Marshal Soult, now changing his position again by the right flank, descended the heights, having traversed a complete semi-circle, and took the Russian extreme left in the rear. The Emperor of Russia, who perceived the imminent danger of his whole army, dispatched his fine regiment of Russian guards, supported by a strong force of artillery, to attack Soult. Their desperate charge broke one of the French regiments. It was at this crisis that Napoleon brought his reserve into action. Bessieres, at the head of the imperial guard, rushed with irresistible fury into the fight. The Russians were entirely broken; their army, surprised in a flank movement, had been cut into as many separate masses as there were columns brought up to attack it. They fled in disorder, and the victory of Austerlitz was decided.
It was with the utmost difficulty that the two emperors of Russia and Austria effected their personal escape. The Emperor Alexander lost all his artillery, baggage, and standards; twenty thousand prisoners, and upwards of twenty thousand killed and wounded. In the precipitate flight, the wounded were abandoned to their fate. Kutusoff, however, with laudable humanity, left placards in the French language, on the doors of the churches and the barns towards which they had crept, inscribed with these words:—“I recommend these unfortunate men to the generosity of the Emperor Napoleon, and the humanity of his brave soldiers.”
In attempting to escape across some frozen ponds, the Russians broke through, and a large number of them were drowned. An eye-witness, General Langeron, says, “I have previously seen some lost battles, but I had no conception of such a defeat.”
Napoleon, who had participated in the pursuit, returned about night-fall. He was received with shouts by his triumphant troops, and they could scarcely be prevented from taking him in their arms. He soon commanded silence, and set about relieving the wounded, who actually covered the field. He administered brandy with his own hand to some suffering Russians, who could only repay him with a blessing, and gave orders that all the wounded should be attended to as speedily as possible. The troops had already given a name to the battle, that of the “Three Emperors.” But Napoleon himself gave this great conflict the name of the village near which it was fought. He issued the following proclamation, immediately after victory had been achieved.
“Soldiers—I am satisfied with you: in the battle of Austerlitz you have justified all that I expected from your intrepidity. You have decorated your eagles with immortal glory. An army of one hundred thousand men, commanded by the Emperors of Russia and Austria, has been in less than four hours either cut in pieces or dispersed. Those who escaped your weapons are drowned in the lakes.
“Forty colors, the standards of the imperial guard of Russia, one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, more than thirty thousand prisoners, are the result of this ever-celebrated battle. That infantry, so highly vaunted and superior in number, could not withstand your shocks, and thenceforward you have no rivals to fear. Thus, in two months, this third coalition has been vanquished and dissolved. Peace cannot now be far distant, but, as I promised my people, before I passed the Rhine, I will make only such a peace as gives us guarantees and insures rewards to our allies.
“Soldiers, when all that is necessary to secure the welfare and the prosperity of our country is accomplished, I will lead you back to France: there you will be the object of my tenderest concern. My people will see you again with joy, and it will be sufficient to say, I was at the battle of Austerlitz, for them to reply, there is a brave man.
“Napoleon.”
