Story
Prologue
Grande Armée
Raid on Boulogne
Third Coalition
French Plans
Ulm campaign
Battle of Ulm
Battle of Verona
Siege of Gaeta
Battle of Maida
Battle of Mileto
Epilogue
Characters
Further Reading

20
War of the Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition was a European conflict spanning the years 1803 to 1806. During the war, France and its client states under Napoleon I, defeated an alliance, the Third Coalition, made up of the United Kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, Naples, Sicily and Sweden. Prussia remained neutral during the war.
Prologue
Austerlitz
In March 1802, France and Britain agreed to cease hostilities under the Treaty of Amiens. For the first time in ten years, all of Europe was at peace. However, many problems persisted between the two sides making the implementation of the treaty increasingly difficult. Bonaparte was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta. The tension only worsened when Bonaparte sent an expeditionary force to re-establish control over Haiti. Prolonged intransigence on these issues led Britain to declare war on France on 18 May 1803 despite the fact that Bonaparte finally accepted the occupation of Malta by the British. The nascent Third Coalition came into being in December 1804 when, in exchange for payment, an Anglo-Swedish agreement was signed allowing the British to use Swedish Pomerania as a military base against France.
Planned invasion of the United Kingdom
English Channel
Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, although never carried out, was a major influence on British naval strategy and the fortification of the coast of southeast England. French attempts to invade Ireland in order to destabilise the United Kingdom or as a stepping-stone to Great Britain had already occurred in 1796. From 1803 to 1805 a new army of 200,000 men, known as the Armée des côtes de l'Océan was gathered and trained at camps at Boulogne, Bruges and Montreuil. A large "National Flotilla" of invasion barges was built in Channel ports along the coasts of France and the Netherlands right from Étaples to Flushing, and gathered at Boulogne. These preparations were financed by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, whereby France ceded her huge North American territories to the United States in return for a payment of 50 million French francs ($11,250,000). The entire amount was spent on the projected invasion.
Blockade of Saint-Domingue
Haiti
Grande Armée
FranceThe Grande Armée was formed in 1804 from the L'Armée des côtes de l'Océan (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 the army in eastern Europe to eliminate the combined threat of Austria and Russia, which were part of the Third Coalition assembled against France. Thereafter, the name Grande Armée was used for the principal French Army deployed in the campaigns of 1805 and 1807, where it earned its prestige, and in 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.
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 preparations to invade France in late 1805, the Grande Armée 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, who would take part in the invasion, with the total invasion force exceeding 600,000 men when including foreign recruits.
In addition to its size and multinational composition, the Grande Armée was known for its innovative formations, tactics, logistics, and communications. Unlike most armed forces at the time, it operated on a strictly meritocratic basis; while most contingents were commanded by French generals, except for the Polish and Austrian corps, most soldiers could climb the ranks regardless of class, wealth, or national origin.
Execution of Duke of Enghien
Château de Vincennes, Paris, F
Emperor of the French
Notre-Dame de Paris
Raid on Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Elements of the Royal Navy conducted a naval assault on the fortified French port of Boulogne, during the Napoleonic Wars. It differed from the conventional tactics of naval assaults of the period by utilizing a wide range of new equipment produced by the American-born inventor Robert Fulton, with the backing of the Admiralty. Despite its ambitious aims the assault produced little material damage to the French fleet anchored in the harbour, but did perhaps contribute to a growing sense of defeatism amongst the French as to their chances of crossing the English Channel in the face of the Royal Navy and launching a successful invasion of the United Kingdom.
Spain declares war on Great Britain
Cabo de Santa Maria, Portugal
The Battle of Cape Santa Maria was a naval engagement that took place off the southern Portuguese coast, in which a British squadron under the command of Commodore Graham Moore attacked and defeated a Spanish squadron commanded by Brigadier Don José de Bustamante y Guerra, during peace time. As a result of this action, Spain declared war on Great Britain on 14 December 1804
Third Coalition
England
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 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. The stated goal of the Anglo-Russian alliance was to reduce France to its 1792 borders. Austria, Sweden, and Naples would eventually join this alliance, whilst Prussia again remained neutral.
Napoleon becomes King of Italy
Milan, Italy
The Kingdom of Italy was born on 17 March 1805, when the Italian Republic, whose president was Napoleon Bonaparte, became the Kingdom of Italy, with the same man as King of Italy, and the 24-year-old Eugène de Beauharnais his viceroy. Napoleon I was crowned at the Duomo di Milano, Milan on 23 May, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. His title was "Emperor of the French and King of Italy", showing the importance of this Italian Kingdom for him.
Battle of Diamond Rock
Martinique
Battle of Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre, Spain
Austrian plans and preparations
Mantua, Italy
French Plans
Verona, Italy
Ulm campaign
Swabia, Germany
Battle of Wertingen
Wertingen, Germany
Battle of Günzburg
Günzburg, Germany
Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
Ulm-Jungingen, Germany
Fought at Ulm-Jungingen north of Ulm at the Danube between French and Austrian forces. The effects of the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen on Napoleon's plans are not fully clear, but the Emperor may have finally ascertained that the majority of the Austrian army was concentrated at Ulm.
Battle of Elchingen
Elchingen, Germany
Battle of Ulm
Ulm, Germany
Battle of Verona
Verona, Italy
Battle of Trafalgar
Cape Trafalgar, SpainBattle of Caldiero
Caldiero, Italy
Battle of Cape Ortegal
Cariño, Spain
Battle of Amstetten
Amstetten, Austria
Battle of Mariazell
Mariazell, Austria
Only the corps of Michael von Kienmayer and Franz Jellacic escaped envelopment by the Grande Armée of Napoleon. As Kienmayer's columns fled to the east, they joined with elements of the Russian Empire's army in a rear guard action at the Battle of Amstetten on 5 November. A few days later, Davout's III Corps caught up with Merveldt's division at Mariazell. The Austrian soldiers, their morale shaken by continuous retreating, were routed after a brief struggle.
Battle of Dürenstein
Dürnstein, Austria
Capitulation of Dornbirn
Dornbirn, Austria
Battle of Schöngrabern
Hollabrunn, Austria
Battle of Castelfranco Veneto
Castelfranco Veneto, Italy
Battle of Austerlitz
Slavkov u Brna, CzechiaBattle of Blaauwberg
Bloubergstrand, South Africa
Battle of San Domingo
Santo Domingo, Dominican Repub
Invasion of Naples
Naples, Italy
An army of the French Empire led by Marshal André Masséna marched from northern Italy into the Kingdom of Naples, an ally of the Coalition against France ruled by King Ferdinand IV. The Neapolitan army was vanquished at Campo Tenese and rapidly disintegrated. The invasion was eventually successful despite some setbacks, including the prolonged Siege of Gaeta, the British victory at Maida, and a stubborn guerrilla war by the peasantry against the French. Total success eluded the French because Ferdinand withdrew to his domain in Sicily where he was protected by the Royal Navy and a British Army garrison. In 1806 Emperor Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to rule over southern Italy as king.
Siege of Gaeta
Gaeta,
Battle of Campo Tenese
Morano Calabro, Italy
Battle of Maida
Maida, Calabria
Confederation of the Rhine
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria and Russia at the Battle of Austerlitz. Its creation brought about the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire shortly afterward. The Confederation of the Rhine lasted from 1806 to 1813.
The founding members of the confederation were German princes of the Holy Roman Empire. They were later joined by 19 others, altogether ruling a total of over 15 million subjects. This granted a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern frontier by providing a buffer between France and the two largest German states, Prussia and Austria (which also controlled substantial non-German lands).
Battle of Mileto
Mileto, Italy
Epilogue
Slavkov u Brna, Czechia
Key Findings:
- The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy gains Venice, Istria, Dalmatia from Austria
- Bavaria gains Tyrol
- Württemberg gains Habsburg territories in Swabia
- Napoleon establishes the Kingdom of Holland and the Grand Duchy of Berg
- The Holy Roman Empire dissolves, Franz II adbicates his title of Holy Roman Emperor
- The Confederation of the Rhine forms from German princes of the former Holy Roman Empire.
Characters
Key Figures for War of the Third Coalition
Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden
Russian General
Louis-Nicolas Davout
Marshal of the Empire
André Masséna
Marshal of the Empire
Karl Mack von Leiberich
Austrian Military Commander
Mikhail Kutuzov
Russian Field Marshal
Alexander I of Russia
Russian Emperor
Napoleon
French Emperor
William Pitt the Younger
Prime Minister of Great Britain
Charles IV of Spain
Spanish King
Francis II
Holy Roman Emperor
Horatio Nelson
British Admiral
Archduke Charles
Austrian Field Marshall
Jean Lannes
Marshal of the Empire
Pyotr Bagration
Russian General
Further Reading
Book Recommenations for War of the Third Coalition
- Chandler, David G. (1995). The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-02-523660-1.
- Clayton, Tim; Craig, Phil (2004). Trafalgar: The Men, the Battle, the Storm. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-83028-X.
- Desbrière, Edouard, The Naval Campaign of 1805: Trafalgar, 1907, Paris. English translation by Constance Eastwick, 1933.
- Fisher, T.; Fremont-Barnes, G. (2004). The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84176-831-1.
- Gardiner, Robert (2006). The campaign of Trafalgar, 1803–1805. Mercury Books. ISBN 1-84560-008-8.
- Gerges, M. T. (2016). "Chapter 6: Ulm and Austerlitz". In Leggiere, M. V. (ed.). Napoleon and the Operational Art of War: Essays in Honor of Donald D. Horward. History of Warfare no. 110. Leiden: Brill. p. 221–248. ISBN 978-90-04310-03-2.
- Goetz, Robert. 1805: Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition (Greenhill Books, 2005). ISBN 1-85367-644-6.
- Harbron, John D., Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy, 1988, London, ISBN 0-85177-963-8.
- Marbot, Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin. "The Battle of Austerlitz," Napoleon: Symbol for an Age, A Brief History with Documents, ed. Rafe Blaufarb (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008), 122–123.
- Masséna, André; Koch, Jean Baptiste Frédéric (1848–50). Mémoires de Masséna
- Schneid, Frederick C. Napoleon's conquest of Europe: the War of the Third Coalition (Greenwood, 2005).
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