Editing Napoleonic Wars (section)

==War of the Third Coalition, 1805==
{{Main|War of the Third Coalition}}
[[File:Trafalgar-Auguste Mayer.jpg|thumb|The British [[HMS Sandwich (1759)|HMS ''Sandwich'']] fires at the French [[flagship]] ''[[French ship Bucentaure (1803)|Bucentaure]]'' (completely dismasted) in the [[battle of Trafalgar]]. ''Bucentaure'' also fights [[HMS Victory|HMS ''Victory'']] (behind her) and [[HMS Temeraire (1798)|HMS ''Temeraire'']] (left side of the picture). HMS ''Sandwich'' did not fight at Trafalgar and her depiction is a mistake by the painter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scène de la bataille de Trafalgar |url=http://www.musee-marine.fr/cartel2.php?id=55 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721013055/http://www.musee-marine.fr/cartel2.php?id=55 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |access-date=May 21, 2011 |website=Musee Marine |language=fr}}</ref>]]
Britain gathered allies to form the Third Coalition against The French Empire after Napoleon was self-proclaimed as emperor.{{sfn|Schroeder|1994|pp=231–86}}{{page range too broad|date=May 2021}}{{sfn|Kagan|2007|pp=141ff}} In response, Napoleon [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|seriously considered an invasion of Great Britain]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Invasion of Britain – National Maritime Museum |url=http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/nelson/viewCategory.cfm/category/90346/browseMode/century |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608211733/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/nelson/viewCategory.cfm/category/90346/browseMode/century |archive-date=8 June 2011 |access-date=21 May 2011 |publisher=Nmm.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=O'Meara's account of Napoleon on the invasion of the England |url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/omeara_napo_invasion.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716183000/http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/omeara_napo_invasion.asp |archive-date=16 July 2011 |access-date=21 May 2011 |publisher=Napoleon.org}}</ref> massing 180,000 troops at [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]]. Before he could invade, he needed to achieve naval superiority—or at least to pull the British fleet 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 indecisive action off [[Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)|Cape Finisterre]] on 22 July 1805. The Royal Navy blockaded Villeneuve in [[Cádiz]] until he left for [[Naples]] on 19 October; the British squadron caught and overwhelmingly defeated the combined enemy fleet in the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] on 21 October (the British commander, [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Lord Nelson]], died in the battle). Napoleon never again had the opportunity to challenge the British at sea, nor to threaten an invasion. He again turned his attention to the enemies on the Continent.

[[File:Strategic Situation of Europe 1805.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|left|European strategic situation in 1805 before the War of the Third Coalition]]

In April 1805, Britain and Russia signed a treaty with the aim of removing the French from the [[Batavian Republic]] (roughly present-day Netherlands) and the [[Swiss Confederation (Napoleonic)|Swiss Confederation]]. Austria joined the alliance after the annexation of [[Genoa]] and the proclamation of Napoleon as [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|King of Italy]] on 17 March 1805. Sweden, which had already agreed to lease [[Swedish Pomerania]] as a military base for British troops against France, entered the coalition on 9 August.

The Austrians began the war by invading [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]] on 8 September<ref>{{Cite book |last=Сизенко |first=А.Г. |year=2011 |isbn=978-5-9567-1173-6 |pages=192 |publisher=Владис |script-title=ru:ВЕЛИКИЕ БИТВЫ ВЕЛИКОЙ РОСИИ}}</ref> 1805 with an army of about 70,000 under [[Karl Mack von Leiberich]], and the French army marched out from [[Camp of Boulogne|Boulogne]] in late July 1805 to confront them. At [[Battle of Ulm|Ulm]] (25 September&nbsp;– 20 October) Napoleon surrounded Mack's army, forcing its surrender without significant losses.

With the main Austrian army north of the [[Alps]] defeated (another army under [[Archduke Charles of Austria|Archduke Charles]] fought against [[André Masséna]]'s [[Army of Italy (France)|French army in Italy]]), Napoleon occupied [[Vienna]] on 13 November. Far from his supply lines, he faced a larger Austro–Russian army under the command of [[Mikhail Kutuzov]], with Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia]] personally present. On 2 December, Napoleon crushed the Austro–Russian force in [[Moravia]] at [[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]] (usually considered his greatest victory). He inflicted 25,000 casualties on a numerically superior enemy army while sustaining fewer than 7,000 in his own force.

[[File:Charles Thévenin - Reddition de la ville d'Ulm.jpg|thumb|Surrender of the town of [[Battle of Ulm|Ulm]], 20 October 1805]]
[[File:Entrée des Francaise dans Vienne le 13 Novembre 1805.jpg|left|thumb|The French entering [[Vienna]] on 13 November 1805]]
Austria signed the [[Treaty of Pressburg (1805)|Treaty of Pressburg]] (26 December 1805) and left the coalition. The treaty required the Austrians to give up [[Venetia (region)|Venetia]] to the French-dominated [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]] and the [[German Tyrol|Tyrol]] to Bavaria. With the withdrawal of Austria from the war, stalemate ensued. Napoleon's army had a record of continuous unbroken victories on land, but the full force of the Russian army had not yet come into play. Napoleon had now consolidated his hold on France, had taken control of Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and most of Western Germany and northern Italy. His admirers say that Napoleon wanted to stop now, but was forced to continue in order to gain greater security from the countries that refused to accept his conquests. Esdaile rejects that explanation and instead says that it was a good time to stop expansion, for the major powers were ready to accept Napoleon as he was:
{{blockquote|in 1806 both Russia and Britain had been positively eager to make peace, and they might well have agreed to terms that would have left the Napoleonic imperium almost completely intact. As for Austria and Prussia, they simply wanted to be left alone. To have secured a compromise peace, then, would have been comparatively easy. But Napoleon was prepared to make no concessions.{{sfn|Esdaile|2009|pp=252–253}}}}