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Third Coalition
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In the
Napoleonic Wars, the '''Third Coalition''' against
Napoleon I of France Napoléon emerged in
1805, and consisted of an alliance of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom,
Austrian Empire Austria,
Imperial Russia Russia,
Kingdom of Naples Naples, and
Sweden against
France. This was the first of the coalitions against the
First French Empire French Empire; the preceding ones had been against the
French First Republic French revolutionary state.
Napoleon had been planning an invasion of Britain since the end of the
Peace of Amiens in
1803, and had massed 150,000 troops at Boulogne. However, he needed to achieve naval superiority to mount his invasion, or at least to pull the British navy away from the
English Channel. A complex plan to distract the British by threatening their possessions in the
West Indies failed when a Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral
Pierre-Charles de Villeneuve Villeneuve turned back after an inconclusive
battle of Cape Finisterre (1805) action off Cape Finisterre. Villeneuve was blockaded in
Cádiz until he left for
Naples on
October 19, but was caught and defeated at the
battle of Trafalgar on
October 21 by
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Lord Nelson. By this time, however, Napoleon had already all but abandoned plans to invade Britain and turned his attention to enemies on the Continent once again.
The coalition, seeking to take advantage of the concentration of Napoléon's forces at Boulogne, made plans to attack
Italy and
Bavaria. The allied armies organized in Germany and Italy, with
Karl Mack von Lieberich mounting an invasion of
Bavaria while waiting for the Russian army under
Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov to reinforce him. The Bavarian army, allied to Napoléon, was forced to retreat northward, abandoning
Munich.
Napoléon left Boulogne in August, marching his army rapidly to the
Rhine. Crossing the Rhine in late September, he marched around Mack's right, surrounding the Austrian army at
Ulm. Pushing back Austrian attempts to regroup, he cut off Ulm from Austria, forcing Mack to capitulate in October. Kutuzov, on the Austrian-Bavarian border, was forced to retreat into
Vienna, and then north into
Moravia to meet reinforcements, abandoning Vienna on November 13. Napoleon marched north to meet the allied armies, finding them at a defensive position at Austerlitz. In the
Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon lured the Austrians into an assault by a feigned retreat, then stormed the heights they had left, surrounding and destroying all but the right wing under
Pyotr Bagration.
The Austrian army in
Italy under
Archduke Charles of Austria Archduke Charles was forced to retreat without a battle by the French victories in Germany, and allied landings in northern Germany and
Kingdom of Naples Naples were abortive. Austria was eliminated from the coalition and evicted from Italy by the
Treaty of Pressburg.
Napoléon had defeated Russia in battle but it remained in the war, and
Kingdom of Prussia Prussia entered the war in
1806, in protest at French violation of its territory in the 1805 campaign. This was the War of the
Fourth Coalition.
See also
*
Napoleonic Wars
*
First Coalition
*
Second Coalition
*
Fourth Coalition
*
Fifth Coalition
*
Sixth Coalition
*
Seventh Coalition
Category:Napoleonic Wars Coalition, 3rd
es:Tercera Coalición
fr:Guerre de la troisième coalition
he:הקו×?ליציה ×”×?× ×˜×™ צרפתית השלישית
ja:第三次対�大�盟
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