Time Astra

Schematic plan · The Napoleonic Wars

Battle of Austerlitz

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseReserveHorseHorseGunsGuns02.5 km5 kmN

Russia (Allied Army, 85,400 men under Kutuzov) attacked France (Fr Army, 73,200 men under Napoleon I) in Moravia. The CAA Database of Battles records 9 hours of fighting on a front of 13 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that France held. Losses: Russia 27,500 (32%), France 7,000 (10%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Russia

Kutuzov

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry15,655
Russia centreInfantry20,874
Russia right wingInfantry15,655
Russia reserveInfantry13,046
Russia cavalry of the leftCavalry8,000
Russia cavalry of the rightCavalry8,000
Russia artillery (278 guns)Artillery4,170
KutuzovCommander—
In this plan85,400

France

Napoleon I

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry11,797
France centreInfantry15,730
France right wingInfantry11,797
France reserveInfantry9,831
France cavalry of the leftCavalry10,980
France cavalry of the rightCavalry10,980
France artillery (139 guns)Artillery2,085
Napoleon ICommander—
In this plan73,200

What the sources report

RussiaFrance
Strength, this plan85,40073,200
Losses, this plan27,5007,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 117, “Austerlitz”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
9 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
13 km (attacker), 11.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Russiaattacker85,40027,50016,000278Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Francedefender73,2007,00021,960139Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued

Attacker’s advantages logistics +1 · momentum +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.