After the Battle of Ulm
Although Napoleon annihilated Mike's main force, he still faced many uncertain factors if he wanted to achieve his next goal of occupying Vienna. First, his approach to the Austrian capital was blocked by Kimmeier's army. Kimmeier had 20,000 troops, and was also reinforced by 30,000 Russian troops from the famous Russian general Mikhail Kutuzov. These troops are guarding the lower reaches of the Inn River and its tributary, the Salzach River. Behind the Inn there are a series of tributaries on the right bank of the Danube, such as the Traun, Enns and Ibs. These rivers provided the Austrians with good defensive positions and were difficult to bypass. The 6,000 men of Gerardich's division had joined the Austrian army in Tyrol after fleeing south from Ulm. As the French army continued to advance eastward, its lines of communication were bound to be extended, and thus they would be exposed to enemy attacks from the south. A powerful Austrian army in Venetia, commanded by Archduke Charles, was temporarily restrained by Massena's Italian Army. The latter launched an attack on the Italian Army on the Caltillo Ridge east of Verona on October 28, 1805. During the fierce battle, both sides suffered 6,000 casualties. When Archduke Charles heard about Michael's defeat at Ulm, he immediately retreated north to rescue Vienna, but he was too late to stop Napoleon's advance.
The second Russian army, commanded by General Buchshovden, was advancing through Moravia, so Napoleon immediately decided to take action immediately and must enter Vienna before the Russian army and Archduke Charles. Moreover, another danger threatened him as Prussia's attitude became increasingly hostile. The Grande Armée began its eastward march on October 26, 1805, a week after the surrender of Ulm. The next day, Murat's cavalry corps crossed the Inn River with only slight resistance, so that Braunau Fortress, along with a large amount of supplies and ammunition stored in it, fell into the hands of the French intact. Murat was followed by Davout's Third Army, Soult's Fourth Army, and Lannes's Fifth Army. On the right, Bernadotte's I Corps entered Salzburg on October 30, 1805, and crossed the Traun on October 31, 1805 in a rearguard battle at Lambach. At this time, the weather became very cold and the ground was covered with snow. On November 2, 1805, the Russian army fought a fierce rearguard battle on the Enns River, but Kutuzov continued to retreat the next day.
On November 6, 1805, Napoleon formed a new army, the Eighth Army, commanded by Marshal Motier, including one cavalry division and two infantry divisions. The corps was ordered to cross the river to the left bank of the Danube near Linz to form a left guard. Ney's VI Corps and Marmont's II Corps had been sent to Innsbruck and Leoben to serve as right guard, while Auger Luo's Seventh Army served as rearguard on the communication line. At this point, Napoleon was prepared for all eventualities.
Seeing that Vienna was in dire straits, Kutuzov decided to cross the Danube at Moton on November 9, 1805, and retreat northeast to Moravia in order to meet the enemy who had arrived at Olo Mutz's second Russian army joined forces. After destroying the bridges over the Danube at Maudon, Kutuzov ambushed one of Motier's divisions in the Dünstein Gorge on November 11, 1805 and nearly annihilated it. He then fought a hard rearguard battle near Horanbrunn before retreating via Krems to Znojmo across the Moravian border.
At this time, the French army's advance on the right bank of the Danube was unstoppable. On November 13, 1805, Murat's vanguard arrived on the outskirts of Vienna. However, this was against Napoleon's orders, as he had already told Murat that he should cross the Danube to pursue Kutuzov. He reprimanded his brother-in-law with sharp words:
I cannot approve your marching order. You keep rushing around like a madman, and you don't even follow the orders I gave you. Instead of covering Vienna, the Russian army crossed the Danube at Krems. Neither understanding the enemy's plans nor considering my intentions, you trapped my army in a corner of Vienna. But you have received the order I gave you through Berthier, which requires you to bite the Russian army and pursue it closely. But you inexplicably carried out a forced march in the opposite direction to pursue the enemy. I find your behavior simply unbelievable.
...If you act according to my orders, then the Motier army will not be exposed to the Russian army and suffer serious losses. ...You actually delayed me for two days in order to gain the vanity of entering Vienna first. Honor can only be won in dangerous places. What honor can there be in entering a defenseless capital?
On November 14, 1805, Napoleon entered Vienna and set up his headquarters in the magnificent Schornbrunn Palace. The Austrian emperor and his courtiers fled to Brno, the capital of Moravia. A week later, the Austrian Emperor and Tsar Alexander I met here. Vienna has a population of 250,000, so the French army can get ample supplies there after a long journey. Napoleon ordered that guns and ammunition need not be brought from France, for he had already found everything he needed in the Austrian arsenal.
Napoleon decided to take advantage of the harsh winter and the fact that Archduke Charles had not yet returned from the Italian front line, and without hesitation went deep into Moravia to pursue and annihilate the fleeing enemies. Therefore, he ordered the three armies of Murat, Lannes and Soult to work together to pursue the victory. Davout was sent to Pressburg to defend against danger from the east. Bernadotte was sent to Budweis to monitor Archduke Ferdinand in the west, while Motier remained in Vienna. After the deployment of these troops, the strength of the Grand Army was significantly weakened.
Napoleon was very anxious when he saw that his marshals were lack of energy. On November 15, 1805, he rebuked Bernadotte and said:
I am sorry for your inaction when the battle between Lannes and Marshals Soult took place only two days away from Vienna, so that there was no one left. Crossing the Danube was deeply dissatisfying. I hope that when the staff officer I sent comes back to report, you will tell him that your entire army has crossed the river and that you are pursuing the Russians and stabbing their butts with bayonets.
On the same day, Murat did another very ridiculous thing that made Napoleon furious. Murat's vanguard was restrained by Prince Bagration's division, which was holding a rearguard position near Holabrun, fifteen miles south of the Moravian border. Murat cleverly proposed to the Russian commander The truce allowed him to retreat unharmed into Moravia, while he waited for the arrival of the French infantry. Of course, the Russian army was reluctant to agree and withdrew to Znaim. This incident made Napoleon furious. He scolded Murat and said: I simply don't know how to express my anger towards you. You are only one of my vanguard commanders. You have no right to make truce arrangements without my orders. You have ruined the fruits of my victory. You are ordered to cease the truce immediately and march towards the enemy. Tell the Russian general who signed the agreement that he had no authority to do so and that only the Tsar had such authority.
Since then, the situation has accelerated and Kutuzov has withdrawn to Brno. On November 17, 1805, Napoleon set up his base camp in Znam. The next day, he received news about the French army's disastrous defeat in the Battle of Trafalgar. He wrote to the Minister of the Navy:
I have received your report on the battle off the port of Cadiz. I will make specific comments on this matter after receiving your more detailed report. At the same time, I solemnly tell you that this incident will have no impact on my planned maritime raid. It is infuriating that these actions were not prepared in advance of this incident and must be taken immediately without further delay.
On November 19, 1805, the Russian rearguard withdrew from Brno, and Murat immediately entered, where he found sixty artillery pieces and a large amount of ammunition. The next day, Napoleon entered Brno, while the Austrian Emperor withdrew to Olmotz. Thirteen miles east of Brno, there is a small village called Austerlitz. About four thousand Austrian cavalry blocked Murat's path on the high ground in front of the village. Immediately afterwards, Napoleon began to demonstrate his unparalleled military ability as the supreme military commander, that is, at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805.
The Austrian Emperor was now forced to the farthest border. He sent two plenipotentiary envoys to meet with Napoleon to discuss the terms of peace. Napoleon sent them to Vienna, asking them to negotiate with Talleyrand, and stated that the main condition was to annex Venice to the Kingdom of Italy. Sending these envoys back to Vienna was just a deliberate delaying maneuver by Napoleon, who was determined to completely defeat the Russian army before negotiating peace with Austria.