October 16–20, 1805 · Central Europe / Bavaria Theater
October 16–20, 1805
In one of history's most brilliant maneuvers of strategic encirclement, Napoleon marched his Grande Armée in a great arc around the Austrian army at Ulm before it could react. Seven corps, moving on parallel roads across a 200-mile front, swept behind Austrian General Mack's army, cutting every road to Vienna. Mack found himself surrounded without a battle having been fought. On October 20, 1805 — the day before Trafalgar — 33,000 Austrian soldiers marched out to surrender. Mack was later court-martialed and cashiered.
Commanders