Editing War of the Third Coalition (section)

==Prelude==
===From Amiens to the Third Coalition===
In March 1802, hostilities between France and the Allies came to an end. However it was clear to the leading European politicians, and especially to Napoleon, that the peace treaties of Lunéville (1801) and Amiens (1802), which ended the Second War of Coalition, were not a lasting solution. Tensions between Napoleon-ruled France and Great Britain had been rising again since the second half of 1802. The fact that Napoleon played an active role in the Caribbean contributed to this. There were also indications that he was once again interested in Egypt and the Middle East. There were reports in French newspapers that 10,000 men would be enough to reconquer Egypt.
In Italy, Napoleon increased his influence when he transformed the Cisalpine Republic into the Italian Republic and made himself president. He annexed Piedmont to France. Contrary to the peace treaty of Amiens, the French army was not withdrawn from the Netherlands; instead, the Batavian Republic was given a new constitution based on the French model. The Helvetic Republic was also closely dependent on France. Napoleon had given the country a new federalist constitution with the Act of Mediation. At the same time, the country had had to bind itself politically to France for fifty years. 

The peace treaty stipulated that Great Britain was to return all conquered territories except Ceylon and Trinidad to their respective previous owners. Minorca to Spain and Malta to the Order of St. John. In return, France was to leave Egypt and Naples and guarantee the independence of Portugal and the Ionian Islands.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|pp=319–320}} In order to prevent Napoleon from advancing further into the Levant, it was necessary for Great Britain to keep Malta and a fleet in the Mediterranean. Russia's interest in Malta offered Napoleon an ideal opportunity for a war in which he hoped to play Britain and Russia off against each other. Napoleon indirectly threatened war on 13 March 1803 when he criticized Britain's refusal to fully implement the terms of the Treaty of Amiens to British ambassador Lord Whitworth. Whitworth returned to London and shortly afterwards, on May 18, Great Britain declared war on France.{{sfn|Rodger|2004|p=528}}{{sfn|Schneid|2005|p=57}}

===Setting up the opposing forces===
When Napoleon crowned himself Emperor on December 2, 1804, Austria and Prussia may have been alarmed, but the annexed Italian city-states of Genoa, Parma and Piacenza and his coronation as King of Italy left no doubt as to Napoleon's intentions. On January 21, 1805, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger presented a treaty of alliance with Russia and Austria. The demands of this treaty were the restoration of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the withdrawal of French troops from Italy, the dissolution of the Batavian Republic and the restoration of Switzerland's independence. In the event of Napoleon's refusal, England would support the coalition forces financially. After all difficulties had been resolved, Great Britain, Austria and Russia signed a treaty on August 9, 1805, forming the third coalition against Napoleon. Prussia remained neutral.{{sfn|Schneid|2005|pp=83–87}}
On the other side, Napoleon built an alliance of various southern German members of the Holy Roman Empire. These included Württemberg, Bavaria and Baden, which benefited from the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of February 25, 1803. These enlarged states were in line with Napoleon's calculations. They were to weaken Austria, but were themselves too weak to pose a threat to France.{{sfn|Gotthard|2003|p=160}}

==={{lang|fr|La Grande Armée}} at Boulogne===
{{See also|Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Inspecting the Troops at Boulogne, 15 August 1804.png|thumb|Inspecting the troops at Boulogne, 15 August 1804]]

Prior to the formation of the Third Coalition, Napoleon had assembled the ''Army of England'', an invasion force meant to strike at England, from around six camps at [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]] in Northern France. Although they never set foot on British soil, Napoleon's troops received careful and invaluable training for any possible military operation. Boredom among the troops occasionally set in, but Napoleon paid many visits and conducted lavish parades in order to boost the morale of the soldiers.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=323}}

The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon would later call {{lang|fr|[[La Grande Armée]]}} ("The Great Army"). At the start, this French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven [[corps]], each capable of independent action or in concert with other corps. Corps were large combined arms field units typically containing 2–4 infantry divisions, a cavalry division, and about 36 to 40 [[cannon]].

On top of these forces, Napoleon created a [[cavalry]] reserve of 22,000 organized into two [[cuirassier]] [[Division (military)|divisions]], four mounted [[dragoon]] divisions, and two divisions of dismounted dragoons and light cavalry, all supported by 24 [[artillery]] pieces. By 1805, the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} had grown to a force of 350,000, was well equipped, adequately trained, and possessed a skilled officer class.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|pp=332–333}}

===Russian and Austrian armies===
The [[Imperial Russian Army]] in 1805 had many characteristics of [[ancien régime]] military organization: there was no permanent formation above the regimental level, senior officers were largely recruited from aristocratic circles (including foreigners), and the Russian soldier, in line with 18th-century practice, was regularly beaten and punished to instill discipline. Furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle. Nevertheless, the Russians did have a fine artillery arm manned by soldiers who regularly fought hard to prevent their pieces from falling into enemy hands.

[[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles]], brother of the Austrian Emperor, had started to reform the [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|Austrian army]] in 1801 by taking away power from the [[Hofkriegsrat]], the military-political council responsible for decision-making in the Austrian armed forces. Charles was Austria's best field commander,{{sfn|Uffindell|2003|p=155}} but he was unpopular with the imperial court and lost much influence when, against his advice, Austria decided to go to war with France. [[Karl Mack]] became the new main commander in Austria's army, instituting reforms on the infantry on the eve of war that called for a regiment to be composed of four [[battalion]]s of four [[company (military unit)|companies]] rather than the older three battalions of six companies. The sudden change came with no corresponding officer training, and as a result, these new units were not led as well as they could have been. Austrian cavalry forces were regarded as the best in Europe, but the detachment of many cavalry units to various infantry formations precluded the hitting power of their massed French counterparts.{{sfn|Fisher|Fremont-Barnes|2004|pp=31–33}}