Battle of Hollabrunn and Schöngrabern

Battle of Schöngrabern

Part of: Third Coalition War

In memory of the battle at Hollabrunn and Schöngrabern

date	November 16, 1805
place	Hollabrunn , Austria
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Russia Austria
Commander
Joachim Murat Jean Lannes	Pyotr Bagration
Troop strength
30,000 soldiers	8,000 soldiers
losses
2,000 dead	3,000 dead

The battle of Hollabrunn and Schöngrabern took place on November 16, 1805 near Hollabrunn in Lower Austria between French and Russian-Austrian troops.

prehistory

After France declared war on Austria on September 23, Napoleon's troops marched along the Danube to Vienna . After crossing the Danube, they tried to catch up with the Russian troops that were on their way from Krems to Znojmo and Brno . The 35,000 Russian soldiers were to unite there with other Russian armies and the Austrian troops. This would have made the two troops far outnumbered the French.

At that time Napoleon was in Vienna in Schönbrunn Palace .

course

The 30,000 French, under the command of Marshal Joachim Murat, faced a rearguard of 8,000 Russians and Austrians under the command of Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration . Outnumbered, the French tried to attack the rear guard at 4 p.m. on November 16. But the Russians fired the artillery place Schöngrabern on fire. This did not defeat the French, but stopped them. They lost 2,000 men in the process, while the Russians lost 3,000.

consequences

Because of this delay, the other troops were able to unite. The result was the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805.

Trivia

Leo Tolstoy described the battle in great detail in his work War and Peace . An inscription on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and a memorial stone on the B 303 between Schöngrabern and Suttenbrunn also commemorate the battle.

In the Fifth Coalition War (1809) there was both a battle of Hollabrunn and a skirmish near Schöngrabern .

literature

• Rainer Egger : The battle at Hollabrunn and Schöngrabern 1805 . Issue 27, Military History Series, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1974. ISBN 3-215-73225-4

Web links

Commons : Battle of Hollabrunn and Schöngrabern  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 35 ′ 33.3 "  N , 16 ° 3 ′ 56.2"  E