Napoleon’s leadership skills of charisma, perseverance, and intellectual acuity, coupled with his emphasis on mobility, the utilization of the corps system and the seeking of the decisive battle to bring the enemy to terms, was at their zenith at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. The Third Coalition of Britain, Austria, Russia, and a few others, sought to put a stop to the newly crowned Emperor of the First Empire by implementing a coordinated strategy to strike France from multiple directions with multiple armies. Napoleon characteristically seized the initiative and rapidly moved his army eastward over the Rhine and into Austria catching Austrian general Mack completely unprepared, facilitating his capture and that of his entire army. 

From here, Napoleon moved to capture the Austrian capital of Vienna while realizing that his rapid movements and successes presented a new problem: that enemy armies, the Russians and Austrians numbering nearly 90,000 were closing in on him and his 75,000 Frenchmen. Additionally, his supply and communication lines were severely stretched and dangerously exposed. Quickly sizing up the situation and choosing the terrain carefully so as to convince his enemies that he had made a mistake (by not occupying the tactically important Pratzen Heights), Napoleon laid his trap and was said to have remarked to his men “Gentlemen, examine this ground carefully, it is going to be a battlefield; you will have a part to play upon it.”

The ensuing Battle of the Three Emperors (another name for Austerlitz due to the presence of Napoleon of France, Alexander I of Russia and Francis II of Austria; all Emperors) saw Napoleon split then defeat two armies at the same utilizing his martial methodology. The execution of force mobility was such that the Allied army could not believe it when Marshal Davout had marched his army over 85 miles in 48 hours to deliver the knockout blow to them. “My God! Look there! There, just below us—those are Frenchmen!” exclaimed allied general Mikhail Kutuzov’s staff officer. The battle cost the Austro-Russian army over 15,000 dead with 12,000 made prisoner compared to that of the French only having suffered 1,305 causalities. It forced the Russians back to Russia and compelled Emperor Francis to sue for peace with France.  Napoleon’s leadership methodology of inspiring your troops to cross vast distances giving battle at the end, while choosing the ground of battle, seeking, and then achieving a decisive battle were never more in play than at Austerlitz. 

Such battlefield acumen can however wane as by the time of Waterloo and the collective 100 Days campaign, Napoleon had been stricken with a series of ailments and had lost some of his leadership and decision-making edge. Not lacking in his charisma and ability to charm and enthrall others though, Napoleon put this on full display when his former Marshal Ney came to arrest him at the beset of his current master, the restored Bourbon King, Louis XVIII, only to join him!

Napoleon’s military leadership did show numerous fallacies including his delay in beginning the battle with his customary artillery barrage (the reason given was due to the muddy ground from rain the night before and needing to give it time to dry out for the positioning of the cannons), the failure to execute properly and decisively the central position methodology to have beaten the British and Prussians at Quatre Bras and Ligny before Waterloo, as well as the force depleting actions on Hougoumont Farm and Ney’s unsupported cavalry charges against British squares. What cannot be understated is that Napoleon’s foes had learned from him over the years and henceforth utilized defensive measures and movements to deny him the central position and the hold-and-flank maneuvers as well as negating the effectiveness of his Grand Battery bombardment by deploying their forces on the reverse slopes of the hills of Waterloo, thus greatly decreasing their affect.

The Corsican-born Napoleon Bonaparte will forever be known as France’s greatest commander. His battlefield victories and leadership style have been and will continue to be studied by students of military history for all time. Napoleon was the right person at the right time to become the savior of France during its most tumultuous time. In turn he has inspired military leaders the world over to understand Bonaparte the commander and his dynamic balance of charisma, intellectual resiliency, and innovation.

Ultimately, Napoleon’s leadership advice to future military leaders was to “Read again and again the campaigns of Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Eugene, and Frederick. Model yourself upon them. This is the only means of becoming a great captain, and of acquiring the secret of the art of war…”

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Bonaparte, Napoleon. The Military Maxims of Napoleon. Edited by David G. Chandler. Translated by Sir George C. D’Aguilar. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Book, 1987.

Phillips, Charles. An Historical Character of Napoleon. 1817. https://jstor.org/stable/10.2307/60202665.

Shorter, Clement. Napoleon in His Own Defence. London: Cassell and Company Limited, 1910. http://bibliotheque-martial-lapeyre.napoleon.org/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/59727/napoleon-in-his-own-defence-being-a-reprint-of-certain-letters-written-by-napoleon-from-st-helena-to?collection=FNAP_SHORTER_DEFENCE#.

Secondary Sources

Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York, NY: Macmillan Company, 1966.

Dean, Peter J. “Napoleon as a Military Commander: The Limitations of Genius.” The Napoleon Series. https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/c_genius.html.

Gray, Lt. Col. Wilbur E. “Napoleon Conquerors Time & Distance: The Revolution in Battlefield Command and Control.” Napoleon, no. 1 (January 1996): 12-18.

Knighton, Andrew. “8 Changes Napoleon Made to Warfare-One of the Most Influential Generals in History.” War History Online. Last Modified August 4, 2017. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/napoleon/8-changes-napoleon-made-warfare.html.