2 December 1805
Austerlitz

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Defeat at sea a month earlier at the battle of Trafalgar is followed by Austerlitz, perhaps Napoleon's greatest victory. Persuading the Russian and Austrian armies lined up against him that his forces are weaker than they actually are, he lures his numerically superior enemies into a trap. As they push forward, committing more and more troops against an apparent weakness in the French lines, Napoleon launches a counter-offensive with troops he was holding in reserve, splits the enemy forces in two and then routs them. About 27,000 Russian and Austrian troops are killed or wounded – more than three times as many casualties as the French. The Russians pull back into Poland, and the Austrians agree to yet another peace treaty, ceding yet more territory to France.

'If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman.' Napoleon

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