Wednesday 24th January 2024
St John’s Place, Lower Road, Bemerton, SP2 9NP
7.30-9.30pm
The battle of Austerlitz, fought on the 2nd December 1805, is considered by many, including Napoleon himself, to be his finest victory. But how was it that, with the onset of a central European winter, his lines of communication threatened, superior Russian forces approaching and Prussia about to declare war upon him, Napoleon was able to ensnare and destroy his foes on the Pratzen Heights, some 1300 kilometres from Paris?
Our chairman, Alan Rooney, has been leading battlefield tours to Napoleon’s battlefields for nearly 30 years and regularly visits those of the 1805 campaign in Austria and Czechia. In this talk he discusses the strategy that allowed Napoleon’s Grand Armée to surround and capture one Austrian army at Ulm, pursue Kutuzov’s Russians along and out of the Danube valley, seize Vienna and crush the combined armies of Tsar Alexander and Emperor Francis II, effectively extinguishing the Third Coalition in just over six weeks.
Entrance for members is included in your annual subscription. For non-members, entrance is £10 (cash, card or cheque) at the door.
There is a small car park and lay-by opposite St John’s Place on Lower Road (for approx. 20 cars). Parking is also allowed on single yellow lines on Lower Road after 6pm. Alternative car parking is available at The Clubhouse, Salisbury and South Wilts Sports Club (SP2 9NY) and a pathway connects to St John’s Place.