Napoleon’s Perfect Victory in 9 Hours
Relive Napoleon's greatest tactical masterpiece — 9 hours, three emperors, and the battle that dismantled an empire. On December 2, 1805, at Austerlitz, Napoleon's 73,000 troops faced the combined Austro-Russian force of 85,000 under Emperors Alexander I and Francis II — the "Battle of the Three Emperors." Napoleon's genius: deliberately weakening his right flank to lure the allies into a trap, then smashing through their thinned center with reserves to seize the Pratzen Heights and split the army in two. 9 hours. 27,000 allied casualties. 9,000 French losses. The Holy Roman Empire dissolved the following year. Napoleon called it "the finest evening of my life."