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126-415: [REDACTED] Archduke Ferdinand The Ulm campaign was a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition . It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm . The French Grande Armée , led by Napoleon , had 210,000 troops organized into seven corps and hoped to knock out

252-472: A Général de Division and likewise capable of independent actions. The Imperial Guard ( Garde impériale ) was one of the most elite military forces of its time, and grew out of the Consular Guard ( Garde consulaire ). It formed a single Corps d'Armée with infantry, cavalry and artillery units like other corps, but with unique identities and uniforms. Napoleon also wanted it to be an example for

378-608: 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. Gradually, however, Mack heard of

504-515: A flurry of diplomatic activity to form a new coalition against France. 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. Having been defeated twice in recent memory by France and keen on revenge, Austria also joined the coalition a few months later. Prior to the formation of

630-438: A line infantry battalion had four companies of fusiliers, one company of grenadiers, and one company of voltigeurs. According to the 1808 regulation, the staff of each company and the regiment HQ was the following: In total, there were supposed to be 3,970 men in a regiment (840 in each four main battalions, and 560 in the rear battalion), among them 108 officers and 3,862 noncommissioned officers and privates. Grenadiers were

756-567: A month in Moscow but was ultimately forced to march back westward. Cold, starvation, and disease, as well as constant harassment by Cossacks and Russian partisans, resulted in the Grande Armée 's utter destruction as a fighting force. Only 120,000 men survived to leave Russia (excluding early deserters); of these, 50,000 were Austrians, Prussians, and other Germans, 20,000 were Poles, and just 35,000 were French. As many as 380,000 died in

882-399: 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 . As the Austrians were marching out of Ulm to surrender, a combined Franco-Spanish fleet was being destroyed at

1008-748: A possible British invasion. Murat and Bertrand conducted reconnaissance between the area bordering the Tyrol and the Main as Savary , chief of the planning staff, drew up detailed road surveys of the areas between the Rhine and the Danube. The left wing of the Grande Armée would move from Hanover in northern Germany and Utrecht in the Netherland to fall on Württemberg ; the right and center, troops from

1134-487: A reasonable opportunity at saving the bulk of his forces. 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. On 5 October Napoleon ordered Ney to join Lannes , Soult , and Murat in concentrating and crossing the Danube at Donauwörth . The French encirclement, however,

1260-694: 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. 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

1386-574: A specific task. The first modern use of a General Staff was in the French Revolutionary Wars , when General Louis-Alexandre Berthier (later Marshal) was assigned as Chief of Staff to the Army of Italy in 1795. Berthier was able to establish a well-organised staff support team. Napoleon took over the army the following year and quickly came to appreciate Berthier's system, adopting it for his own headquarters, although Napoleon's usage

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1512-593: A total of 1,136 men, but this was severely reduced during the Russian campaign, and only 350 officers and men remained in its ranks by 1813. With Napoleon's first abdication, an ensign and 21 marines accompanied him to Elba, and returned with him for the Hundred Days campaign when their strength was increased to an equipage of 150 officers and men. The marines were distinct in several ways from other Grande Armée units in that naval rather than army ranks were used,

1638-419: A total of 6,000 troopers. Murat's pursuit was so effective, however, that only eleven squadrons joined Werneck at Heidenheim. Murat continued his harassment of Werneck and forced him to surrender with 8,000 men at Treuchtlingen 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. Events at Ulm were now reaching

1764-584: A total strength of 685,000 men were made up of: • 410,000 from the French Empire (present-day France, Italy, the Low Countries, and several German states) • 95,000 Poles • 35,000 Austrians • 30,000 Italians • 24,000 Bavarians • 20,000 Saxons • 20,000 Prussians • 17,000 Westphalians • 15,000 Swiss • 10,000 Danes and Norwegians • 4,000 Spaniards • 4,000 Portuguese • 3,500 Croats • 2,000 Irish The new Grande Armée

1890-502: A whole corps of cavalry to influence the battle. 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. General 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

2016-569: Is France herself we must now defend", were Napoleon's words to the Senate at the end of 1813. The emperor managed to raise new armies, but strategically he was in a virtually hopeless position. Allied armies were invading from the Pyrenees , across the plains of Northern Italy, and via France's eastern borders as well. The campaign began ominously when Napoleon suffered a defeat at the Battle of La Rothière , but he quickly regained his former spirit. In

2142-783: Is included in Leo Tolstoy 's novel War and Peace . Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este Ferdinand was born at Milan . He attended the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt before embarking on a military career. In 1805 in the War of the Third Coalition against France , Ferdinand was commander-in-chief of the Austrian forces with General Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich as his quartermaster general . In October his army

2268-573: The Grande Armée had grown to a force of 350,000, was equipped and trained. It possessed a competent officer class where almost all from sergeants to marshals had experience in the recent Revolutionary Wars. 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

2394-772: The Army of the Rhine into four corps. These were only temporary groupings, however, and it was not until 1804 that Napoleon made them permanent units. He would sometimes form the cavalry into separate corps, so they would be able to move and mass more quickly without being slowed by the infantry or foot artillery. The main tactical units of the corps were the divisions , usually consisting of 4,000 to 10,000 infantry or 2,000 to 4,000 cavalrymen. These in turn were made up of two or three brigades of two regiments apiece and supported by an artillery brigade of three or four batteries , each with six field cannons and two howitzers , making 24 to 32 guns in all. The divisions were also permanent administrative and operational units, commanded by

2520-401: The Army of the Rhine , which in 1809 was reorganized into the Army of Germany . With the exception of Spain, a three-year lull ensued. Diplomatic tensions with Russia, however, became so acute that they eventually led to war in 1812. Napoleon assembled the largest field army he had ever commanded to deal with this menace. On 24 June 1812, shortly before the invasion, the assembled troops with

2646-613: The Battle of Austerlitz . In 1809 in the War of the Fifth Coalition against France, Ferdinand commanded an Austrian army of 36,000 men. In April he invaded the Duchy of Warsaw hoping to encourage a local uprising against Napoleon (see Polish–Austrian War ). But the Poles rallied to Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski . Ferdinand was victorious at the Battle of Raszyn , Which managed to recapture Warsaw . In June, however, Ferdinand

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2772-593: The Battle of Laon and the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube dampened moods. At the end of March, Paris fell to the Allies . Napoleon wanted to keep fighting, but his marshals refused, forcing him to abdicate on 6 April 1814. After returning from exile on Elba in February 1815, Napoleon busied himself in making a renewed push to secure his empire. For the first time since 1812, the Army of the North he would be commanding for

2898-471: 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

3024-768: The Black Forest . 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

3150-844: The Division de Marine at the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, Dresden, and won high praise at the Battle of Leipzig. The Marine Guard units were disbanded in 1815. In 1804, the Cavalry of the Guard consisted of two regiments, the Chasseurs à Cheval and the Grenadiers à Cheval , along with a small unit of elite Gendarmes and a squadron of Mamelukes . A third regiment was added in 1806, the Regiment de Dragons de la Garde Impériale (Later known as

3276-591: The Dragons de l'Imperatice , the Empress Dragoons). Following the campaign in Poland in 1807, a regiment of Polish lancers , the Regiment de Chevau-Légers de la Garde Impériale Polonais was added. The final addition was made in 1810, with another regiment of lancers, this time drawn from French and Dutch recruits, the 2e Regiment de Chevau-Légers Lanciers de la Garde Impériale or Red Lancers. The Cavalry of

3402-499: The Grande Armée had been lost during the summer. The French were harassed repeatedly by the converging Russian armies, Marshal Michel Ney even conducting a rearguard separation between his troops and the Russians, and by the time the Berezina was reached Napoleon only had about 49,000 troops and 40,000 stragglers of little military value. The resulting battle and the monumental work of General Jean Baptiste Eblé 's engineers saved

3528-658: The Grande Armée throughout the entire campaign. Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy 's delayed advance against the Prussians allowed Blücher to rally his men after Ligny and march on to Wellington's aid at the Battle of Waterloo , which resulted in the final, decisive defeat for Napoleon. Prior to the late 18th century, there was generally no organisational support for staff functions such as military intelligence , logistics , planning or personnel. Unit commanders handled such functions for their units, with informal help from subordinates who were usually not trained for or assigned to

3654-592: The Grande Armée were divided into the Bataillon des Marins de la Garde Impériale , also known eventually as the Matelots de la Garde , formed on 17 September 1803, and Matelots des Bataillons de la Marine Impériale of which some 32,000 served with the French Navy at its height of expansion by Napoleon. Units of the latter were created for service on land by conscripting naval personnel surplus to requirement of

3780-468: 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 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

3906-609: The Imperial Guard ; in 1809, while retaining their military status, they were taken under control of the Grand Écuyer in the Emperor's Civil Household. The decrees regulating their service were signed on 15, 19 and 24 September 1806 and finally on 19 September 1809. Alongside the Emperor's Military Household but functioning as a totally independent organisation was the Grand État-Major Général (Army General Headquarters). Since

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4032-506: The Peninsular War . Napoleon opened a second war front as the Grande Armée marched slowly east, and the Russians fell back with its approach. After the capture of Smolensk and victory at Borodino , the French reached Moscow on 14 September 1812. However, the army was already drastically reduced by skirmishes with the Russians, disease (principally typhus ), desertion , heat, exhaustion, and long communication lines. The army spent

4158-459: The Polish and Austrian corps, soldiers could climb the ranks regardless of class, wealth, or national origin, unlike many of the other European armies at the time. Upon its formation, the Grande Armée consisted of six corps under the command of Napoleon's marshals and senior generals. When the Austrian and Russian armies began their preparations to invade France in late 1805, the Grande Armée

4284-460: The Six Days' Campaign of February 1814, the 30,000-man Grande Armée inflicted 20,000 casualties on Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher 's scattered corps at a cost of just 2,000 for themselves. They then headed south and defeated Field Marshal Karl von Schwarzenberg 's corps at the Battle of Montereau . These victories, however, could not remedy such the situation, and French defeats at

4410-467: The Third Coalition was formed against France and the Grande Armée turned its sights eastwards in 1805. The army left Boulogne in late August and through rapid marches, surrounded General Karl von Mack 's isolated Austrian Army at the fortress of Ulm . The Ulm campaign , as it came to be known, resulted in 60,000 Austrian prisoners at the cost of just 2,000 French soldiers. By November, Vienna

4536-694: The Treaty of Pressburg on 26 December 1805, with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire the following year. The alarming increase of French power in Central Europe disturbed Prussia , which had remained neutral the previous year. After much diplomatic wrangling, Prussia secured promises of Russian military aid and the Fourth Coalition against France came into being in 1806. The Grande Armée advanced into Prussian territory with

4662-514: The invasion of Russia in 1812, after which it never recovered its strategic superiority and ended in total defeat for Napoleonic France by the Peace of Paris in 1815. The Grande Armée was formed in 1804 from L'Armée des côtes de l'Océan (The Army of the Ocean Coasts), a force of over 100,000 men that Napoleon had assembled for the proposed invasion of Britain . Napoleon later deployed

4788-424: The shield line of its formation. During a campaign, grenadier companies could be detached to form a grenadier battalion or occasionally a regiment or brigade . These formations would then be used as a shock force or the vanguard for a larger formation. Voltigeurs (literally, Vaulters or Leapers ) were elite light infantry of the line regiments. In 1805, Napoleon ordered that the smallest, most agile men of

4914-622: The Allies, his strategic situation grew bleak. The campaign reopened in August with a significant French victory at the two-day Battle of Dresden . However, the adoption of the Trachenberg Plan by the Allies, which called for avoiding direct conflict with Napoleon and focusing on his subordinates, paid dividends as the French suffered defeats at Großbeeren , the Katzbach , Kulm , and Dennewitz . Growing Allied numbers eventually hemmed

5040-477: The Austrian armed forces. Charles was Austria's most able field commander, but he was unpopular with the royal court and lost much influence when, against his advice, Austria decided to go to war with France. Karl 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

5166-570: The Austrian army in the Danube before Russian reinforcements could arrive. Rapid marching let Napoleon conduct a large wheeling maneuver, which captured an Austrian army of 60,000 under General Mack on 20 October at Ulm. The campaign is by some military historians regarded as a strategic masterpiece and was influential in the development of the Schlieffen Plan in the late 19th century. Napoleon himself wrote: The victory at Ulm did not end

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5292-463: 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. 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

5418-400: 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. The Battle of Wertingen had been an easy French victory. The action at Wertingen convinced Mack to operate on the left (north) bank of the Danube instead of making a direct eastwards retreat on

5544-668: The Austrians had expected. 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. 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. The French needed about an eighth of

5670-587: The Channel coast, would concentrate along the Middle Rhine around cities like Mannheim and Strasbourg . 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. On 22 September Mack decided to hold

5796-607: The Emperor ) was Napoleon's personal military staff and included the department of aides-de-camp (ADCs), orderly officers (until 1809), the Emperor's Cabinet with the Secretariat, a department that collected intelligence about the enemy using spies and the topographical department. Attached was also the Emperor's Civil Cabinet that included the office of the Grand Marshal of the Palace and the Grand Écuyer . The ADCs to

5922-540: The Emperor may have finally ascertained that the majority of the Austrian army was concentrated at Ulm. 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. Napoleon did not intend to fight a battle across rivers and ordered his marshals to capture

6048-601: The French Imperial Army. For a history of the French Army in the period of 1792–1804 during the wars of the First and Second Coalitions see French Revolutionary Army . The Grande Armée was originally formed as L'Armée des côtes de l'Océan (Army of the Ocean Coasts) intended for the invasion of Britain, at the port of Boulogne in 1804. Following Napoleon's coronation as Emperor of the French in 1804,

6174-527: The French in at Leipzig, where the three-day Battle of the Nations witnessed a heavy loss for Napoleon when a bridge was prematurely destroyed, abandoning 30,000 French soldiers on the other side of the Elster River . The campaign, however, did end on a victorious note when the French destroyed an isolated Bavarian corps which was trying to block their retreat at Hanau . "The Grand Empire is no more. It

6300-414: The French originally thought. 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. 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 Auguste Marmont to

6426-532: The Guard , but more accurately Marines of the Guard) were organised into five equipages (ship's company), each with five escouades , with a total strength of 737 men, the unit having been created ostensibly for preparation of the invasion of Britain. The unit was almost entirely destroyed in the Spanish campaign of 1808 at Bailén , but was rebuilt, and in 1810 the battalion was expanded to eight equipages with

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6552-524: The Guard was involved in combat numerous times, and with few exceptions proved its worth in action. The scouts had only the time to distinguish themselves during the defence of France in 1814 and were dissolved by King Louis XVIII upon the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. While the infantry was perhaps not the most glamorous arm of service in the Grande Armée, they bore the brunt of most of

6678-599: The Infantry of the Line was the battalion . A line infantry battalion was numbered at about 840 men; however, this was the battalion's 'full strength' and few units ever reached this. A more typical strength for a battalion would be 400–600 men. From 1800 to 1803, a line infantry battalion had eight fusilier companies and one grenadier company. From 1804 to 1807, a line infantry battalion had seven fusilier companies, one grenadier company, and one voltigeur company. From 1808 to 1815,

6804-417: 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. 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. As

6930-419: The Third Coalition to an end and established Napoleonic France as the major power in Central Europe, which led to the War of the Fourth Coalition against Prussia and Russia the following year. 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

7056-485: 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. The men at Boulogne formed

7182-431: The army in Central Europe to eliminate the combined threat of Austria and Russia , which were part of the Third Coalition formed against France. Thereafter, the Grande Armée was the principal military force deployed in the campaigns of 1806/7 , the French invasion of Spain , and in the War of the Fifth Coalition , where the French army slowly lost a large portion of its veteran soldiers, strength and prestige, and in

7308-412: 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. 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. In both

7434-561: The bridges at Günzburg would yield a large strategic advantage. 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. For reasons not entirely clear, on 7 October Mack ordered Franz Xaver von Auffenberg to take his division of 5,000 infantry and 400 cavalry from Günzburg to Wertingen in preparation for

7560-432: The campaign with a series of victories at Lützen and Bautzen . But due to the poor quality of French troops and cavalry following the Russian campaign, along with miscalculations by certain subordinate marshals, these triumphs were not decisive enough to win the war and only secured an armistice. Napoleon hoped to use this respite to increase the quantity and improve the quality of the Grande Armée , but when Austria joined

7686-399: The campaign. Napoleon led a new army during the campaign in Germany in 1813, the defense of France in 1814, and the Waterloo campaign in 1815, but the Grande Armée would never regain its height of June 1812, and France would find itself invaded on multiple fronts from the Spanish border to the German border. In total, from 1805 to 1813, over 2.1 million Frenchmen were conscripted into

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7812-437: 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

7938-415: 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

8064-471: 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 Grande Armée drawn up in a vast semicircle observing the capitulation (see infobox picture). The officers were permitted to leave, pending their signatures on

8190-518: The city a month later. The 8th bulletin of the Grande Armée described the scale of the achievement: 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. Marshal Augereau 's arrival from Brest with

8316-415: The city was virtually impregnable from outside attack. 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. The Austrians based an army of 72,000 men on Ulm. Nominally commanded by Archduke Ferdinand ,

8442-430: The conflicts of 1812 , 1813–14 , and 1815 . In practice, however, the term Grande Armée is used in English to refer to all the multinational forces gathered by Napoleon in his campaigns. In addition to its size and multinational composition, the Grande Armée was known in history for its innovative formations, tactics, logistics, and communications. While most contingents were commanded by French generals, except for

8568-414: The confusion reigning at army headquarters. 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. Mack

8694-557: The core for what Napoleon would later call " 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. 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. By 1805,

8820-429: 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

8946-509: The earliest collaboration of Napoleon and Berthier, its organisation was more or less fixed and it would see only slight changes during the later campaigns of the empire. The Army General Headquarters included the office of the Major-Général ' s (Chief of Staff's) Cabinet with their four departments: Movements, Secretariat, Accounting and Intelligence (orders of battle). The Major-Général also had his own private Military Staff which included duty Generals and Staff aides-de-camp. Finally there

9072-400: 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

9198-449: The elite of the line infantry and the veteran shock troops of the Grande Armée . Newly formed battalions did not have a grenadier company; rather, Napoleon ordered that after two campaigns, several of the strongest, bravest, and tallest fusiliers were to be promoted to a grenadier company, so each line battalion which had seen more than two campaigns had one company of grenadiers. Regulations required that grenadier recruits were to be

9324-411: The emperor were mainly loyal, experienced generals or, at times, other senior officers whom he knew from his Italian or Egyptian campaigns. All were known for their bravery and were experts in their own branches of service. Working directly under the supervision of the emperor, these officers were sometimes assigned to temporary command of units or formations or entrusted with diplomatic missions. Most of

9450-420: 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

9576-534: 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

9702-520: The entire army to follow, and a force that, since it had fought with him over several campaigns, was completely loyal. Although the infantry was rarely committed en masse, the Guard's cavalry was often thrown into battle as the killing blow and its artillery used to pound enemies prior to assaults. There were three sections: The four regiments of marines of the Ancien Régime disappeared on 28 January 1794. The Marins (French spelling) of

9828-424: The famed bataillon-carré (battalion square) system, whereby corps marched in close supporting distances and became vanguards, rearguards, or flank forces as the situation demanded, and decisively defeated the Prussians at Jena and Auerstedt , both fought on 14 October 1806. After a legendary pursuit, the French took 140,000 prisoners and killed and wounded roughly 25,000. Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout 's III Corps ,

9954-493: The fighting, and their performance resulted in victory or defeat. The infantry was divided up into two major types, the Infantry of the Line ( Infanterie de Ligne ) and the Light Infantry ( Infanterie Légère ). The line infantry made up the majority of the Grande Armée . In 1803, Napoleon had reinstated the term "regiment", the revolutionary term " demi-brigade " (due to the fact there were two per brigade and it lacked

10080-427: The fires while hunting down arsonists and guarding the city's historic districts. Napoleon and his army spent over a month in Moscow, vainly hoping that the Russian emperor would respond to the French peace offers. After these efforts failed, the French set out on October 19, now only a shadow of their former selves. The epic retreat over the Russian winter dominates popular conceptions of the war, even though over half of

10206-415: The forces and support services discussed below. While capable of fully independent operations and of defending themselves until reinforced, the corps usually worked in close concert together and kept within a day's marching distance of one another. The corps would often follow separate routes on a wide front and were small enough to live by foraging, allowing fewer supplies to be carried. Through dispersion and

10332-467: 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. 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

10458-441: The latter spent his days writing contradictory orders that left the Austrian army marching back and forth. 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. Ney hurried his corps forward to reestablish contact with Dupont, who

10584-541: The line battalions be chosen to form a voltigeur company. These troops were to be second only to the grenadiers in the battalion hierarchy. Their name comes from their original mission; Voltigeurs were to vault upon horses of friendly cavalry for faster movement, an idea which proved impractical if not outright impossible. Despite this, the voltigeurs did perform a valuable task, skirmishing and providing scouts for each battalion, as well as providing an organic light infantry component for each line regiment. In training, emphasis

10710-478: The main Austrian advance out of Ulm. 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 – Louis Klein 's 1st Dragoon Division, Marc Antoine de Beaumont's 3rd Dragoon Division, and Nansouty's 1st Cuirassier Division. They began to assault the Austrian positions and were soon joined by Nicolas Oudinot 's grenadiers, who were hoping to outflank

10836-530: The most brilliant year of Napoleon's career. His army had been trained to perfection; his plans were faultless". Historians often analyze the campaign on a wide strategic level that does not include tactical confrontations, but they were common and relevant. The decisive victory at Ulm is also believed to be a product of the long training and preparation the Grande Armée received at the camps of Boulogne. The Grande Armée carried little baggage, invaded enemy territory at harvest time and marched far faster than

10962-503: The most important ones and transmit them to the emperor; nothing was to be concealed from Napoleon. Lest one think this was as safe a job as modern staff officers, a contemporary subordinate staff officer, Brossier, reports that at the Battle of Marengo : "The General-in-Chief Berthier gave his orders with the precision of a consummate warrior, and at Marengo maintained the reputation that he so rightly acquired in Italy and in Egypt under

11088-613: The navy. There was also the marine artillery, which were mostly naval gunners used for coastal batteries and fortresses called bataillons de la Matelot du Haut-Bord (or Les Equipages de Haut-Bord – marines of the High Shore) created by decree of Napoleon on 1 April 1808. The flag of the 1er Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine survives today, and lists Lützen 1813 as one of its battle honours. Some 63 artillery batteries were manned (some numbers remaining vacant). Some examples include: The Marins de la Garde (transliterated as Sailors of

11214-521: 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

11340-470: The number of orderly officers, half the number of the petits aides de camp (two or three personal ADCs to the general ADCs, who might also be commanded directly by the emperor) and half the number of pages. Their number differed from time to time, but only 37 officers were ever commissioned ADC to the emperor and at normal times their number was restricted to 12. Each of these officers wore the normal general's uniform of his rank, but with gold aiguillettes as

11466-509: 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. 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

11592-558: The orders of Bonaparte. He himself was hit by a bullet in the arm. Two of his aides-de-camp, Dutaillis and La Borde, had their horses killed." One of the most important factors in the Grande Armée ' s success was its superior and highly flexible organisation. It was subdivided into several corps (usually from five to seven), each numbering anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000, with the average size being around 20,000 to 30,000 troops. These Corps d'Armée were self-contained, smaller armies of combined arms , consisting of elements from all

11718-532: The orders that he had just given. Since the emperor was his own " operations officer ", it can be said that Berthier's job consisted of absorbing Napoleon's strategic intentions, translating them into written orders and transmitting them with the utmost speed and clarity. He also received in the emperor's name the reports of the marshals and commanding generals and when necessary signed them on Napoleon's behalf. Detailed reports on everything that occurred for good or ill were to be sent to Berthier, who would in turn select

11844-428: The other theaters of the war. The Ulm campaign is considered to be one of the greatest historical examples of a strategic turning movement ; 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

11970-510: The remnants of the Grande Armée . Napoleon left his men in order to reach Paris and address new military and political matters. Of the 685,000 men that constituted the initial invasion force, only 93,000 survived. The catastrophe in Russia now emboldened anti-French sentiments throughout Europe. The Sixth Coalition was formed and Germany became the centrepiece of the upcoming campaign. With customary genius, Napoleon raised new armies and opened up

12096-400: The respect due to their function. On 29 April 1809, a decree organised their service. Every morning at 0700, the duty ADC and his staff were relieved and the new ADC for the next 24 hours had to present the emperor with a list of names of the staff under his command. This would consist of two supplementary daytime general ADCs and one night ADC, one equerry and (through a rotation system) half

12222-912: The right bank. This would require the Austrian army to cross to the north at Günzburg. On 8 October Ney was operating under Louis Alexandre Berthier 's directions that called for a direct attack on Ulm the following day. Ney sent in 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. The Austrians noticed these developments and reinforced their positions around Günzburg with three infantry battalions and 20 cannons. Malher's division conducted several heroic attacks against

12348-535: The royal connotations) was now only used for provisional troops and depot units. At the time of the formation of the Grande Armée , the French Army had 133 Régiments de Ligne , a number which roughly corresponded with the number of départements in France. There would eventually be 156 Ligne regiments. The Régiments de Ligne varied in size throughout the Napoleonic Wars, but the basic building block of

12474-561: The spring and this time General Levin August von Bennigsen 's Russian army was soundly defeated at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807. This victory brought about the Treaties of Tilsit between France, Russia, and Prussia in July, leaving Napoleon with no enemies on the continent. The Grande Armée was dissolved in October 1808 and its constituents formed into the Army of Spain and

12600-427: The standard Charleville model 1777 and bayonet, grenadiers were also equipped with a short sabre . This was to be used for close combat , but most often ended up serving as a tool to cut wood for campfires. A grenadier company would usually be situated on the right side of a formation , traditionally the place of greatest honour since the days of hoplite warfare in which a corps' right flank had less protection from

12726-599: The symbol of his function. The appointment of ADC to the emperor did not always last as long as the emperor's reign; an ADC might be given another position such as a field command, a governorship, etc. and would be removed from his ADC status until recalled to that post. The officiers d'ordonnance (orderly officers) may be considered as junior ADCs, with the rank of chef d'escadron , captain or lieutenant . They, too, were used for special missions such as reconnaissance and inspections, but also to carry written orders. In 1806, when these posts were created, they were members of

12852-405: The tallest, most fearsome men in the regiments, and all were to have moustaches . To add to this, grenadiers were initially equipped with a bonnet à poil or bearskin, as well as red epaulettes on their coat. After 1807, regulations stipulated that line grenadiers were to replace their bearskin with a shako lined red with a red plume; however, many chose to retain their bearskins. In addition to

12978-406: The time, however, their tasks consisted of making detailed inspection tours and long-distance reconnaissances. When they had to carry orders from the emperor to an army commander, these would be verbal rather than written. The appointment of ADC to the emperor was so influential that they were considered to be "Napoleon's eyes and ears" and even marshals were wise to follow their advice and render them

13104-428: 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 Grande Armée invaded in 1805 on a front that was 100 miles (161 km) wide, an action that took the Austrians by complete surprise and caused them to underestimate the gravity of the situation. The Ulm campaign

13230-565: The uniform was based on that of those of the hussars , and it was the only unit of the Grande Armée in which the musicians used both the drums and the trumpets . The battalions of marine artillery were conscripted for the 1813 German Campaign, and included four regiments with the 1st regiment intended to have 8 battalions, 2nd regiment with 10 battalions, and the 3rd and 4th regiments with four battalions each, totalling 9,640 men in all serving with Marshal Auguste de Marmont 's VI Corps . Combined with sailor battalions, these fought as part of

13356-578: The upcoming campaign was professional and competent. Napoleon hoped to catch and defeat the Allied armies under the Duke of Wellington and Blücher in Belgium before the Russians and Austrians could arrive. The campaign, beginning on 15 June 1815, was initially successful, leading to victory over the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny on 16 June; however, poor staff work, and bad commanders led to many problems for

13482-705: The use of forced marches the Grande Armée was often able to surprise opposing armies by its speed of manoeuver. A corps, depending on its size and the importance of its mission, was commanded by a marshal or Général de Division (major general). Napoleon placed great trust in his corps commanders and usually allowed them a wide freedom of action, provided they acted within the outlines of his strategic objectives and worked together to accomplish them. When they failed to do this to his satisfaction, however, he would not hesitate to reprimand or relieve them and in many cases took personal command of their corps himself. Corps were first formed in 1800, when General Jean Moreau divided

13608-526: The victors at Auerstedt, received the honours of marching into Berlin first. Once more, the French had defeated an enemy before its allies could arrive, and once more, this did not bring peace. Napoleon now turned his attentions to Poland, where the remaining Prussian armies were linking up with their Russian allies. A difficult winter campaign produced nothing but a stalemate, made worse by the Battle of Eylau on 7–8 February 1807, where Russian and French casualties soared for little gain. The campaign resumed in

13734-474: The war since a large Russian army under Kutuzov was near Vienna to defend the city against the French. The Russians withdrew to the northeast to await reinforcements and to link up with Austrian army units. The French moved aggressively forward and captured Vienna on 12 November. On 2 December, a massive battle at Austerlitz , causing around 24,000 - 36,000 casualties, removed Austria from the war. The resulting Peace treaty of Pressburg in late December brought

13860-588: Was surrounded at Ulm . General Mack surrendered, but Ferdinand managed to escape with 2000 cavalry to Bohemia . There he took command of the Austrian troops and raised the local militia. With a total of 9,000 men he set out for Iglau to distract attention from the Coalition's movements. He succeeded in holding the Bavarian division of Prince Karl Philipp von Wrede in Iglau thereby and preventing it from joining

13986-544: Was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta , as the treaty had promised. The tense situation only worsened since Napoleon sent an expeditionary force to crush the Haitian Revolution . In May 1803, Britain declared war on France. 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

14112-431: Was being fought, Ney sent 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

14238-462: Was characterized by many frustrations, as the Russians succeeded no less than three times in evading Napoleon's pincers. A final stand for the defence of Moscow led to the massive Battle of Borodino on 7 September 1812. There the Grande Armée won a bloody but indecisive and arguably pyrrhic victory . A week after the battle, the Grande Armée finally entered Moscow only to find the city largely empty and ablaze. Its soldiers were now forced to deal with

14364-1043: Was compelled to withdraw from Warsaw, and to give up Kraków and Galicia as well. In 1815 in the War of the Seventh Coalition against France, Ferdinand commanded two divisions of the Austrian Reserve. The following year he was appointed military commander in Hungary. In 1830 Ferdinand was appointed military and civil governor of Galicia, taking up residence in Lemberg . After the Revolution of 1848 he lived mostly in Italy. Ferdinand never married. In 1850 he died at Schloss Ebenzweier in Altmünster near Gmunden , Austria. La Grande Arm%C3%A9e The Grande Armée ( pronounced [ɡʁɑ̃d aʁme] ; French for ' Great Army ')

14490-469: 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 . 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. Britain resented having to turn over all colonial conquests since 1793, and France

14616-464: 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. 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

14742-472: Was heading towards Ulm. 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

14868-670: Was limited to his own command group. The Staff of the Grande Armée was known as the Imperial Headquarters and was divided into two major sections: Napoleon's Military Household and the Army General Headquarters. A third department dependent on the Imperial Headquarters was the office of the Intendant Général (Quartermaster General), providing the administrative staff of the army. The Maison Militaire de l'Empereur ( Military Household of

14994-553: 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 incited Kienmayer to exercise caution and evasion. 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. Realizing

15120-432: 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. Troubles continued with the Austrian command as Ferdinand overrode the objections of Mack and ordered the evacuation of all cavalry from Ulm,

15246-638: Was quickly ordered across the Rhine into southern Germany, leading to Napoleon's victories at Ulm and Austerlitz . The French Army grew as Napoleon seized power across Europe, recruiting troops from occupied and allied nations; it reached its peak of one million men at the start of the Russian campaign in 1812, with the Grande Armée reaching its height of 413,000 French soldiers and over 600,000 men overall when including foreign recruits. In summer of 1812, as large of an amount as 300,000 French troops fought in

15372-469: Was somewhat different from before; over one-third of its ranks were now filled by non-French conscripts coming from satellite states or countries allied to France. The behemoth force crossed the Niemen River on 24 June 1812, and Napoleon hoped that quick marching could place his men between the two main Russian armies, commanded by Generals Barclay de Tolly and Pyotr Bagration . However, the campaign

15498-409: 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. The French cleared the Austrian pickets from a bridge, then

15624-411: Was taken but Austria refused to capitulate, maintaining an army in the field. In addition, its ally Russia had yet to commit to action. The war would continue for a while longer. Affairs were decisively settled on 2 December 1805 at the Battle of Austerlitz , where the numerically inferior Grande Armée routed a combined Russo-Austrian army led by Russian Emperor Alexander I . The stunning victory led to

15750-637: Was the main military component of the French Imperial Army commanded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars . From 1804 to 1808, it won a series of military victories that allowed the French Empire to exercise unprecedented control over most of Europe. Widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest fighting forces ever assembled, it suffered catastophic losses during the disastrous Peninsular War followed by

15876-693: Was the Army General Staff with the offices of the three Assistant Major-Generals to the Major-Général . The role of Chief of Staff in the Grande Armée became almost synonymous with Berthier, who occupied this position in almost all the major campaigns of Napoleon. The General Headquarters was Berthier's unique domain and the emperor respected this demarcation. Its personnel received orders only from Berthier and even Napoleon did not interfere in its immense tasks; he would never walk in on Berthier's private staff while they were writing and copying

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