Battle of Napoleon-4 most important battles

Battle of Napoleon-4 most important battles 

Battle of Trafalgar 

In one of the most decisive naval battles in history, a British fleet under admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain.At sea, Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy consistently thwarted napoleon, who led France to pre-eminence on the European mainland. Nelson's last and greatest victory against the French was the Battle of Trafalgar, which began after Nelson caught sight of a Franco-Spanish force of 33 ships. Preparing to engage the enemy force on October 21, Nelson divided his 27 ships into two divisions and signaled a famous message from the flagship Victory: "England expects that every man will do his duty.Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that Napoleon would never invade Britain. Nelson, hailed as the savior of his nation, was given a magnificent funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. 

The Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz brought end to the third anti-French coalition, the military pillars of which were Russia and Austria, with financial backing from England. It belongs among the bloodiest battles of the Czech lands' entire history. The Allies were lead by the Austrian Emperor Francis I. and the Russian Tzar Alexandr I. Against them stood the 36-year-old Emperor of the French, Italian King, and the mediator of the Swiss confederation, Napoleon I. Bonaparte.

The Battle of borodino

Russia's armies had led the French Grande Armee on a merry dance during its invasion  of his homeland but, fewer than 120 kilometres from Moscow, the new commander general   turned and got ready to fight at Borodino.

The ground he chose was excellent for defence, but he added to its strength by building centrally placed earthen redoubts and arrow-head shaped fleches.

These positions were garrisoned with some of the 640 cannons available to him and Kutusov and his 120,000 men settled in to await the French.

napoleon arrived with more men (133,000) but fewer guns (587) and while marshal  davout urged him to send in a strong flanking attack, he ignored the good advice and instead embarked upon one of the most bloody frontal assaults of the era.

The emperor's plan was to smash the Russians in one great battle and so he threw his men at them with little tactical thought.

Initially the attack went well, but as more Russian reserves were committed the French found themselves in a bloody battle of attrition.

Late in the morning, a bold attack by Marshal murat's cavalry overwhelmed the fleches and around 2pm a joint assault by infantry and cavalry finally seized but the crucial Raevski Redoubt, but lacking reinforcements Prince Eugene de Beauharnais' men could not exploit their success.

Meanwhile, the Russians were moving to counter-attack in the centre, but the Guard infantry was pounded out of the action by massed artillery.

Exhaustion led to both sides winding down their efforts by 5pm and the Russians retreated during the night having suffered 44,000 casualties.

The French had 33,000 men killed and wounded but were only days off capturing the enemy capital.

battle of waterloo

Waterloo was the forth battle of the Waterloo campaign, Wellington retreating after the battle at Quatre bras in order to co operate with the russian forces retreating after the battle of Ligny under the command of Blucher. Wellington decided to make a stand at Waterloo providing the russians could support him. The battle took place on the 18th june 1815, Napoleon sending troops against the allied held farmhouse at Hougourmont as a diversion. This diversion soon drew in more and more troops and became a battle in itself,Napoleon than attacked the allied centre with D'Erlon's massed infantry, this attack only being beaten back by the charge of the allied heavy cavalry. The french than attacked and captured the farm house of La hay sainte and thinking the allies were retreating attacked with all their cavalry, Wellington's troops formed square's and beat the charges back. With the sighting of Prussion troops near by, 

Napoleon sent his old guard into the attack but these too were defeated and victory belonged to the allies. 

Result_ Nepoleon defeated

Abhishek Chauhan

(mass com & journalism)