Ulm campaign

Europe had been by then embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars since 1792. After five years of war, the French Republic subdued the First Coalition in 1797. A Second Coalition was formed in 1798 but this too was defeated by 1801. Britain remained the only opponent for the new French Consulate. In March 1802, France and Britain agreed to end hostilities under the Treaty of Amiens.{{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]|p=173-187}} For the first time in ten years, all of Europe was at peace. There were many problems between the two sides and implementing the agreements that had been reached at Amiens seemed to be a growing challenge.{{sfn|Connelly|2012|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oOzcrC5e-LIC&pg=PT118 8. Marengo and the Grand Armée, 1800—1805]|p=107-117}} Britain resented having to turn over all colonial conquests since 1793, and France was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta, as the treaty had promised.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT304 28. Peace Restored (PART FIVE. Toward the Summit: The Conspirator and Peacemaker)]|p=304}} The tense situation only worsened since Napoleon sent an expeditionary force to crush the Haitian Revolution.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT320 30. The Camp of Boulogne (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=320}} In May 1803, Britain declared war on France.{{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]|p=118-141}}

In December 1804, an Anglo-Swedish agreement led to the creation of the Third Coalition. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger spent 1804 and 1805 in a flurry of diplomatic activity to form a new coalition against France.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2020|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DSvJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT188 CHAPTER 10. The Emperor's Conquest, 1805–1807]|p=188-227}} Mutual suspicion between the British and the Russians eased in the face of several French political mistakes, and by April 1805, the first two had signed a treaty of alliance.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT328 31. Prospects of Wider War (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=328|postscript=
The Baltic was dominated by Russia, but Britain was uncomfortable with that since it provided valuable commodities like timber, tar and hemp, crucial supplies to Britain's empire. Britain supported the Ottoman Empire against Russian incursions towards the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, French territorial rearrangements in Germany occurred without Russian consultation and Napoleon's annexations in the Po valley increasingly strained relations between the two.}} Having been defeated twice in recent memory by France and keen on revenge, France had defeated Austrian in the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1801) Austria also joined the coalition a few months later.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT331 31. Prospects of Wider War (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=331}}

Prior to the formation of the Third Coalition, Napoleon had assembled the "Army of England", an invasion force that was meant to strike at the British Isles, around six camps at Boulogne in Northern France. Although they never set foot on British soil, Napoleon's troops received careful and invaluable training for any possible military operation. Although boredom quickly set in among the troops, Napoleon paid many visits to conduct lavish parades to maintain their morale.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT323 30. The Camp of Boulogne (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=323}}

The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon would later call {{lang|fr|"La Grande Armée"}} ("The Great Army"). At the start, the French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven corps, which were large field units, containing about 36 to 40 cannon each and capable of independent action until other corps could arrive.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT332 32. La Grande Armée (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=332}} On top, Napoleon created a cavalry reserve of 22,000 troopers organized into two cuirassier divisions, four mounted dragoon divisions and two divisions of dismounted dragoons and light cavalry, all supported by 24 artillery pieces.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT332 32. La Grande Armée (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=332}} By 1805, the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} had grown to a force of 350,000,{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT333 32. La Grande Armée (PART SIX. The Works of Peace and the Road to War)]|p=333}} was equipped and trained. It possessed a competent officer class where almost all from sergeants to marshals had experience in the recent Revolutionary Wars.{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/n44/mode/2up Chapter II. The French Army]|p=43-73}}

Archduke Charles, brother of the Austrian Emperor, had started to reform the Austrian army in 1801 by taking away power from the Hofkriegsrat (Aulic Council), the military-political council responsible for decision making in the Austrian armed forces.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=31}} Charles was Austria's most able field commander,Andrew Uffindell, Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars. p. 155 but he was unpopular with the royal court and lost much influence when, against his advice, Austria decided to go to war with France.

Mack became the new main commander in Austria's army, instituting reforms on the infantry on the eve of war that called for a regiment to be composed of four battalions of four companies, rather than the older three battalions of six companies. The sudden change came with no corresponding officer training; new units were led by commanders who had not been given sufficient tactical training in using their units.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=32}}{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/n31 Chapter I. The Austrian Army]|p=1-43}}

Austrian cavalry forces were regarded as the best in Europe, but the detachment of many cavalry units to various infantry formations precluded the hitting power of their massed French counterparts, who could be ordered by Napoleon to amass a whole corps of cavalry to influence the battle.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=32}}{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/n31 Chapter I. The Austrian Army]|p=1-43}}

File:Strategic Situation of Europe 1805.jpg

The Ulm campaign lasted for nearly a month and saw the French army under Napoleon deliver blow after blow to the confused Austrians. It culminated on 20 October with the loss of an entire Austrian army.

On 9 September 1805, an Austrian army directed by Mack but under the nominal command of General der Kavallerie Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este crossed the frontier into the Electorate of Bavaria without a declaration of war. It was hoped that the Austrian army, would compel the Bavarian army to join the Third Coalition against France. However, the Bavarian elector had signed a secret treaty with France and moved his army north to Würzburg in order to rendezvous with French forces.{{sfn|Schneid|2005|p=102}} By 18 September, Mack's army was arrayed near Ulm where it watched the Black Forest to the west. Mack expected that it would take the French two months to react, but Emperor Napoleon's Grand Army was already on the march and by 24 September it was on the Rhine River.{{sfn|Schneid|2005|p=103}}

Mack's initial deployment of the Austrian army was as follows. FML Johann Kollowrat with 24 battalions was posted at Ulm. FML Michael von Kienmayer guarded Mack's right rear on the Danube River at Ingolstadt with 6 battalions and 16 squadrons. The other forces lay farther south. They were FML Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg with 21 battalions and 46 squadrons near Ravensburg, FML Franz Xaver von Auffenberg with 14 battalions and 8 squadrons at Kempten, FML Franz Jellacic with 19 battalions and 8 squadrons at Lindau on Lake Constance, and FML Franz von Werneck with 15 battalions and 8 squadrons at Landsberg am Lech.{{sfn|Schneid|2005|p=104}} Altogether, the Austrian army in Bavaria numbered 66,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry. Mack expected that the French army would attack from the west.{{sfn|Schneid|2005|p=112}}

Mack thought that Austrian security relied on sealing off the gaps through the mountainous Black Forest area in southern Germany that had witnessed much fighting during the campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars. Mack believed that there would be no action in central Germany. Mack decided to make the city of Ulm the centerpiece of his defensive strategy, which called for a containment of the French until the Russians under Kutuzov could arrive and alter the odds against Napoleon. Ulm was protected by the heavily fortified Michelsberg heights, giving Mack the impression that the city was virtually impregnable from outside attack.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=36}}

Fatally, the Aulic Council decided to make Northern Italy the main theater of operations for the Habsburgs. Archduke Charles was assigned 95,000 troops and directed to cross the Adige River with Mantua, Peschiera, and Milan as the initial objectives.{{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}} The Austrians based an army of 72,000 men on Ulm. Nominally commanded by Archduke Ferdinand, the army's real authority was Mack. Austrian strategy required that Archduke John with 23,000 troops secure the Tyrol and provide the link between his brother Charles's army and his cousin Ferdinand's army.{{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}} The Austrians also detached individual corps to serve with the Swedish in Pomerania and the British in Naples, though these were designed to confuse the French and divert their resources.

File:Ulm campaign_-_Invasion of Bavaria and French assembly on the Rhine, 2-25 September 1805.jpg from early to mid-September. 210,000 troops of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} prepared to cross into Germany and encircle the Austrians.]]

In both the campaigns of 1796 and 1800, Napoleon had envisaged the Danube theater as the central focus of French efforts, but in both instances the Italian theater became the most important. The Aulic Council thought Napoleon would strike in Italy again. Napoleon had other intentions: 210,000 French troops would be launched eastwards from the camps of Boulogne and would envelop General Mack's exposed Austrian army if it kept marching towards the Black Forest.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT284 34. Plans and Preparations (PART SEVEN. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=384}} Meanwhile, Marshal Murat would conduct cavalry screens across the Black Forest to fool the Austrians into thinking that the French were advancing on a direct west-east axis. The main attack in Germany would be supported by French assaults in other theaters: Marshal Masséna would confront Charles in Italy with 50,000 men of the Armée d'Italie, St. Cyr would march to Naples with 20,000 men, and Marshal Brune would patrol Boulogne with 30,000 troops against a possible British invasion.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT385 34. Plans and Preparations (PART SEVEN. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=385}}

Murat and Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand conducted reconnaissance between the area bordering the Tyrol and the Main as Anne Jean Marie René Savary, chief of the planning staff, drew up detailed road surveys of the areas between the Rhine and the Danube.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT385 34. Plans and Preparations (PART SEVEN. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=385}} The left wing of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} would move from Hanover in northern Germany and Utrecht in the Netherland to fall on Württemberg; the right and center, troops from the Channel coast, would concentrate along the Middle Rhine around cities like Mannheim and Strasbourg.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT385 34. Plans and Preparations (PART SEVEN. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=385}} While Murat was making demonstrations across the Black Forest, other French forces would then invade the German heartland and swing towards the southeast by capturing Augsburg, a move that was supposed to isolate Mack and interrupt the Austrian lines of communication.{{sfn|Chandler|2009|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNYWXeVcbkMC&pg=PT385 34. Plans and Preparations (PART SEVEN. From the Rhine to the Danube)]|p=385}}

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

On 22 September Mack decided to hold the Iller line anchored on Ulm. In the last three days of September, the French began the furious marches that would place them at the Austrian rear. Mack believed that the French would not violate Prussian territory, but when he heard that Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps had marched through Prussian Ansbach, he made the critical decision to stay and defend Ulm rather than retreat to the south, which would have offered a reasonable opportunity at saving the bulk of his forces.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=389}} Napoleon had little accurate information about Mack's intentions or maneuvers; he knew that Kienmayer's Corps was sent to Ingolstadt east of the French positions, but his agents greatly exaggerated its size.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=393}} On 5 October Napoleon ordered Marshal Michel Ney to join Marshals Jean Lannes, Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, and Murat in concentrating and crossing the Danube at Donauwörth.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=395}} The French encirclement, however, was not deep enough to prevent Kienmayer's escape: the French corps did not all arrive at the same place – they instead deployed on a long west-east axis – and the early arrival of Soult and Davout at Donauwörth induced Kienmayer to exercise caution and evasion.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=395}} Napoleon gradually became more convinced that the Austrians were massed at Ulm and ordered sizeable portions of the French army to concentrate around Donauwörth; on 6 October three French infantry and cavalry corps headed to Donauwörth to seal off Mack's escape route.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=397}}

Realizing the danger of his position, Mack decided to go on the offensive. On 8 October he commanded the army to concentrate around Günzburg and hoped to strike at Napoleon's lines of communication. Mack instructed Kienmayer to draw Napoleon further east towards Munich and Augsburg. Napoleon did not seriously consider the possibility that Mack would cross the Danube and move away from his central base, but he did realize that seizing the bridges at Günzburg would yield a large strategic advantage.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=400}} To accomplish this objective, Napoleon sent Ney's Corps to Günzburg, completely unaware that the bulk of the Austrian army was heading to the same destination. On 8 October, however, the campaign witnessed its first serious battle at Wertingen between Auffenberg's troops and those of Murat and Lannes.

{{main|Battle of Wertingen|Battle of Günzburg}}

File:Battle of Gunzburg 1805 Campaign Map.JPG

For reasons not entirely clear, on 7 October Mack ordered Auffenberg to take his division of 5,000 infantry and 400 cavalry from Günzburg to Wertingen in preparation for the main Austrian advance out of Ulm.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=402}} Uncertain of what to do and having little hope for reinforcements, Auffenberg was in a dangerous position. The first French forces to arrive were Murat's cavalry divisions – General of Division (GD) Louis Klein's 1st Dragoon Division, GD Marc Antoine de Beaumont's 3rd Dragoon Division, and GD Etienne de Nansouty's 1st Cuirassier Division. They began to assault the Austrian positions and were soon joined by GD Nicolas Oudinot's grenadiers, who were hoping to outflank the Austrians from the northeast. Auffenberg attempted a retreat to the southwest, but he was not quick enough: the Austrians lost nearly their entire force, 1,000 to 2,000 of which were taken prisoner.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=404}} The Battle of Wertingen had been an easy French victory.

File:Central Europe, 7-9 October 1805.jpg too far away to offer significant aid, the Austrians found themselves in a precarious position.]]

The action at Wertingen convinced Mack to operate on the left (north) bank of the Danube instead of making a direct eastwards retreat on the right bank. This would require the Austrian army to cross to the north at Günzburg. On 8 October Ney was operating under Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier's directions that called for a direct attack on Ulm the following day. Ney sent in GD Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher's 3rd Division to capture the Günzburg bridges over the Danube. In the Battle of Günzburg, a column of this division ran into some Tyrolean jaegers and captured 200 of them, including their commander Konstantin Ghilian Karl d'Aspré, along with two cannons.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=408}} The Austrians noticed these developments and reinforced their positions around Günzburg with three infantry battalions and 20 cannons.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=408}} Malher's division conducted several heroic attacks against the Austrian positions, but all failed. Mack then sent in Ignaz Gyulai with seven infantry battalions and fourteen cavalry squadrons to repair the destroyed bridges, but this force was charged and swept away by the delayed French 59th Infantry Regiment.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=409}} Fierce fighting ensued and the French finally managed to establish a foothold on the right (south) bank of the Danube. While the Battle of Günzburg was being fought, Ney sent GD Louis Henri Loison's 2nd Division to capture the Danube bridges at Elchingen, which were lightly defended by the Austrians. Having lost most of the Danube bridges, Mack marched his army back to Ulm. By 10 October Ney's corps had made significant progress: Malher's 3rd division had crossed to the right (south) bank, Loison's 2nd division held Elchingen, and Pierre Dupont de l'Étang's 1st Division was heading towards Ulm.

{{main|Battle of Haslach-Jungingen|Battle of Elchingen}}

File:Ulm campaign - Engagements around Ulm, 11-14 October 1805.jpg

The demoralized Austrian army arrived at Ulm in the early hours of 10 October. Mack was deliberating his course of action and the Austrian army remained inactive at Ulm until the 11th. Meanwhile, Napoleon was operating under flawed assumptions: he believed the Austrians were moving to the east or southeast and that Ulm was lightly guarded. Ney sensed this misapprehension and wrote to Berthier that Ulm was, in fact, more heavily defended than the French originally thought.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=412}} During this time, the Russian threat to the east began to preoccupy Napoleon so much that Murat was given command of the right wing of the army, consisting of Ney's and Lannes's corps.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=414}} The French were separated in two massive wings at this point: the forces of Ney, Lannes, and Murat to the west were containing Mack while those of Soult, Davout, Bernadotte, and GD Auguste Marmont to the east were charged with guarding against any possible Russian and Austrian incursions. On 11 October Ney made a renewed push on Ulm; the 2nd and 3rd divisions were to march to the city along the right bank of the Danube while Dupont's division, supported by one dragoon division, was to march directly for Ulm and seize the entire city. The orders were hopeless because Ney still did not know that the entire Austrian army was stationed at Ulm.

The 32nd Infantry Regiment in Dupont's division marched from Haslach towards Ulm and ran into four Austrian regiments holding Boefingen. The 32nd carried out several ferocious attacks, but the Austrians held firm and repulsed every one. The Austrians flooded the battle with more cavalry and infantry regiments to Ulm-Jungingen hoping to score a knockout blow against Ney's corps by enveloping Dupont's force. Dupont sensed what was happening and preempted the Austrians by launching a surprise attack on Jungingen, during which he took as prisoner at least 4,000 of the Austrians.{{sfn|Goetz|1964|p=57}} Renewed Austrian attacks drove these forces back to Haslach, which the French managed to hold. Dupont was eventually forced to fall back on Albeck, where he joined Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers's foot dragoons division. The effects of the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen on Napoleon's plans are not fully clear, but the Emperor may have finally ascertained that the majority of the Austrian army was concentrated at Ulm.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=417}} Accordingly, Napoleon sent the corps of Soult and Marmont towards the Iller, meaning he now had four infantry and one cavalry corps to deal with Mack; Davout, Bernadotte, and the Bavarians were still guarding the region around Munich.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=417}} Napoleon did not intend to fight a battle across rivers and ordered his marshals to capture the important bridges around Ulm. He also began shifting his forces to the north of Ulm because he expected a battle in that region rather than an encirclement of the city itself.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=420}} These dispositions and actions would lead to a confrontation at Elchingen on the 14th as Ney's forces advanced on Albeck.

At this point in the campaign, the Austrian command staff was in full confusion. Ferdinand began to openly oppose Mack's command style and decisions, charging that the latter spent his days writing contradictory orders that left the Austrian army marching back and forth.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|p=421}} On 13 October Mack sent two columns out of Ulm in preparation for a breakout to the north: one under Johann Sigismund Riesch headed towards Elchingen to secure the bridge there and the other under Franz von Werneck went north with most of the heavy artillery.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=39-40}} Ney hurried his corps forward to reestablish contact with Dupont, who was still north of the Danube. Ney led Loison's division to the south of Elchingen on the right bank of the Danube to begin the attack. Malher's division crossed the river farther east and moved west toward Riesch's position. The field was a partially wooded flood plain, rising steeply to the hill town of Elchingen, which had a wide field of view.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=40}} The French cleared the Austrian pickets from a bridge, then a regiment boldly attacked and captured the abbey at the top of the hill at bayonet point. During the Battle of Elchingen, the Austrian cavalry was also defeated and Reisch's infantry fled toward Ulm. Ney was given the title Duke of Elchingen for his impressive victory.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|p=40}}

{{main|Battle of Ulm}}

File:Murat2.jpg proved instrumental during the Ulm campaign.]]

On 13 October Soult's IV Corps fell on Memmingen from the east. After a minor clash that resulted in 16 French casualties, General-Major Karl Spangen von Uyternesse surrendered 4,600 soldiers, eight guns, and nine colors. The Austrians were low on ammunition, cut off from Ulm, and completely demoralized by the confusion reigning at army headquarters.Smith, p 204

File:Boutigny-Surrender at Ulm.jpg]]

More actions took place on the 14th. Murat's forces joined Dupont at Albeck just in time to drive off an Austrian attack from Werneck; together Murat and Dupont beat the Austrians to the north in the direction of Heidenheim. By night on the 14th, two French corps were stationed in the vicinity of the Austrian encampments at Michelsberg, right outside of Ulm.{{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 now in a dangerous situation: there was no longer any hope of escaping along the north bank, Marmont and the Imperial Guard were hovering at the outskirts of Ulm to the south of the river, and Soult was moving north from Memmingen to prevent the Austrians escaping south to the Tyrol.{{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}} Troubles continued with the Austrian command as Ferdinand overrode the objections of Mack and ordered the evacuation of all cavalry from Ulm, a total of 6,000 troopers.{{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}} Murat's pursuit was so effective, however, that only eleven squadrons joined Werneck at Heidenheim.{{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}} Murat continued his harassment of Werneck and forced him to surrender with 8,000 men at Trochtelfingen on 19 October; Murat also took an entire Austrian field park of 500 vehicles, then swept on towards Neustadt an der Donau and captured 12,000 Austrians.{{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}}{{refn|Trochtelfingen is located midway between Bopfingen and Nördlingen and is not to be confused with Trochtelfingen in Baden-Württemberg, which is farther west.}}

Events at Ulm were now reaching a conclusion. On 15 October Ney's troops successfully charged the Michelsberg encampments and on the 16th the French began to bombard Ulm itself. Austrian morale was at a low point and Mack began to realize that there was little hope of rescue. On 17 October Napoleon's emissary, Ségur, signed a convention with Mack in which the Austrians agreed to surrender on 25 October if no aid came by that date.{{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}} Gradually, however, Mack heard of the capitulations at Heidenheim and Neresheim and agreed to surrender five days before schedule on 20 October. Fifteen hundred troops from the Austrian garrison managed to escape, but the vast majority of the Austrian force marched out on 21 October and laid down their arms without incident, all with the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} drawn up in a vast semicircle observing the capitulation (see infobox picture).{{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}} The officers were permitted to leave, pending their signatures on a parole in which they agreed not to take up arms against France until they were exchanged. More than ten general officers were included in this agreement, including Mack, Johann von Klenau, Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour, Prince Liechtenstein, and Ignaz Gyulai.{{sfn|Bonaparte|1805}}{{sfn|Nafziger|2002|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dcr7Zt2FEPoC&pg=PT282 Ulm, Capitulation of. (-U-)]|p=282}}

File:La bataille d'Austerlitz. 2 decembre 1805 (François Gérard).jpg. Austria agreed to end her participation in the Third Coalition with the Treaty of Pressburg on 26 December.]]

As the Austrians were marching out of Ulm to surrender, a combined Franco-Spanish fleet was being destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar. This decisive British victory ended the naval threat from France and ensured British naval domination for the next century.

Despite this setback, the Ulm campaign had been a spectacular victory and had witnessed the elimination of an entire Austrian army at very little cost for the French; additionally, the road to the Austrian capital of Vienna was wide open and Napoleon would conquer the city a month later.{{sfn|Maude|1912|loc=[https://www.archive.org/details/ulmcampaign180500mauduoft/page/252/mode/2up Chapter IX. Conclusion]|p=252-264}} The 8th bulletin of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} described the scale of the achievement:

{{Cquote|Thirty thousand men, among them 2,000 cavalry, together with 60 guns and 40 standards have fallen into the hands of the victors....Since the beginning of the war, the total number of prisoners taken can be evaluated at 60,000, the number of standards at 80 without listing the artillery or baggage trains....Never have victories been so complete and less costly.{{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]|p=252-264}}}}

Marshal Augereau's arrival from Brest with the newly formed VII Corps gave the French one more piece of good news. In the Capitulation of Dornbirn on 13 November, Franjo Jelačić's division was cornered and forced to surrender. The Russians withdrew to the northeast after Mack's capitulation and Vienna fell on 12 November. The Allies were thoroughly defeated at the Battle of Austerlitz in December and Austria was permanently knocked out of the Third Coalition a few weeks later. The French victory highlighted the effectiveness of la manoeuvre sur les derrières, a special type of strategic envelopment first used by Napoleon in his Italian campaign in 1796.{{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}} The maneuver called for a pinning force that would occupy a broad front of the enemy line while other supporting units positioned themselves at a specific location in the enemy's flank or rear.{{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}} As the enemy became more embroiled with the pinning force, the flanking troops would attack at a critical spot and seal the victory. In the Ulm campaign, Murat's cavalry served as the pinning force that fooled the Austrians into thinking the main French attack would come from the Black Forest. As Murat lulled the Austrians towards Ulm, the main French forces crashed through Central Germany and separated Mack's army from the other theaters of the war.

File:Schlieffen Plan.jpg, emphasizing maneuver and envelopment, owed much to the Ulm campaign.]]

The Ulm campaign is considered to be one of the greatest historical examples of a strategic turning movement;{{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 }}{{cite journal |title=Napoleon Bonaparte's Peak of Military Success: Ulm and Austerlitz |first=John T. |last=Allsbrook |volume=4 |issue=9 |pages=1–2 |url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/697/napoleon-bonapartes-peak-of-military-success-ulm-and-austerlitz |journal=Inquiries Journal |publisher=Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse LLC/Northeastern University |issn=2153-5760 |archive-date=6 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006100638/http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/697/napoleon-bonapartes-peak-of-military-success-ulm-and-austerlitz |editor1-first=Dustin |editor1-last=Turin |publication-place=Boston, Massachusetts }} for instance, in his Harper Encyclopedia of Military History, Dupuy would describe it in the following terms: "Ulm 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".{{sfn|Dupuy|Dupuy|1993|p=816}}

Historians often analyze the campaign on a wide strategic level that does not include tactical confrontations, but they were common and relevant.{{sfn|Dupuy|Dupuy|1993|p=816}} The decisive victory at Ulm is also believed to be a product of the long training and preparation the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} received at the camps of Boulogne.{{sfn|Dupuy|Dupuy|1993|p=816}} The {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} carried little baggage, invaded enemy territory at harvest time and marched far faster than the Austrians had expected.{{sfn|Brooks|2000|p=108}} The campaign highlighted the utility of the Corps d'Armée system; corps went on to become the fundamental strategic building block for the major wars in the 19th and the 20th centuries.{{sfn|Brooks|2000|p=109}} A typical corps might have three infantry divisions, a light cavalry brigade for reconnaissance and reserve artillery batteries in addition to those attached to each division. Their increased size allowed them to fight without support for long periods of time, as Ney did, and their durability permitted them to spread out and subsist by requisitioning local food.{{sfn|Brooks|2000|p=108}} The French needed about an eighth of the transport used by contemporary armies, which gave them a level of mobility and flexibility unseen at that time. Invasions of southern Germany by Marlborough and Moreau covered a narrow front, but the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} invaded in 1805 on a front that was {{convert|100|mi|km|0}} wide, an action that took the Austrians by complete surprise and caused them to underestimate the gravity of the situation.{{sfn|Brooks|2000|p=109}}{{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 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 }}

The Ulm campaign is included in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.{{cite book |last1=Tolstoy |first1=Leo |title=War and Peace |date=1949 |publisher=International Collectors Library |location=Garden City}}{{rp|83}}

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Category:Conflicts in 1805

Category:War of the Third Coalition

Category:Military history of Ulm

Category:Military campaigns involving Austria

Category:Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars

Category:1805 in the Austrian Empire

Category:1805 in France

Category:1805 in Bavaria

Category:September 1805

Category:October 1805