything into an easier to follow context. Anyone interested in the events would do well to read this,

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lavishly illustrated overview of Napoleon's great victory.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history leading up to the battle was fine, however the battle itself, with all the names, regiments, places was a little hard to follow even with the maps.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now, conjure this image. A commander looks into the future and guesses at his enemies' moves. He leaves high ground for the enemy to move onto and hold. He places a weak force on his right flank to lure the enemy off the heights to attack this enticing sacrificial lamb. Then, with his forces hidden behind another rise, he attacks the heights abandoned by the enemy to pierce their center and "roll up" both flanks. Key question: How could anyone be so stupid as to do what this prescient commander foresaw? The Allied forces at Austerlitz, lured into a pretty transparent trap by Napoleon, the commander who "foresaw."

Austerlitz was one of Napoleon's masterpieces. This Osprey Publishing volume provides a nice, brief, well illustrated view of this battle. Want more detail? Consider something like Robert Goetz' "1805: Austerlitz."

This battle marks the sad end of a Coalition designed to defeat Napoleon. Through a series of bad choices, such as appointing the flawed Field Marshal Mack as head of the allied forces, there was already a record of defeat (at Ulm) before Austerlitz. However, the allies--primarily the Russians and the Austrians--did not wish to give up and regrouped for battle.

This book, using information from both the allied side and from French sources, addresses how Napoleon's vision of the battle came about and how it unfolded. There are a series of key points in the battle: the dramatic and timely arrival of a portion of Davout's corps; Bagratian's stern defense of the Allied right flank; the perhaps undermanned assault on the Pratzen Plateau by the French (they had additional forces available); etc.

There are many quite helpful maps, to show the movement of forces by both sides. There are attractive paintings of the battle and a few photographs of key features of the landscape (e.g., the Pratzen Plateau).

At any rate, if you want a brief overview of Austerlitz, this does nicely. If you want a detailed analysis, this is not the place to go. Consider other works such as Goetz' (already mentioned).

[Mati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehend book centered on battle of Austerlitz. The text, illustrations and maps are well done and they are very informative. There were also lots of interesting facts not only about the battle but also about political significance of it.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dry but good overview.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK overview of the preceding Ulm to Brunau campaign and condensed description of the battle.

[Jason Crow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Osprey does a good job with this. I purchased it as a companion to my reading of "War and Peace." It was helpful.