Revolutionary Europe, 1789-1815

by H. Morse Stephens

Battle of Trafalgar. 21st Oct. 1805.

Napoleon, despairing of success in his projected invasion of England, resolved to turn promptly upon England’s principal ally, and directed the Grand Army to break up from Boulogne and enter Germany. Mack regarded it as certain that the French, as in the campaigns of Moreau, would advance through the Black Forest. Napoleon encouraged his illusion by showing him a few French troops in that quarter. Meanwhile, the Grand Army advanced in two portions through Würtemburg and Franconia, and, on reaching the Danube, after violating the Prussian neutrality by marching through Anspach, cut off Mack’s retreat on Vienna. The Austrian general made an effort to break through the French army, but he was defeated by Ney at Elchingen, and surrendered on the 20th of October 1805 with 33,000 men. The capitulation of Ulm did more than deprive Austria of a serviceable army,—it left open the road to Vienna. Napoleon rapidly followed up his success. He marched past a united Russian and Austrian army, which was quartered in Moravia, to influence Prussia, occupied Vienna, crossed the Danube, and eventually faced the army of the two emperors at Austerlitz. On the 2d of December 1805, the anniversary of his coronation, the Grand Army utterly defeated the Austrians and Russians. The allies lost 15,000 men killed and wounded, 20,000 prisoners, and 189 guns; and the Emperor Francis found himself defenceless, for his only other army, that in Italy, had been defeated at Caldiero by Eugène de Beauharnais and Masséna on the 30th of October. While the rapid campaign of Austerlitz,—perhaps the most glorious of Napoleon’s military career,—was taking place, he lost the navy which he had prepared with so much care, and which had been intended to cover his invasion of England. The French admiral, Villeneuve, left Cadiz at the head of the united French and Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty-three ships of the line and five frigates. He had not gone far when he was met by Nelson at the head of the English squadron of twenty-seven ships off Cape Trafalgar. The victory of Trafalgar, which was won on the 21st of October, was as complete as that of Austerlitz. The French and Spanish fleet was as entirely destroyed as the Austrian and Russian army. The allies at Trafalgar lost 7000 men in killed and wounded, and the English only 3000, among whom, however, was Nelson himself.

Treaty of Pressburg. 26th Dec. 1805.

The result of the battle of Austerlitz was the Treaty of Pressburg, which was signed by Austria and France on the 26th of December 1805. The Russians had only lost one army, and their territory had not been invaded, so that they were still enabled to remain in arms. But Austria was completely crushed. By the Treaty of Pressburg, Venice, Istria, and Dalmatia were ceded to the Kingdom of Italy; but Napoleon kept the two latter provinces under his direct rule, and gave the command of them to General Marmont. The Tyrol and part of Swabia were ceded to Bavaria, and the Elector of that State took the title of King. The same title was conferred on the Duke of Würtemburg; the Duke of Baden became a Grand Duke; many small German principalities were suppressed, and, on 12th of July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was formed under the protectorate of the French Emperor. England could not blame Austria for making a separate treaty with France, for she herself had been saved from invasion by the departure of the Grand Army from Boulogne, not less than by the victory of Trafalgar. The news of Austerlitz was followed on the 23d of January 1806 by the death of Pitt, and the new English ministry of Fox and Grenville, now that the fear of invasion was over, desired to enter into negotiations with Napoleon.

Overthrow of Prussia.

The overthrow of Austria was followed by the overthrow of Prussia. Frederick William III. had prided himself on the manner in which, in spite of many temptations, he had maintained his attitude of strict neutrality. Neither the offers of the Directory or of Napoleon, nor the subsidies lavishly promised by England, had been able to disturb his determination. The Prussian ministry proudly pointed to the fact that, while the rest of Europe had been torn by disastrous wars, Prussia had remained at peace ever since the Treaty of Basle in 1795. She had profited by her peace policy as much as France and Austria by their war policy. The rearrangement of Germany in 1803 had converted Prussia from a collection of scattered states into a united kingdom. She had even, up to the year 1803, maintained the freedom of the whole of the north of Germany from the terrible French invaders by the observation of the line of demarcation settled in 1795. The northern states of Germany looked to Prussia as their leader, and since the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire the Prussian policy had been completely victorious over the Austrian. The maintenance of the line of demarcation was the favourite scheme of the Prussian King, and as long as it was observed, nothing short of invasion would have disturbed his neutrality. But the occupation of Hanover in 1803, as one of the measures taken by Napoleon against England, had infringed the line of demarcation, and from that moment Frederick William III. inclined towards war.

In this warlike attitude he was encouraged by Russia and England, and still more by his own army. The Prussian army, the creation of Frederick the Great, represented in more than an ordinary fashion the Prussian nation. Relying on the recollections of the Seven Years’ War, and confident in the proverbial discipline of their soldiers, the Prussian generals believed that they would be able to defeat the conquerors of the rest of Europe. With the utmost ardour the young Prussian noblemen shouted for war; they resented the long peace, and applauded the new attitude of the king. He was stimulated likewise by the hatred for France, which was openly encouraged by his beautiful Queen Louisa, and he met with opposition only from a few of his more experienced ministers, and from the old Duke of Brunswick, who well knew the excellence of the French troops. Undecided and hesitating, Frederick William refused to join the coalition of Austria and Russia in 1805, when his assistance would have been of the greatest service. He signed, indeed, the Treaty of Potsdam on 3d November 1805, undertaking to mediate, and to join the coalition with 180,000 men if Napoleon refused the terms he offered. But the proposed intervention came to nothing. Haugwitz, the Prussian minister, awaited at Napoleon’s headquarters the result of the battle of Austerlitz, and on December 15 he signed the Treaty of Schönbrunn, by which Prussia ceded Cleves to France and Anspach to Bavaria, and received provisional possession of Hanover. Two months later, on February 15, Prussia was compelled by a supplementary treaty to definitely accept Hanover from Napoleon, an arrangement which was tantamount to declaring war with England.

Campaign of Jena. Oct. 1806.

The long neutrality of Frederick William III. was thus broken, and, as it soon appeared, in vain. For Napoleon almost immediately offered to restore Hanover to England, with which country he was induced to enter into negotiations for peace by the accession of Fox to office. At this news Frederick William mobilised his troops and prepared for war with France. In October 1806 he ordered the victor of Austerlitz to at once retire behind the Rhine, and slowly concentrated his army in Thuringia without waiting for the succour promised by the Russians. The Prussian officers applauded their king’s conduct, for they desired to have the glory of defeating the French entirely to themselves. On the 14th of October 1806 the two corps of the Prussian army, which were advancing along the river Saale, were defeated by Napoleon himself at Jena, and by Marshal Davout at Auerstädt. The triumph was as complete as that of Austerlitz; and on the 25th the French army entered Berlin.

Campaign of Eylau.