The Emperor and the Cossacks

The Emperor and the Cossacks

Napoleon used to verify by himself the position of the opposing forces and to observe personally the troop movements of the enemy, rather than relying on incomplete reports. This habit led him at the front of his lines with only a small escort.

We have chosen to relate the early morning of December 2nd, 1805 (the morning of the battle of Austerlitz), because that episode was the most famous, with great consequences on the behaviour of the brave soldiers who were going to win the most glorious battle of the modern times…
December 2nd, 1805, two o'clock in the morning… The general Savary wakes up Napoléon : they hear cannon-shots coming from the far right wing, the place where will occur some hours later the terrible shock with the Russian troops.
The Emperor jumps immediately on his horse, only escorted by twelve men, his personal surgeon Yvan and the marshal Soult. They cross over the camp, the soldiers being asleep on the ground. The Emperor hazards himself between the two lines and strikes against an outpost of Cossacks, who rush at him at once. The Emperor's escort charges them and puts them to flight.
The noise wakens the sleeping soldiers who recognize their beloved chief : they acclaim him and light torches all over the area.
Napoleon narrowly escaped being caught or killed by the Cossacks, but that dangerous circumstance has been the beginning of an extraordinary demonstration of enthusiasm, encouraging the French army and inducing the Russian observers into error : they were persuaded that the French troops were burning their camps and sounding the retreat !