Editing War of the Third Coalition (section)

===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}}