ONE MINUTE HISTORY - December 2, 2022

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Incitatus Ch.

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Published on December 2, 2022 6:00:05 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qCCHe4ZDLM

Duration: 1:00

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On this day, the Holy Roman Empire received its deathblow. On December 2, 1805 a French army led by Napoleon decisively defeated an Austro-Russian army at the Battle of Austerlitz. After severely weakening the Austrians with a defeat at Ulm earlier in the year, Napoleon pressed further into the Holy Roman Empire and encountered a joint Russian-Austrian army. Napoleon was eager to fight the enemy, but employed a brilliant strategy of deception to trick them into believing his army was weak and disorganized, even going as far as abandoning the strategically valuable Pratzen Heights near Austerlitz. The Allies took the bait and walked straight into Napoleon’s merciless trap, losing over 35,000 men in the space of eight hours. Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II surrendered shortly thereafter, and the resulting Treaty of Pressburg brought the thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire to its final, inglorious end.