Ulm Campaign

Overview

The Ulm campaign was a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm. The French Grande Armée, led by Emperor Napoleon, had 210,000 troops organized into seven corps and hoped to knock out the Austrian army in the Danube before Russian reinforcements could arrive. Rapid marching let Napoleon conduct a large wheeling maneuver, which captured an Austrian army of 60,000 under Feldmarschall-Leutnant (FML) Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich on 20 October at Ulm. The campaign is by some military historians regarded as a strategic masterpiece and was influential in the development of the Schlieffen Plan in the late 19th century. Napoleon himself wrote:four months of marching about, months of fatigue and wretchedness, have proved to me that nothing is more hideous, more miserable, than war. And yet our sufferings in the Guard are not to be compared with those of the line.

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

Significance

The Ulm Campaign resulted in the encirclement and capture of approximately 60,000 Austrian troops under Karl Mack before Russian reinforcements could reach the theater, effectively eliminating the main Austrian field army in the Danube region during the War of the Third Coalition. With Austrian forces neutralized at Ulm, France gained freedom of operational movement deeper into Central Europe. The campaign is regarded by some military historians as a strategic masterpiece, and its large wheeling maneuver later influenced the development of the Schlieffen Plan in the late 19th century. French casualties of around 6,000 against Austrian losses of 10,000, combined with the capture of an entire army, made the result a lopsided operational success that shaped the subsequent course of the 1805 campaign.

Tactics

Forces & casualties

Commanders (19)