The Battle of Ulm was a military engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought between the French Army, under Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Austrian forces, led by Mack von Leiberich, from October 16 to October 20, 1805, near Ulm, on the Danube River, in the Electorate of Bavaria, Germany. The battle lasted five days because it consisted of a series of skirmishes that took place during Napoleon's Ulm Campaign.
In April 1805, just as Napoleon was about to invade the British Isles, Great Britain had been able to make an alliance with Austria, Russia, and Sweden, and organize the Third Coalition against the French Empire. But before these nations could join their forces to gain strength, Napoleon quickly marched to Germany, with an army composed of 75,000 men. He crossed the Rhine River and when he reached a plain near the town of Ulm on the Danube, he started a military campaign against the Third Coalition's army, which consisted of 47,000 Austrians.
Although the Ulm Campaign had already begun, with a French victory at the Battle of Gunzburg, on October 9, 1805. The Battle of Ulm proper started on October 16 and it involved a series of military encounters that took place in different locations on the same plain around the towns of Ulm, Langenau, Herbrechtingen, and Neresheim. The fighting was ferocious and dynamic, with infantry attacks and cavalry charges in pursuit of retreating forces.
The French cavalry, under the command of field marshal Joachim Murat and Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult obtained important victories near these towns. Meanwhile, Napoleon Bonaparte had managed to completely surround the Austrian forces on the outskirts of Ulm, where the final battle took place. On October 20, the Austrian General Karl Mack von Leiberich surrendered to the French commander.
Below, a 19th century painting, by Francisque Martin Francois Grenier de Saint, depicts the moment Mack von Leiberich surrenders to Napoleon.
