Battle at Wischau

Overview

The Battle of Wischau occurred on 28 November 1805 between the Russian and French armies. The conflict resulted in a minor Russian success. It followed the action at Hollabrun and Schöngrabern, and preceded the Battle of Austerlitz. The relatively easy Russian victory convinced the Third Coalition Allies that the French army would be easy to beat, having reached the end of their supply and communication lines and having suffered several losses in previous weeks of fighting.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The action at Wischau on 28 November 1805 produced a minor Russian success against a French force of roughly 1,400 men, engaged by a Russian force more than seventeen times its size under Bagration. The engagement's consequences extended well beyond its limited tactical scope: the relatively easy Russian victory persuaded the Coalition command that the French army was exhausted, overstretched at the end of its supply and communication lines, and weakened by losses in preceding weeks of fighting. That misreading of French combat power contributed directly to the Allied decision to give battle at Austerlitz days later — a decision that ended in catastrophic Coalition defeat. Wischau thus functioned less as a meaningful French setback than as a source of dangerous overconfidence, sitting between the action at Hollabrun and Schöngrabern and the decisive engagement at Austerlitz in the arc of the 1805 campaign.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)