Battle of Ulm

In 1805, the United Kingdom, the Austrian Empire, Sweden, and the Russian Empire formed the Third Coalition to overthrow the French Empire.{{sfn|Connelly|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oOzcrC5e-LIC&pg=PT118 8. Marengo and the Grand Armée, 1800–1805]|pp=107–117}}{{sfn|Connelly|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oOzcrC5e-LIC&pg=PT118 9. Subduing the European powers: Austerlitz – Jena-Auerstädt – Friedland, 1805–07]|pp=118–141}} When Bavaria sided with Napoleon, the Austrians, 72,000 strong under Mack, prematurely invaded while the Russians were still marching through Poland.{{cite book |first=Aaron |last=Ralby |editor1-first=Jill |editor1-last=Hamilton |editor2-first=Damien |editor2-last=Moore |editor3-first=Philippa |editor3-last=Baile |editor4-first=Duncan |editor4-last=Youel |editor5-first=Nanette |editor5-last=Cardon |collaboration=Illustration by Andy Crisp |publisher=Parragon/Moseley Road Inc. |publication-place=Bath, England|year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4723-1236-5 |title=Atlas of world military history: From antiquity to the present day |via=Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofworldmili0000ralb/page/n5/mode/2up |chapter=6. Europe (The Napoleonic Period 1799–1815) |pages=274–278 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofworldmili0000ralb/page/n276 }}

File:Ulm campaign - French strategic envelopment, 26 September-9 October 1805.jpg

The Austrians expected the main battles of the war to take place in northern Italy, not Germany, and intended only to protect the Alps from French forces.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT382 34. Plans and Preparations (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=382}}{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/n31 Chapter I. The Austrian Army]|pp=1–43}}{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=32}}

A popular but apocryphal legend has it that while the Austrians used the Gregorian calendar, the Russians were still using the Julian calendar. This meant that their dates did not correspond, and the Austrians were brought into conflict with the French before the Russians could come into line.{{sfn|Schneid|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=n89BDcWXFpIC&pg=PT35 3. The Campaigns]|pp=35–50}} This simple but improbable explanation for the Russian army being far behind the Austrian is dismissed by scholar Frederick Kagan as "a bizarre myth".{{cite web |url=http://dcjack.org/kagan%20on%20ulm.html |title=battles of ulm |publisher=Dcjack.org |date= |accessdate=2022-03-20}}{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=31}}

Napoleon had 177,000 troops of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} at Boulogne, ready to invade England.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2020|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DSvJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT173 Chapter 9. The Elephant Against the Whale: France and Britain at War, 1803–1804]|pp=173–187}}{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT382 34. Plans and Preparations (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|pp=382–389}} They marched south on 27 August and by 24 September were ready to cross the Rhine from Mannheim to Strasbourg. After crossing the Rhine, the greater part of the French army made a gigantic right wheel so that its corps reached the Danube simultaneously, facing south.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT390 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|pp=390–401}} On 7 October, Mack learned that Napoleon planned to cross the Danube and march around his right flank so as to cut him off from the Russians who were marching via Vienna. He accordingly changed front, placing his left at Ulm and his right at Rain, but the French went on and crossed the Danube at Neuburg, Donauwörth, and Ingolstadt.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT382 34. Plans and Preparations (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|pp=382–389}} Unable to stop the French avalanche, Michael von Kienmayer's Austrian corps abandoned its positions along the river and fled to Munich.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT186 16. Grand Tactics on the Battlefield (Part Three. Napoleon's Art of War)]|p=186}}

On 8 October, Franz Xaver von Auffenberg's division was cut to pieces by Joachim Murat's Cavalry Corps and Jean Lannes' V Corps at the Battle of Wertingen. The following day, Mack attempted to cross the Danube and move north. He was defeated in the Battle of Günzburg by Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher's division of Michel Ney's VI Corps which was still operating on the north bank.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT382 34. Plans and Preparations (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|pp=382–389}} During the action, the French seized a bridgehead on the south bank. After first withdrawing to Ulm, Mack tried to break out to the north. His army was blocked by Pierre Dupont de l'Etang's VI Corps division and some cavalry in the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen on 11 October.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT390 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|pp=390–401}}{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2020|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DSvJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT188 Chapter 10. The Emperor's Conquest, 1805–1807]|pp=188–227}}

By the 11th, Napoleon's corps were spread out in a wide net to snare Mack's army. Nicolas Soult's IV Corps reached Landsberg am Lech and turned east to cut off Mack from Tyrol. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps and Louis Nicolas Davout's III Corps converged on Munich. Auguste Marmont's II Corps was at Augsburg. Murat, Ney, Lannes, and the Imperial Guard began closing in on Ulm. Mack ordered the corps of Franz von Werneck to march northeast, while Johann Sigismund Riesch covered its right flank at Elchingen. The Austrian commander sent Franz Jellacic's corps south toward Tyrol and held the remainder of his army at Ulm.

File:Boutigny-Surrender at Ulm.jpg]]

On 14 October, Ney crushed Riesch's small corps at the Battle of Elchingen and chased its survivors back into Ulm. Murat detected Werneck's force and raced in pursuit with his cavalry. Over the next few days, Werneck's corps was overwhelmed in a series of actions at Langenau, Herbrechtingen, Nördlingen, and Neresheim. On 18 October, he surrendered the remainder of his troops. Only Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este and a few other generals escaped to Bohemia with about 1,200 cavalry.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT400 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=400}} Meanwhile, Soult secured the surrender of 4,600 Austrians at Memmingen and swung north to box in Mack from the south. Jellacic slipped past Soult and escaped to the south only to be hunted down and captured in the Capitulation of Dornbirn in mid-November by Pierre Augereau's late-arriving VII Corps. By 16 October, Napoleon had surrounded Mack's entire army at Ulm, and four days later Mack surrendered with 25,000 men, 18 generals, 65 guns, and 40 standards.{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004310032_007 |pages=221–248 |chapter=Chapter 5 – 1805: Ulm and Austerlitz |first=Mark T. |last=Gerges |title=Napoleon and the Operational Art of War: Essays in Honor of Donald D. Horward |series=History of Warfare |volume=110 |editor1-first=Michael V. |editor1-last=Leggiere |isbn=978-90-04-43441-7 |publication-date=26 November 2020 |year=2016 |edition=1st |editor2-first=Kelly |editor2-last=DeVries |editor3-first=John |editor3-last=France |editor4-first=Michael S. |editor4-last=Neiberg |editor5-first=Frederick |editor5-last=Schneid |publisher=Brill Publishers |publication-place=Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands |chapter-url=https://www.brill.com/view/book/9789004310032/B9789004310032_007.xml |url=https://www.brill.com/view/title/25292 |lccn=2015042278 }}{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT400 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=400}}

Some 20,000 escaped, 10,000 were killed or wounded, and the rest made prisoner.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT399 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=399}} About 500 French were killed and 1,000 wounded, a low number for such a decisive battle.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT400 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=400}}{{sfn|Horne|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Bkgwds-5dskC&pg=PT105 7. Ulm: 2 September–21 October (Part Two: Austerlitz)]|p=105}} In less than 15 days the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} neutralized 60,000 Austrians and 30 generals. At the surrender (known as the Convention of Ulm), Mack offered his sword and presented himself to Napoleon as "the unfortunate General Mack".Blond, G. La Grande Armée. Castle Books, 1979. p. 59.{{sfn|Haythornthwaite|1995|p=68}}{{sfn|Nafziger|2002|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dcr7Zt2FEPoC&pg=PT282 Ulm, Capitulation of. (-U-)]|p=282}}{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT399 35. Strategic Triumph-Ulm (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=399}} Mack was court-martialed and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.{{sfn|Horne|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Bkgwds-5dskC&pg=PT116 8. On to Vienna and Austerlitz: 21 October–28 November (Part Two: Austerlitz)]|pp=116–128}}

File:2ndcorps augsburg.jpg in Augsburg.]]

File:Napoléon rend hommage au courage malheureux..jpg

The Ulm Campaign is considered an example of a strategic victory, though Napoleon indeed had an overwhelming superior force. The campaign was won with no major battle. The Austrians fell into the same trap Napoleon had set at the Battle of Marengo, but unlike Marengo, the trap worked with success. Everything was made to confuse the enemy.

In his proclamation in the Bulletin de la Grande Armée of 21 October 1805 Napoleon said, "Soldiers of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}}, I announced you a great battle. But thanks to the bad combinations of the enemy, I obtained the same success with no risk ... In 15 days we have won a campaign."{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT402 36. The Warriors of Holy Russia (Part Seven. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=402}}{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/252/mode/2up Chapter IX. Conclusion]|pp=252–264}}

By defeating the Austrian army, Napoleon secured his conquest of Vienna, which was to be taken one month later.{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/252/mode/2up Chapter IX. Conclusion]|pp=252–264}}{{sfn|Horne|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Bkgwds-5dskC&pg=PT116 8. On to Vienna and Austerlitz: 21 October–28 November (Part Two: Austerlitz)]|pp=116–128}}{{cite map |publisher=Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-628730887/view |publication-place=Canberra, Australia |date=1912 |map=Map of Central Europe showing the routes taken by Napoleon to defeat the allied Russo-Austrian army at the Battle of Ulm on 16–19 October 1805 and the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805 |title=Sketch Map illustrating Napoleon's Campaign in 1805 (Ulm & Austerlitz) |cartography=Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. |author=Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. |via=Trove (National Library of Australia) |location=London|map-url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-628730887/view#tab-download |access-date=6 October 2021 |scale=1:1,600,000 |series=Whitehall Campaign Series |volume=11 |type=Military map }}

Like the Battle of Austerlitz, the Ulm Campaign is still taught in military schools worldwide,{{cite journal |title=Future Battle: The Merging Levels of War |date=1 December 1992 |first=Douglas A. |last=Macgregor |publication-place=Carlisle Barracks (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA528099.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006045129/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA528099.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |pages=33–46 |via=Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) |department=United States Army War College (USAWC) |publisher=United States Department of Defense |journal=Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College |volume=XXII |issue=4 |editor1-first=Lloyd J. |editor1-last=Matthews |editor2-first=Gregory N. |editor2-last=Todd |editor3-first=Phyllis M. |editor3-last=Stouffer |editor4-first=John E. |editor4-last=Brown |editor5-first=Michael P.W. |editor5-last=Stone |editor6-first=William A. |editor6-last=Stofft |issn=0031-1723 }}{{cite report |first=Philip S. |last=Thompson |title=U.S. Army Deception Planning at the Operation Level of War |date=9 April 1991 |access-date=6 October 2021 |editor1-first=Robert L. |editor1-last=Barefield |editor2-first=James R. |editor2-last=McDonough |editor3-first=Philip J. |editor3-last=Brookes |chapter-url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA240251.pdf|department=School of Advanced Military Studies |publisher=United States Army Command and General Staff College |publication-place=Fort Leavenworth, Kansas|via=Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) |type=Monograph on operational deception at the Ulm Campaign of 1805 and Operation Mincemeat of 1943 |chapter=III. The Lessons of History |pages=11–23 }} and would continue to influence military leaders to present times, a notable example being that of the Schlieffen Plan developed by Germany to envelope what they assumed and expected would be French-led allied troops and win World War I.{{sfn|Brooks|2000|p=156|ps=
"It is a historical cliché to compare the Schlieffen Plan with Hannibal's tactical envelopment at Cannae (216 BC); Schlieffen owed more to Napoleon's strategic maneuver on Ulm (1805)"}} Indeed, Dupuy would say about the battle in his Harper Encyclopedia of Military History that it actually "was not a battle; it was a strategic victory so complete and so overwhelming that the issue was never seriously contested in tactical combat. Also, This campaign opened the most brilliant year of Napoleon's career. His army had been trained to perfection; his plans were faultless."{{cite book |orig-year=1977 |edition=4th |title=The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 B.C. to the Present |first1=R. Ernest |last1=Dupuy |first2=Trevor N. |last2=Dupuy |publisher=HarperCollins |publication-place= New York |year=1993 |isbn=0062700561 |page=816 }}

File:Elchingen1.jpeg on October 14, near the monastery of Elchingen]]

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |title=The Campaigns of Napoleon: The mind and method of history's greatest soldier |first=David G. |last=Chandler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC |via=Google Books |publication-place=New York City|collaboration=Graphics and illustrations by Shelia Waters, design by Abe Lerner |editor1-first=Abe |editor1-last=Lerner |orig-year=1966 |year=2009 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1439131039 |edition=4th |access-date=26 September 2021 |volume=I }}
• {{cite book |last1=Connelly |first1=Owen |title=The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792–1815 |date= 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-55289-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOzcrC5e-LIC |language=en}}
• {{cite book |first=Fredericn Natusche |last=Maude |year=1912 |volume=XII |title=The Ulm Campaign, 1805: The Special Campaign Series |publication-place=London|publisher=George Allen & Company, Ltd. |via=Internet Archive |url=https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/n5/mode/2up |edition=1st }}
• {{cite book |series=Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dcr7Zt2FEPoC |via=Google Books |title=Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era |first=George F. |last=Nafziger |year=2002 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |edition=1st |isbn=978-0810866171 |volume=6 |publication-place=Lanham, Maryland |editor1-first=Jon |editor1-last=Woronoff }}
• {{cite book |title=The Napoleonic Source Book |first=Philip J. |last=Haythornthwaite |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |year=1995 |orig-year=1990 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-1854092878 |editor1-first=Lionel |editor1-last=Leventhal |editor1-link=Lionel Leventhal |publication-place=London }}
• {{cite book |first=Alistair |last=Horne |orig-year=1979 |publisher=Hachette UK |title=Napoleon: Master of Europe, 1805–1807 |isbn=978-1780224572 |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bkgwds-5dskC |via=Google Books |edition=9th |publication-place=London }}
• {{cite book |orig-year=2006 |via=Google Books |collaboration=Design by Lisa Kreinbrink |edition=2nd |publisher=Da Capo Press (Perseus Books Group) |publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts|first=Frederick W. |last=Kagan |volume=I |isbn=978-0306811371 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmJKDgAAQBAJ |year= 2007 |title=The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801–1805 |author-link=Frederick W. Kagan }}
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• {{cite book |title=The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History |lccn=2019019279 |isbn=978-0199951062 |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-place=New York City |first=Alexander |last=Mikaberidze |year=2020 |via=Google Books |edition=1st |access-date=6 October 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSvJDwAAQBAJ }}
• {{cite book |edition=1st |series=Essential Histories Specials |title=The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire |first1=Todd |last1=Fisher |first2=Gregory |last2=Fremont-Barnes |collaboration=Foreword by Bernard Cornwell |year= 2004 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |publication-place=Oxford |isbn=978-1841768311 }}
• {{cite book |title=Atlas of World Military History: The Art of War from Ancient Times to the Present Day |publisher=Barnes & Noble |date=2000 |publication-place=New York City|edition=4th |isbn=978-0760720257 |first=Richard |last=Brooks |editor1-first=Richard |editor1-last=Brooks |editor2-first=Ian |editor2-last=Drury }}
• {{cite map |publisher=Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-628730887/view |location=Canberrah, Australia |date=1912 |map=Map of Central Europe showing the routes taken by Napoleon to defeat the allied Russo-Austrian army at the Battle of Ulm on 16–19 October 1805 and the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805 |title=Sketch Map illustrating Napoleon's Campaign in 1805 (Ulm & Austerlitz) |cartography=Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. |author=Forster Groom & Co. Ltd. |via=Trove (National Library of Australia) |publication-place=London |map-url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-628730887/view#tab-download |access-date=6 October 2021 |scale=1:1,600,000 |series=Whitehall Campaign Series |volume=11 |type=Military map }}
• {{cite book |via=Google Books |first=Frederick C. |last=Schneid |isbn=978-1597972093 |oclc=967521768 |title=Napoleonic Wars: The Essential Bibliography |publisher=Potomac Books |edition=1st |publication-place=Dulles, Virginia |year= 2012 |access-date=6 October 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n89BDcWXFpIC |series=Essential bibliography series }}

• {{commons-inline}}

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Category:Ulm campaign

Category:Battles of the War of the Third Coalition involving Austria

Category:Battles commanded by Napoleon

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